High Protein Diet?

Hi Everybody,

As I stated in my other postings, I want to give my new kittens the best chance to be free of urinary and kidney problems.

There have been a number of informative responses to my previous threads, and I want to thank everyone. I have a lot of pet food links now and some idea of the number of high quality foods available for kitties at all stages of their lives.

So, this is what I think I hear--

1. No by-products at all; no dyes at all; and no corn (Is this bad because it's only a filler?) in the first five ingredients;

2. Give kittens high quality and high protein wet and dry food and make sure they have a good source of water, like a pet fountain available;

3. Try to encourage eating high protein wet food throughout their lives because it keeps them hydrated and will give them a better chance of maintaining healthy kidneys; and

4. Get a blood test when they are 10 to monitor for CRF.

Okay, so do you only switch to a lower protein food if your cat develops CRF? Does a high-protein diet cause CRF or is it a contributing factor to FLUDT or are both of those conditions due to kitty simply not drinking enough water?

Tanya's UK Feline site suggests that the kind of dry food that makes the cat's urine acidic (to fight FLUDT) may contribute to kidney disease, so what do you do? Am I making this more confusing than it needs to be?

I know we have only so much control over this, but I just want to give them the best shot at a happy, long life. Please help if I misunderstood something.

Thanks for your patience. I am looking forward to your discussion.

I think you have covered everything I know. Wet food is one of the most important things you can do for preventing urinary problems. I know a lot of people go to a lower protein dry food when a cat gets older about age 10 to reduce strain on their kidneys.

I think a moderate protein dry with high protein wet is the best appoarch... Raw is best but it is alot of work ...

CRF testing should start at 7 ... My CRF girl wats a high protein wet and raw mix.. I work with my vet closely and her numbers are improving over just wet and way better than dry..

High protein doesnt cause CRF ... part of it is genetics ... High protein that is not digestable I feel likely contributes ... Corn gluten actually does help acidify but not drastically...

Ideally, I would be feeding all my cats foods without any grain at all. Unfortunately, I can only afford to feed my immune compromised kitties like that as I have way too many fosters.

High protein cat food does not cause kidney disease but if a cat has kidney disease then it is useful to feed a reduced protein diet. A vet assistant at the All Care Cat Hospital once told me that if you feed a low protein diet to a healthy cat that can cause kidney disease. So basically feed those healthy cats the right amount of protein.

If too much protein were to cause kidney disease then that would mean they could not eat the EVO diet(which has 50% protein) or even a homemade raw diet( typically between 40 and 50%) that has more protein than most commercial dry cat foods. In fact, most commercial dry cat foods don't have enough protein. That's what a holistic vet would say.

Water, water, water,That's really important. Feeding a mostly to wholly wet food diet is the best you can do. But other than that, you can't really prevent what a cat may or may not be genetically inclined to get or age related health problems.