Rosie has early stage kidney disease. :-(

moggiegirl

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I lost my male cat Spotty to kidney disease a few weeks ago. I noticed Rosie had been drinking more water than usual so I took her to the vet. Her blood test results revealed early stages kidney disease. I have to get rid of all the yummy cat foods and treats I bought for her and slowly transition her to a canned Purina kidney function diet and yes, it has carrageenan in it but everything else has too much phosphorus in it so it will have to be the lesser of two evils. The vet said her best case scenario is 2 more years of life. This is my beautiful Rosie.
 
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margd

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I'm so sorry to hear about Rosie.  This is always hard news to hear, but after losing Spotty so recently it must be especially painful.  I didn't realize that vets could predict how much time they had after diagnosis, however.  Perhaps it has changed, but when my late cat Wesley was diagnosed with early kidney disease at age 12, his vet said there was no way of knowing how much time he had.  Long story short - he lived to be 19 and ultimately passed from a stroke.  Here's hoping that Rosie's case progresses very slowly and surprises everyone.  She really is a beautiful girl.  
 
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moggiegirl

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She doesn't want to eat the prescription food. What am I going to do?
 

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She doesn't want to eat the prescription food. What am I going to do?
Talk to your vet about other options! Our cats are super picky with their food but you have to find what works for your cat. 

Also, I'm so so so sorry for you and your baby. 

Sending only the best healing vibes your way. Crossing my fingers that the time you have with your furbaby is wonderful and loving.
 
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basschick

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our cat was diagnosed with kidney disease a few years ago.  after trying to get him to eat just about every kidney food there is, our vet suggested we just keep him on fancy feast (yes, i know) as that's the only food he'll eat.  here we are over three years later, and thanks to subcutaneous fluids, his kidney disease is actually slightly improved, even with the fancy feast.

for that matter, our vet hired a new younger vet.  she has 3 cats over 20 who will all only eat fancy feast, and two of the 3 have kidney disease. 
 
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moggiegirl

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At some point it's the quality of life that matters and cats live to eat rather than eat to live and subjecting them to a food they hate won't work. I have been reading that Fancy Feast has a lot of phosphorus. I want to talk to my vet about the Soultistic chicken pate and shreds...it has 84% moisture, cats need it, 8% protein (more on a dry matter basis), it doesn't list the phosphorus. Some Soultistic brands say 0.25%. Generally if it's lower in protein isn't it lower in phosphorus?
 

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There are other dietary options, I shall look them up and send you the names in another post.

Regards,

Geoffrey
 
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Geoffrey

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There are other dietary options including Royal Canin and Hills.  Both produce effective dietary foods for feline kidney disease and I suggest that you talk to your vet about them.  My vet suggested them when  Rupert suffered severe kidney disease and we were able to find something that he would eat.

FYI here is a photo of Rupert at rest::


.  
 
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cat nap

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At some point it's the quality of life that matters and cats live to eat rather than eat to live and subjecting them to a food they hate won't work. I have been reading that Fancy Feast has a lot of phosphorus. I want to talk to my vet about the Soultistic chicken pate and shreds...it has 84% moisture, cats need it, 8% protein (more on a dry matter basis), it doesn't list the phosphorus. Some Soultistic brands say 0.25%. Generally if it's lower in protein isn't it lower in phosphorus?
The link that @Zed Xyzed posted is very helpful in understanding CKD and looking for suitable foods.

And the Site here is useful for doing 'searches' at the top, and getting ideas about how members have used 'toppers' on cat food, to transition to other foods, shredding their old food on top, chicken flakes, fortiflora, adding water to canned food, warming up the food, and where they buy their foods...stores,online or at their vets.

As other members have mentioned, you can also talk to your vet about possible 'phosphorus binders', other varieties and flavours of foods, and especially sub-q fluids which you can easily do at home.

It really depends upon Rosie's bloodwork numbers, and if the food being used, is able to lower them, for the better.

I would probably try to contact the manufacturer of the food, to ask detailed questions about phosphorus content, if they do not list it.

I'm not sure about the answer to your question, concerning lower protein being related to phosphorus. (I don't think the two are related, but I could be wrong.)

But my vet did mention that in elderly cats, the suggestion was towards higher protein, and quality protein...if they were losing too much weight.

Your vet would be the best to ask.

(My rainbow cat was diagnosed at 14 years and did well on Hill's K/D prescription for another year and a half, but I would agree with @Margd that there really would be no way to predict how fast or slow the disease progresses.) Hoping that with your Rosie, you're able to slow it right down. I found that trying out any foods with lower phosphorus was helpful.

