CRF...dry food vs canned...

I have a question about dry vs canned...

I looked at some of the nutritional sites and noticed that you can get food with lower phosphorous and protein if your cat will eat dry food. But I'm a little worried about my cats gums.

My cat has been a dry food cat most of her life. Her gums weren't the healthiets around...so the dry food caused some inflammation just from abrasion, probably. Since getting CRF, she was on a canned food diet for a little bit. In that time, her gums healed up real nice.

Now, due to her picky appetite, she will only eat purina renal dry food (well, actually she eats very little of anything...but when she does eat, that's the only food she likes). Since eating dry food again, her gums are once again nicked up.

Should I not be concerned about that at all? I'm curious just in case my cat regains appetite for everything. If so, then should I feed her dry for the better numbers or canned for less inflamed gums? Or does it not matter?

Thanks!

I think in a CRF kitty, just getting anything into them is the important thing. If she is feeling nausea she may not want to eat. Check with your vet about giving her Pepcid, it often helps to settle their stomach and improves their appetite. If she is eating well, then canned food may be better since it increases their fluid intake and that is important with CRF. Becky

Becky's right - canned food is MUCH better for CRF kitties than dry food because of its fluid content. You want to keep your cat as hydrated as possible, so feeding canned food is the way to go. However, if her appetite's really off, which happens with CRF, the important thing is just to get nutrition into her, even if it's dry food.

As Becky mentioned, do ask about Pepcid AC - it helped my kitty tremendously. B-12 shots and/or tablets can also help spark appetite.

Beau has recently been diagnosed with CRF, and I switched him to canned food on the recomendation of both of our vets. He is now eating Felidae canned cat food (chicken and rice). My research shows that it is much easier to get a low-phosphorus food in a canned form than in dry, and of course it is also better in the fact that it contains more moisture. In addition, I always add filtered water to the canned food, mixing it in well, so that it is the consistancy of a thick stew, and that gets even more water into him every time he eats. He is in the early stages, and I hope to keep him healthy with diet for as long as possible. Many people recomend cooking special foods for your cat with CRF as well, and although at first that seemed intimidating to me trying to get all the balances correct, it really isn't that hard. Another thing my vet told me is that low phosphorus (under 1%) is more important than low protein. Good luck finding something that your kitty will eat.

I, too, agree that canned would be your kitty's best option.