So my elderly cat has recently switched to wet renal food and I noticed liver (usually pork) is really high up on the ingredient lists. His favorite variety, has it listed as the second ingredient after water. I thought liver was really high in vitamin A? I worry about him eating so much liver every day. I plan to ask my vet about this at his next appointment in a couple of weeks. Curious as to what other's thoughts are about this. The dry renal foods all gave him tummy issues (wheat seems to be the common factor) and one wheat- free caused hypercalcemia (which resolved after switching back to non-prescription dry)
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Liver in Renal diets
- Thread starter jencat
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- Apr 30, 2023
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I hope you're able to get some answers about the pork being primary....I would "think" that since renal (prescription) diets are usually lower in protein than regular/other diets, it wouldn't have too much (?). But I'm not certain.
I have, however, had experiences with several prescription renal diet products...and my favorite across the board is Royal Canin. The dry food, Royal Canin Veterinary Diet Adult Renal Support A Dry Cat Food, has a little chicken and some fish oil, among other ingredients. The canned products seem to be highly individual preference for each cat (I think there are either 3 or 4 choices for the cans- some pate and some have little pellet type chunks in a little gravy), but I've had the best luck with their Renal Support D. My current senior kitty eats both, and she is one of the pickiest eaters I've had in my 50 years of cat servitude (we need a cat wearing a crown emoji).
Best wishes on getting a definitive answer on what you're using. Jenna
I have, however, had experiences with several prescription renal diet products...and my favorite across the board is Royal Canin. The dry food, Royal Canin Veterinary Diet Adult Renal Support A Dry Cat Food, has a little chicken and some fish oil, among other ingredients. The canned products seem to be highly individual preference for each cat (I think there are either 3 or 4 choices for the cans- some pate and some have little pellet type chunks in a little gravy), but I've had the best luck with their Renal Support D. My current senior kitty eats both, and she is one of the pickiest eaters I've had in my 50 years of cat servitude (we need a cat wearing a crown emoji).
Best wishes on getting a definitive answer on what you're using. Jenna
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- #3
Thank you for the advice. The RC dry Renal we tried gave him diarrhea despite doing a very slow transition. I don't remember which one it was. The dry kd did the same. I think it is the wheat as it is the common factor and he had diarrhea on a food with wheat before as well. I suppose it could be the corn otherwise, as I don't remember him eating foods with corn since he was little. Unfortunately all the dry RC have wheat and, but 1 of the wet. I have the Blue K+M on order for him to try as he has constipation issues on all wet, even with some laxative powder as directed by the vet. I just realized the KD + mobility formula doesn't have wheat so I guess we could try that one as well if the Blue doesn't work out. I worry about using too many varieties/ brands at once in case one of the foods affects his calcium levels as we found out kidney formulas can do. It would be hard to know which one it was.
Is he on the renal diet because of kidney disease? If so, personally I would not even think about feeding him the dry food. Kidney cats are already so thirsty, and feeding dry just compounds that. I learned that the hard way and with my 3rd kidney cat fed her only wet food with extra water added and she did much better.
As far as pork liver being used, yes liver is high in Vit A, but I can't imagine there is enough in the foods to be harmful. That being said, I also doubt your Vet will be able to answer your question.
Oh,and if your guy has constipation issues, that is very common with kidney cats. All of mine had that issue, and I did find that using Miralax twice daily help immensely. Just had to get the dosage right. And it definitely needed to be dissolved in a little water before giving it to them.
As far as pork liver being used, yes liver is high in Vit A, but I can't imagine there is enough in the foods to be harmful. That being said, I also doubt your Vet will be able to answer your question.
Oh,and if your guy has constipation issues, that is very common with kidney cats. All of mine had that issue, and I did find that using Miralax twice daily help immensely. Just had to get the dosage right. And it definitely needed to be dissolved in a little water before giving it to them.
You could be right to worry about the vitamin A - maybe you can get a detailed nutritional analysis sheet from somewhere and really verify whether it is too much or not? Vet may use their experience prescribing food, and may not be thinking about this aspect.