The same link that Zed Xyzed posted also has commercial type non-prescription foods listed, but I would exhaust all the possibilities of the Vet's recommendations first.

http://www.felinecrf.org/canned_food_usa.htm

It might have the Soulistic one that you mentioned, and yes, totally agree with you, that the main thing is getting your cat to eat, regardless of where you buy it.
 

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Before she passed, my gal Francie was put on a prescription dry ([emoji]128078[/emoji][emoji]127997[/emoji]) diet that she HATED. Wouldn't touch it, nor would her two sisters who would investigate it once she left. So we had to find something she would eat, even if it wasn't 100% what she was supposed to have. Turns out she wanted Fancy Feast chicken wet food.
 
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mackiemac

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She doesn't want to eat the prescription food. What am I going to do?
Try another brand, perhaps. There are quite a few out there now: Hill's, Purina, Royal Canin, etc. The Royal Canin was a big seller when I was still active, especially the one that's made with PORK! It comes in wet and dry.

If not, I see that you have a link to the kidney-friendly foods list from Tanya's website. That's a great resource, and it ought to help you find something suitable for your fur baby.

Be prepared, though, as kidney cats will get picky and what tastes great at breakfast will be absolutely horrid at lunch-- or vice versa. Keep several flavors on hand to offer as a buffet on picky days, and keep the list handy. You'll be glad you did!

And another tip: when kidney cats have an empty stomach... they often feel nauseous. If you can find something friendly for your kiddo to nibble at will and make it always available, it will help. So will feeding smaller meals more often-- like 7-9 'snacks' or 'mini meals' instead of 2 or 3 big meals.

Catching this early and beginning a good diet and management routine will be the best thing to slow the progress of this disease. But if the teeth are bad, and her condition is stable and not in crisis mode, a DENTAL can help. Yes, because bacteria from decay in the mouth gets into the blood stream and spreads to the kidneys. So by reducing the bacteria and oral infection, it's sometimes possible to improve the kidney values for some time, and this will slow the disease course a bit sometimes. It's worth discussing with your vet, as I have seen these remarkable improvements myself when I was still active (oral health and nutrition were two of my keen interests).
 
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moggiegirl

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Try another brand, perhaps. There are quite a few out there now: Hill's, Purina, Royal Canin, etc. The Royal Canin was a big seller when I was still active, especially the one that's made with PORK! It comes in wet and dry.

If not, I see that you have a link to the kidney-friendly foods list from Tanya's website. That's a great resource, and it ought to help you find something suitable for your fur baby.

Be prepared, though, as kidney cats will get picky and what tastes great at breakfast will be absolutely horrid at lunch-- or vice versa. Keep several flavors on hand to offer as a buffet on picky days, and keep the list handy. You'll be glad you did!

And another tip: when kidney cats have an empty stomach... they often feel nauseous. If you can find something friendly for your kiddo to nibble at will and make it always available, it will help. So will feeding smaller meals more often-- like 7-9 'snacks' or 'mini meals' instead of 2 or 3 big meals.

Catching this early and beginning a good diet and management routine will be the best thing to slow the progress of this disease. But if the teeth are bad, and her condition is stable and not in crisis mode, a DENTAL can help. Yes, because bacteria from decay in the mouth gets into the blood stream and spreads to the kidneys. So by reducing the bacteria and oral infection, it's sometimes possible to improve the kidney values for some time, and this will slow the disease course a bit sometimes. It's worth discussing with your vet, as I have seen these remarkable improvements myself when I was still active (oral health and nutrition were two of my keen interests).
Try another brand, perhaps. There are quite a few out there now: Hill's, Purina, Royal Canin, etc. The Royal Canin was a big seller when I was still active, especially the one that's made with PORK! It comes in wet and dry.

If not, I see that you have a link to the kidney-friendly foods list from Tanya's website. That's a great resource, and it ought to help you find something suitable for your fur baby.

Be prepared, though, as kidney cats will get picky and what tastes great at breakfast will be absolutely horrid at lunch-- or vice versa. Keep several flavors on hand to offer as a buffet on picky days, and keep the list handy. You'll be glad you did!

And another tip: when kidney cats have an empty stomach... they often feel nauseous. If you can find something friendly for your kiddo to nibble at will and make it always available, it will help. So will feeding smaller meals more often-- like 7-9 'snacks' or 'mini meals' instead of 2 or 3 big meals.

