Need help with food for cat with multiple health issues

Hi all,

So, vet officially has said to put Sara on a kidney diet. Gonna do the best I can with what I have. By that, I mean feed her special canned food in hopes that she fills up on that. But not sure I can keep her from the dry food the other cats eat (I have four other kitties). So yeah, tricky situation there.

So my first question - does anyone have any tips on that aside from separating her? She won't eat if she's isolated so that just won't work, already know that.

Now, onto the rest of it. She has early kidney disease, hyper-t, and probably FIC. The FIC is not confirmed, but we're as close to confirming it as I think we'll get at this point. Vet said the food they would typically use for FIC just doesn't work well with kidney cats. This leads to my second question - is anyone aware of any OTC foods that would be good for kidney cats, as well as those with hyper-t and FIC? I know hyper-t does better with high-protein, even though y/d is low in protein. Not sure about FIC, haven't done enough research on that. I only know my vet said that food wouldn't be good for Sara's kidney issues. So, we're kinda stuck at kidney diet. And everyone's up in the air about protein with kidney cats, but they seem to agree with low-phos being better.

Just wanted to take a moment to stress - any suggestions will be run by my vet. Sara's getting k/d at least through the end of the month as that's what I have. But I'd like something else that would benefit her, and could possibly be something I can transition my other cats to. I understand low-phos may not be an option for transition with the younger cats, but figured I'd ask.

I don't have her most recent labs on hand, but from what I was told, her BUN was at the absolute high end of normal, creatinine was 1.7, SDMA was above normal (again, forget the exact number). Her T4 was actually low, but that was after a couple weeks on a higher dosage of methimazole. It had been over 11 the time before that. So we're lowering it and rechecking at the end of the month.

I'd suggest reading through this site. It's very informative. http://www.felinecrf.org/index.htm

I would probably consider switching all your cats onto a canned diet so that there's no kibble around. If that is absolutely not an option then don't free feed, make sure that you have scheduled feeding times so that there isn't kibble around she can get into. 

Thank you, I've definitely read through that site about as thoroughly as one could in 16 days when Lucky had gotten sick. I'm looking more for some personal recommendations (in addition to those). And while I don't need them to be from someone with a cat with this combination of issues, that would be helpful. Trying to collect as much info as I can so I can have my questions prepared by the time of my appt.

The difference with Lucky is that by the point he was diagnosed, we were already at the "feed him whatever he'll eat" stage.

Donutte said:

 
Thank you, I've definitely read through that site about as thoroughly as one could in 16 days when Lucky had gotten sick. I'm looking more for some personal recommendations (in addition to those). And while I don't need them to be from someone with a cat with this combination of issues, that would be helpful. Trying to collect as much info as I can so I can have my questions prepared by the time of my appt.

The difference with Lucky is that by the point he was diagnosed, we were already at the "feed him whatever he'll eat" stage.

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There are several threads about CKD diets, have you searched the threads and read through them? I do not have a cat with any known medical issues, but I transitioned my older (13) year old cat mostly raw diet about a year ago in hopes to avoid a lot of the common medical issues that older cats face. I would personally look into a homecooked or raw diet, as I feel they're the best. Good luck! I hope others can chime in with better info. 

Yep, and I've had a CKD cat. I've read pages about it on multiple sites more times than I can count. I'm mainly trying to find thoughts from others that have cats with similar combinations of health issues.

And very glad to hear your cat doesn't have issues. Hopefully they will continue to stay that way!

Oof dah, that's a hard one. The OTC CKD food I'm using is Dave's brand. Not the absolute lowest phosphorous per dry matter basis on the market, but I think the ingredients are a little higher quality than the other prescription foods. Smoochie started to lose more weight though, so I give her the wet and as much prescription kibbles as she'll eat. 

Will your kitty eat if you put her in a big wire dog crate right next to the other cats eating? That's how we roll in my house. When Smoochie and the other cats are done eating I let her back out again. 

Not sure the cage would work, mainly because her main focus would be on getting out rather than eating. She's a very nervous cat, has been since the day we got her when she was 4 years old.  And even if I put her in the cage and it worked, the others don't finish their food right away. They graze for a few hours (if not the whole night) on the wet food.

So far, what I've done is feed her k/d after putting the kittens in my room. She ate almost half a can, I was kinda impressed. The others don't get their wet food till later so hoping to get a full can into her before then. I definitely have to be careful with her in terms of weight. She weighs 6 lb 5 oz, which is the most she has weighed in her entire life. Can't really afford to have her lose weight.