Is there anyone else having trouble affording the prescription diets for kidney disease?

[ann22]

I have came in here before about my cat Gigolo that was diagnosed with kidney disease in October. You have all been wonderful with your help! My cat has tried the prescription diets, but hates them all and I also tried some of the non prescription kidney friendly diets and my cat hates those as well. My fill in vet (my regular vet is on maternity leave with twins) is adamant that he stays on the prescription diet and is now giving me a new med for nausea with hope that will get him to eat it. My fill in vet was hoping to keep him on the can prescription only and not the dry. He is underweight and needs to be eating all I can get him to eat. All the prescription diets are so expensive. I am finding out they all cost around $300 a month. With his litter that I have to change every three days because he is urinating so much due to the kidney failure, his $60 a month steroid for his asthma and now his anti nausea meds and finally frequent vets visits it is well over $400 a month. I am having such a hard time and I don't know what to do. I am so stressed, I am behind on other bills. I have heard people say to other people, well, you should not have gotten a pet if you cannot afford it or you should have gotten pet insurance. To be fair, my cat was 8 years old when I adopted him from the shelter and once I got him home I found out he was FIV postive. Insurance for a 8 year old cat with FIV was through the roof. My cat is almost 16 and my husband has since passed away suddenly from cancer and life is very hard on one income let alone having a sick pet who by the way I love so much that it hurts so bad that he is older with all these problems. I do have two other cats besides Gigolo, but my cats bring me so much comfort as it can get lonely now that my husband is gone. Is anyone else feeling the pain of prescription diets? Does anyone know if there is help anywhere for something like this?

 

[silent meowlook]

I am sorry about your husband.
I am not a vet and don’t know your css as t. Just my opinion. I would feed him canned food, but not the prescription diet. As long as you can keep up with routine blood work. If his phosphorus becomes elevated, I would add a phosphate binder to the diet like aluminum hydroxide. Your vet could tell you how much.

 

[JamesCalifornia]

~ Everyone that I know who used prescription cat food has affordability trouble — including me . The cats do not like the flavor and are unhappy.

We all found alternatives solutions . ​

 

[Kflowers]

If your cat won't eat the food, the prescription won't help him. My vet said nothing is achieved by buying more and more of the food they won't eat. You're not going to persuade them to eat it.

Silentmeowlook is right. I raised several on just wet food, with the added
phosphate binder you are very close to the prescription food.

If you feel you must continue or continue to an extent with the prescription diet, consider looking at Chewy.com The prices may be lower than those at your vet. They will contact your vet for the okay to send you the prescription and then send it to you.

I also found that if you go to the pet supply place and buy the largest bag of litter (maybe twice what you can pick up) they will put it in the trunk of your car. When you get it home, open the bag and with a scoop (plastic dish) scoop litter into a bucket, take it inside and put it in a Rubbermaid container. You may need two containers, you may already have them. Be sure you put the containers where you want them before filling. Litter is expensive and heavy. The larger the bag of it the cheaper it is. But don't hurt yourself picking it up.

 

[BadwolfBuffy]

Have you tried the Royal canin renal support EARLY CONSULT wet food? It’s the only one my cat will eat. I got a can of it to try at my vets office and then bought it and set it up on auto ship with chewy. Depending on her appetite, it’s costing about 60-90 a month. The early consult is literally the only one she will eat. Good luck.

 

[IndyJones]

Reguardless of your cats condition the best food for them is a food they will eat. Not eating is worse than eating someting less than ideal.

I know the cost of perscription diets is insane especialy for what it is quality wise. Many have corn, byproducts, gums, rice, carbs etc. That are less than ideal. Kabuto has been on urinary food for over 10 years. I have found the larger bags to be a better value than the smaller ones. You get an extra kg for the same cost of buying two 3kg bags if you buy an 8kg bag for example. Its like getting a free kg of food.

I think wuvera makes a low phospreous food targeted at renal cats. I saw it at petvalu last time I was there but amazon probobly sells it too. Might be worth a look.

But as I said, if your cat will only eat friskies for example than let them eat friskis. Eating anything is better than starving.

 

[ann22]

Thank you everyone very much! Thank you silent meowlook for your kind words. Thank you James California for your input. Thank you Kflowers for all of the great advice. I always avoided the large bags of kitty litter because they were too heavy. I will try what you recommended, thanks. Badwolffbuffy, thank your also. I did try the Royal canine early consult. My cat hates it. However, my vet recommended three cans a day. That came to 90 to 93 cans a month at 4 boxes at $256.00. A little cheaper, but he does not like it. How do you only spend $60 to $90 a month? How big is your cat, how many cans do you feed a day? Are you feeding anything else? Can I ask those who are using phosphate binders, which ones are you using? For those that are using the phosphate binders with regular food, which brands of regular food are you feeding? Anyone have luck with Friskies or Nulo fish flavors, my cats favorite soft food?