My senior cat with renal issues is also on wet food (Weruva phos fx). We're trying to get more fluid into the cat always, so it's all wet food (and subcutaneous fluids too).
We also have some laxative from the vet (Miralax) and add psyllium fiber for a kind of one-two punch. Miralax pulls water into the gut and psyllium provides a little bulk so that the water has a structure to go to. Super careful about dosing both since the cat is already permanently dehydrated.
We used to try and add some pumpkin (pure, not pie filling) but she's too picky for it. Finding out that the cat is throwing up or not eating just because of constipation can be expensive... hence my long speech on fiber.
My senior cat with renal issues is also on wet food (Weruva phos fx). We're trying to get more fluid into the cat always, so it's all wet food (and subcutaneous fluids too).
We also have some laxative from the vet (Miralax) and add psyllium fiber for a kind of one-two punch. Miralax pulls water into the gut and psyllium provides a little bulk so that the water has a structure to go to. Super careful about dosing both since the cat is already permanently dehydrated.
We used to try and add some pumpkin (pure, not pie filling) but she's too picky for it. Finding out that the cat is throwing up or not eating just because of constipation can be expensive... hence my long speech on fiber.
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- #6
Thank you for taking the time to respond. He has had renal insufficiency for several years now. His numbers have been pretty stable during that time eating a non renal diet dry food. He wouldn't eat any wet for years after it consisted of a good portion of his diet when he was younger. The neurologist (disc disease) wanted him on a renal diet like 6 years ago, but his regular vet didn't agree with that until about 3 years ago as those numbers had been seemingly "typical" for him until taking a slight dip about 3 years ago. We tried, but the stomach issues and hypercalcemia caused by one of the food had us switching back to his regular dry. He's a Maine Coon with a water obsession and spends tons of time at his fountain. If it wasn't for the fact that he gets his values checked multiple times a year, I wouldn't know if they got worse. I'm guessing that has been what has helped keep his values relatively stable these last few years. A couple weeks ago we bought him a new bag of his regular dry and he ate very little of it. It smelled somewhat off to me, so I exchanged it for a new bag, but the night before I gave him some of my other cat's wet food and much to my shock he inhaled it. He usually won't touch any of her wet food when I offer it to him so I got him prescriptions for the renal diets from the vet hoping he would eat those wet foods. He's been eating them really well, but having issues with constipation. The disc disease might also be contributing to that as he has bladder issues that require expression. Miralax twice a day dissolved in water and added to his wet food is what we have been using. I understand wet is best for kidneys, but I was hoping the added fiber from supplementing with a little dry food might help as constipation wasn't a problem until he stopped wanting to eat his dry. With the disc disease, I don't want having to strain causing him pain. He's getting bloodwork done and starting Solensia in a couple of weeks. Last had bloodwork done in mid February so we will know if anything else is going on or his values have changed.
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- #7
Thank you. I will try to find an analysis and I will ask my vet about the psyllium. Already using the Miralax as the vet instructed.
How much Miralax are you giving? With my kidney cats, I was doing 1/8th to 1/4 teaspoon twice per day. That amount would vary depending on what happened in the litter box. Sometimes it would be a little too much, other times not quite enough when it was given on the lower side. But the psyllium may be the ticket .
The recommendation from the ER dvm was 1/8 tsp per day and just to mix it into the food. I do extra steps and stir it into broth until totally dissolved, then stir into food. The psyllium is my own initiative, because there's only so much we can do with commercial diet for a kidney cat with thyroid issues who is also in remission for diabetes ... So I give half of a capsule a day, which comes out to 0.2g dietary fiber.
I'm not able to monitor the box because there are other cats, but when I can catch her in there, the product and the process seem improved.
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- #10
Yep. 1/8 to 1/4 tsp twice a day is what my vet recommended.
Liver is in our C/K food and it's low on my list of concerns The amount of vitamin A is not high enough be toxic obviously being that the food is formulated for daily feeding.
