Foods for early CRF kitties

mrsboz99

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Hi all!

I've been trying to find some low phosphorous foods for my kitty, Cali, who was diagnosed several years ago with very early CRF. She's been maintaining really well this whole time...just barely above normal kidney values, great appetite. She's been on Wellness Lite dry and Wellness Turkey & Salmon wet most of the time but I don't want her to get too set on one particular food, and besides, my two other cats have been getting horrible dry flaky skin so I think I should mix things up a bit. I've been checking several CRF sites that list phosphorous, protein and sodium levels of wet and dry foods, but some of the newer foods out there aren't listed yet. One brand I'm really interested in is Chicken Soup for the Cat Lovers Soul, so I emailed them today and asked for the % phosphorous levels. They actually emailed me back within 2 hours!!! Anyway, I thought I would post the info here in case anyone else found it useful. Here it the response I received:
The Phosphorous levels you requested are below
Adult Cat = .9%
Light Cat = 1.1%
I hope this helps
I was hoping the values would be a bit lower (they should be under 1% right?). The Wellness Lite is 0.75%. I've been considering Wysong Vitality too (0.8%). Or I could just keep her on the Wellness and add a supplement, like Salmon oil, to the other kitties food. Argh...major indecision heh. Anyone else dealing with early CRF and if so what are your fav foods?

Thanks for listening to my rambles hehe


Tara
-mom to Cali, Bonk and Kasumi
 

sharky

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I used max cat by nutro when I gave my crf girl dry food... she did well but she is doing far beter on raw ... I had her on canned and homemade for over a year she stayed stable..

I recommend a moderate protein with reasonable fat most lights just dont have enough of either..

Foods that were okayed by my vet
Royal canin the senior for over 10
Max cat
Natural choice
Sensible choice

Innova light

may I ask what the bun and creatine values are ??

I highly advise avoiding dry food
 
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mrsboz99

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Originally Posted by sharky

I used max cat by nutro when I gave my crf girl dry food... she did well but she is doing far beter on raw ... I had her on canned and homemade for over a year she stayed stable..

I recommend a moderate protein with reasonable fat most lights just dont have enough of either..

Foods that were okayed by my vet
Royal canin the senior for over 10
Max cat
Natural choice
Sensible choice

Innova light

may I ask what the bun and creatine values are ??

I highly advise avoiding dry food
Hi there! Thanks for the reply
I want to look more into Raw diets but my husband and I both work long hours and we have 3 cats so I'm not sure time and moneywise whether that would work for us right now. Perhaps I have a faulty view of how much time it takes to make and how much it costs? Do you make the food from scratch or do you use ready-made mixes i.e. Bravo?

Cali does eat mostly canned, since we want her to be as hydrated as possible. The dry is mainly for the other two, but she does nibble on it here and there so I want something that is okay for her and healthy for the others as well. It's always fun with cats
we have a fat cat, a 2 year old and Cali. Separating them at meals so they can have different foods hasn't worked (whoever is separated is so fixated on being closed in another room that they won't eat...they just cry and bang on the door over and over) and trying to keep them out of each others bowls is a challenge. It may not be possible, but we are trying to find something that works well for everyone heh.

Regarding Cali's stats, I don't have the most recent ones handy but I did find the original results that got her diagnosed with early CRF:

March 2001:
Urinalysis - 1.036
BUN - 23
CREA - 2.2

Nov 2002:
Urinalysis - 1.020
BUN - 30
CREA - 2.5

She did have some appetite issues at that time, but since then, aside from still drinking a lot of water, she has not had any other symptoms and her values have remained steady at the high end of normal or just over. Now and then I find myself thinking maybe she's just unique and high values are normal for her...but two vets, plus the neurologist at Tufts all agreed that she is in it...it was just caught very early.
 

sharky

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I will send you a raw and cooked pM ... I am finding it can be cost effective and that is evan buying raw ready made
 

semiferal

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I would not do dry food at all with a CRF cat. You can give phosphate binding medication with wet food, which will help.
 
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mrsboz99

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Originally Posted by semiferal

I would not do dry food at all with a CRF cat. You can give phosphate binding medication with wet food, which will help.
Yeah, ideally I would have her completely on wet, or even a raw food diet. She does MOSTLY eat canned food...but we have two other cats and we do put a quarter cup of dry food down for each of them before bed, since they don't eat much wet...just don't like it (we tried cutting them off from this and we didn't sleep for days....just not an option with cats as stubborn as ours). Since we can't keep her away from their dishes at all times, I like to make sure that it is as safe as possible for her, in case she nibbles on it.

So far she doesn't need the binders thankfully. Her phosphorous levels are good and the rest of her values are holding steady
 

charcoal

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Originally Posted by sharky

I will send you a raw and cooked pM ... I am finding it can be cost effective and that is evan buying raw ready made
Would you send it to me as well? I would appreciate it.
 

bibby

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One of my cats is in early CRF- she has PKD- a genetic kidney problem
Found this link when I was researching diets
http://webpages.charter.net/katkarma/dry.htm
She loves the Royal Canin Renal- I mix it with their Sensible as she also has a sensitive stomach problem
She also loves raw- so I mix it with water and pureed cooked pumpkin and other ingredinets such as vitamins and fibre according to a recipe
With raw- I buy a few pounds of meat, make up a raw mix- freeze in portions.
Have to make it up every 2-3 weeks
I also work long hours- it works for me but took about a year to become confident with mixing raw.
I also have a couple of water fountains to encourage her to drink
My healthy young cat is on the same diet which more than one vet has said is OK- but I leave some normal RC dry food for him on a surface where my CRF cat cant get to it
Best wishes
Catherine
 
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