Can a growing kitten develop rickets by being feed comercial cat food ?

[Kitosan]

My sister broght 2 years ago a persian male kitten with no pedigree.He was fed royal canin skin&hair dry because at the time she was having an older cat who was very sensitive to food changes and probably out of confort she feed the kitten the same food. The cats were free feed with the food bawl always full. The male kitten arround 1 year got sick and during veterinary check was found to have rickets and could not entirely be reversed. After 2 weeks of veterinary care his condition improved but his bones were forever compromised.
Now because I am found of this cat I was since baffeled with the question of why this happend ?
Was this because he was not feed kitten formula food ?
Could be because food spoilage ?She was buying 10kg food bags and might affected Vit D and other oils in the food
I also thought about genetics that his condition was genetical.
Please share your thoughts of why this could had happend.

 

[Eurocat]

Hi there,
Sorry to hear that. Just a thought - Maybe the cat had/has some sort of intestinal issue that made it difficult to absorb/synthesize vit D?
All the best..

 

[Kitosan]

Another thing I forgot to add is that she has a lot of house plants and as far as I know they can be poisonous/toxic to cats. Could this also be another reason reduced calcium/D3 absorption ?
What seems strange to me, the cat seems ok now without any change in his diet but at the same time now he has no interest in any plant as opose to when he was a kitten

 

[amethyst]

Personally I would lean more towards the plants being the issue not the food if he was munching on plants. There are plants that are not safe for cats not because they are outright toxic but because they contain various things that interfere with the absorption of nutrients. I can't think of any specific house plants off hand but there are different "anti-nutrients" that plants have that can limit or even prevent proper absorption of nutrients.

I copied this from another site about antinutirents in plants humans eat, but other plants can have these too.

• Phytate (phytic acid): Mainly found in seeds, grains and legumes, phytate reduces the absorption of minerals from a meal. These include iron, zinc, magnesium and calcium.
• Tannins: A class of antioxidant polyphenols that may impair the digestion of various nutrients.
• Lectins: Found in all food plants, especially in seeds, legumes and grains. Some lectins may be harmful in high amounts, and interfere with the absorption of nutrients.
• Protease inhibitors: Widely distributed among plants, especially in seeds, grains and legumes. They interfere with protein digestion by inhibiting digestive enzymes.
• Calcium oxalate: The primary form of calcium in many vegetables, such as spinach. The calcium bound to oxalate is poorly absorbed.

 

[IndyJones]

All good points but i also would question the cats genetic makeup if it had no pedigree. Persions can suffer from the same kind of breeding defects as many popular dog breeds do simply because there is demand for them. Some people breed them for money without considering the background of the stud/female even inbreeding sister/brother daughter/father etc. Then recessive genetic defects that normaly stay ressesive show up.