Catching this early and beginning a good diet and management routine will be the best thing to slow the progress of this disease. But if the teeth are bad, and her condition is stable and not in crisis mode, a DENTAL can help. Yes, because bacteria from decay in the mouth gets into the blood stream and spreads to the kidneys. So by reducing the bacteria and oral infection, it's sometimes possible to improve the kidney values for some time, and this will slow the disease course a bit sometimes. It's worth discussing with your vet, as I have seen these remarkable improvements myself when I was still active (oral health and nutrition were two of my keen interests).
Thank you. She has a dental cleaning appointment on Tuesday of next week. She needs one and I want to do it now while she is still relatively healthy since right now she is in the very early stages of kidney disease. I'm looking into getting a phosphate binder to mix with her wet food if I can't convince her to eat a therapeutic diet. I will be asking the vet about it. I currently don't feed her any dry food and I don't know if feeding the dry kidney diet would be helpful or harmful to her. Of course that would have her eating more than 2 or 3 times per day.
 

mackiemac

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If you have the option, I would choose Sevofluorane over Isofluorane as the gas anesthesia because it's much milder and clears quicker, and avoid the really 'hard' stuff like ketamine, acepromazine, etc. Schrodie had Sevo with glycopyrrolate and morphine (for the extraction) and midazolam. He was wide awake when he came home, no nausea... but BOY, was he high! He was, shall we say, a very loving drunk. Sure, he was walking straight and not sick to his stomach... but he tried to cozy up to Skye, our oldest senior! That just doesn't happen-- he loves to pester her, but this time he was all kissy-kissy on her. Skye was like, "Dude, you're drunk!" It was funny! And it was so much better than the older protocols where the poor kitties had their third eyelids poked up, they were queasy, and they were so out of it for the rest of the night. It does cost a bit more, but it's a much safer option. If you have the choice, that is what I would suggest. And if your blood work is more than a month old, it would not be bad to repeat at least the 'basics' on the chemistry and CBC just to be sure everything's good to go for anesthesia.

Mrsgreenjeans, another poster with a kidney kitty, would portion out and freeze her cat's wet food, just a couple of snacks worth, and let it defrost on her nightstand (dresser?) overnight so it would be there for the kitty to snack on while she was asleep. I think that's a pretty clever idea. That might give your kiddo another feeding during the night to help keep something on the belly and stave off nausea.

There are all kinds of tricks... you're in a good place here for tips and advice!

~Mackie
 

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Having had 2 kitties currently that had tested at the early stages of kidney disease, and now kidney levels are normal, I highly recommend Royal Canin wet food for kidney care. They come in a variety of flavors and are very wet, to keep up hydration. My kitties LOVE the seafood and the chicken flavors. They do get finiky and I found some other foods at our local pet store that is more a gravy type food. I mixed that in with it and WOW! Happy cats (both are recovering from Pancreatitis ---my boy currently and my female recovered 3 weeks ago).

New foods and sub q fluid therapies will help them live a happy, comfortable life. A friend of mine had her kitty live 2 more years, like your kitty's prognosis, which can be extended if the progress slows down. The diet alone can't stop kidney disease--nothing can. My vet's have bascially said cats sort of 'out live' their own bodies. The kidneys are a filtration device and it can only filter for so long....I lost my first kitty to CKD and it broke my heart.

(((hugS))) You're not alone. Just love and huge your kitty every day.

Love the photo of Rupert. What a gorgeous Siamese!
 
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moggiegirl

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Thank you Dark Horse. I will mention Royal Canin to my vet. Is that a prescription or non-prescription food?
 

darkhorse321

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The Royal Canin is prescription in that you get it from your vet's office. It's WONDERFUL stuff!!

Spotty is gorgeous--all the kitties here are BEAUTIFUL!!! 

I am SO sorry for the loss of your kitty to rat poison @Geoffrey  . That's so sad and to lose Rupurt. I had to put my girl, Sunshine, down on Christmas of 1999, just eight hours after my stepfather passed away in hospital from a cancer we didn't even know he had. Not a good time for my family. I was lucky to have had Sunshine for almost 19 years. I got her when I was a little girl of 12 and she died in my arms at an emerg clinic (we euthanized her as she was in renal failure) when I was 30. Never ever ready to say goodbye.....and I still have beautiful memories.

No one can prepare us for losing our babies. So, when I got my two kitties a month after losing Sunshine, I vowed I would love them every second of every day. Sleepless nights? Who cares. I chose to have kitties in my life and if that means being a bit tired at work and having a less than pristine home, I'll do it. They are worth it.
 
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moggiegirl

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I'm going to visit the vet's office tomorrow to return the cans of the Purina kidney diet. It's useless. My cat is too spoiled for a bland cat food and even mixing a small amount with her regular food makes her eat less. Not good. I hope they have Royal Canin. I'm afraid they will give me Hills K/D which would be the same problem. I might have to order it online. I also hope my vet works with me regarding getting a phosphate binder to mix with her regular food during the transitioning process or in case I can't get her to eat the special diet food.
 
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