 

[BadwolfBuffy]

Thank you everyone very much! Thank you silent meowlook for your kind words. Thank you James California for your input. Thank you Kflowers for all of the great advice. I always avoided the large bags of kitty litter because they were too heavy. I will try what you recommended, thanks. Badwolffbuffy, thank your also. I did try the Royal canine early consult. My cat hates it. However, my vet recommended three cans a day. That came to 90 to 93 cans a month at 4 boxes at $256.00. A little cheaper, but he does not like it. How do you only spend $60 to $90 a month? How big is your cat, how many cans do you feed a day? Are you feeding anything else? Can I ask those who are using phosphate binders, which ones are you using? For those that are using the phosphate binders with regular food, which brands of regular food are you feeding? Anyone have luck with Friskies or Nulo fish flavors, my cats favorite soft food?

Oh wow! Mine is 7 lbs. she usually only eats a can a day and a tiny bit of dry K/d. How big is yours? Mine probably needs to eat more as she’s been losing some, but she’s never been a big eater even before she was diagnosed.

 

[ann22]

Thanks Indy Jones. I have not tried the bag food. My cat has no teeth. A common problem with FiV and he had to have them pulled. He has ate small dry food without his teeth before, but the vet recommended all soft can. You know, this is not the first time I have dealt with feline kidney disease, 16 years ago I had a female cat who was eating Science Diet, when she got Kidney failure at 15 years old. At that exact same time Science Diet and a bunch of other brands got in trouble with a grain that came from China that was causing kidney failure in cats. I still wonder if they made my cat sick. Anyhow my vet at that time did not recommend any prescription food for her, he just told me to feed can only. I got Friskies because they were not part of all these major brands that got recalled. She loved the Friskies and lived to 21 years old.

 

[stephanietx]

I chose not to put my last kidney kitty on renal food, not because of the price, but because I didn't think they worked well and they were full of horrible ingredients. I just continued feeding her the regular grain-free food she'd always eaten and supplemented with Potassium and a feline renal supplement. Before she passed, the vet was surprised how well her kidney values were, even with her little body ravaged with lymphoma.

 

[IndyJones]

The main thing is getting your cat to eat anything. If kitty likes friskies let him eat that. It might not be ideal but cats that don't eat can quickly crash and develop fatty liver.

Any food is better than no food.

 

[ann22]

Thanks stephanietx and Indyjones. Badwolfbuffy My cat is about 8 or 9 pounds, but he is supposed to weigh much more. He is a big cat with some maine coon in him.

 

[IndyJones]

At this point he absolutly needs to eat. I would forget about the vet food if he won't eat it. Feed him whatever he wants.

 

[BadwolfBuffy]

Thanks stephanietx and Indyjones. Badwolfbuffy My cat is about 8 or 9 pounds, but he is supposed to weigh much more. He is a big cat with some maine coon in him.

Oh ok. That makes sense. My girl is a calico. She’s always been on the small side, but she definitely needs to gain some back.
I think the others are right. Don’t waste any money on food he won’t eat. Just get him to eat. Hugs.

 

[pearl99]

I've been thought this with one kitty (Gracie) and now a second (Ziggy.) Ziggy is 17 years and just diagnosed with CKD, late stage 2 or early stage 3. I'm trying to find foods she'll eat, also.
I'm still putting some regular wet food in with the renal wet just so she'll eat it. And I'll keep doing that if need be for the rest of her life. I agree- renal diet is no good if the kitty won't eat it!
The phosphorus binder I used was Epakitin, from Chewy. No taste to it, and I just sprinkled it on whatever food I'm feeding- no problems getting Ziggy to eat the food it's on.

 

[stephanietx]

The most important things for CKD kitties is to eat. So many of them will become constipated and that will lead to nausea. It's important to add some water to wet food to increase their water consumption, but also help with motility of their stool. Let them eat whatever they want so they will eat. My girl ate Instinct Chicken, Venison, and Rabbit canned and Taste of the Wild dry until she passed and I never had to worry about her being picky. I did often have to feed her wet food in more than one sitting so she'd eat her full serving, but I was okay with that.

 

[mrsgreenjeens]

I've had three kidney cats, and NONE of them ever ate a kidney appropriate diet, simply because they didn't like any of them. Our Vet was fine with that and said to let them eat whatever they wanted to because it was much more important that they eat anything than nothing at all. And we never ever needed to add any phos. binders to their food. Each of them lived an additional three years after diagnosis. We did add extra filtered water to their food, switched up their food often because of necessity (they seemed to get pickier as the disease progressed), fed several small meals throughout the day and night, and used appetite enhancers to encourage eating.

Have you seen this website? It's many people's "go to" for CKD. It's overwhelming, but if you take your time to go through it, I'm thinking you will find all kinds of good info. http://www.felinecrf.org/canned_food_usa.htm#canned_usa