Need Advice About Food With Cat That Has Ibd And Kidney Failure

[okeelady]

Good morning all! I'm going crazy trying to figure out a canned food with low phosphorus to feed my cat. I'll try to make this short. I've had her for about 9 years because the neighbors left her when they moved out and I don't know how old she is. I've been feeding her royal canin gastrointestinal for her IBD which has helped a lot. She started vomiting more than normal so I took her to the vet Monday and the vet thinks now she has kidney failure. She said to start feeding her the lowest phosphorus canned food as well as the dry. I found a couple sites that had lists of canned food so I went to Tractor Supply (the stone age town I live in only has Walmart, a couple grocery stores and tractor supply.) I bought a can of Wellness Turkey Pate because it was listed as having 200 phosphorus and she ate it. Come to find out they changed their recipe (I emailed them). Here's their response: Thank you for taking the time to write to us about our Wellness® Turkey canned cat food. We did recently update our wet cat recipes and their nutritional content. The phosphorus for the Turkey Pate is 382 mg/100kcals. Can anyone give me a few choices? I'm willing to make a road trip (about 40 miles) to a Petsmart etc to get a few different types to try then I can order whichever one she'll eat online. Thanks so much!!!!

 

[Kieka]

Have you seen this site? Tanya's Comprehensive Guide to Feline Chronic Kidney Disease - Which Foods to Feed, and Which to Avoid, there is a link to a table on it with phosphorus levels but as you know you do want to check to make sure the manufacture hasn't changed the formula.

There is also this one: http://catinfo.org/docs/CatFoodProteinFatCarbPhosphorusChart.pdf

I am surprised your vet is recommending staying on the dry food. Usually, when a cat is diagnosed with kidney problems one of the things to do is get as much water into them which includes switching to an all wet diet for the higher water content of the food.

 

[Antonio65]

She started vomiting more than normal so I took her to the vet Monday and the vet thinks now she has kidney failure. She said to start feeding her the lowest phosphorus canned food as well as the dry.

So your vet THINKS your cat has CKD, there is no scientific proof of it, no test done.
Shouldn't it be better to assess the CKD for sure and then move to a proper diet?
Your cat might be vomiting for something else and your vet is approaching the issue the wrong side. You say your cat has IBD, it might be something related to it.

 

[okeelady]

There's only a couple vets in my town and I took her to one a year or so ago when she had nasty diarrhea/vomiting and he did bloodwork (no biopsy) and thought she probably had IBD because her liver & pancreas level was high and put her on royal canin gastrointestinal which helped. Then I switched vets and shes been monitoring bloodwork every few months and her bun & crea levels have been increasing. Her bun was 40mg now 43mg. Crea was 2.6mg now 3.0mg. Her liver and pancreas levels are fine now. A few months ago the new vet put her on Hills K/D dry. She hardly ate it and the nasty diarrhea came back so we went back to Royal Canin. I give her a low dose of prednisolone every other day. I have to mix the pill in Fancy Feast(which she likes) which is fine because I can't give her the pill by myself. My vet said she has several issues going on. I have been to both of those websites numerous times. In fact I have the PDF list in my phone and stood at Tractor Supply for 1/2 hr+ analyzing the phos and protein content on every can there only to find out later the Wellness formula changed. I also bought a can of Hills indoor which she tried to bury. I know not every cat will like the same thing. Over the years I've had many cats and do know that. I was just hoping for a few suggestions before I spend a ton of money only to throw cans away. I'll start emailing some of the companies to make sure ingredients haven't changed before I travel to a pet store.

 

[Antonio65]

shes been monitoring bloodwork every few months and her bun & crea levels have been increasing. Her bun was 40mg now 43mg. Crea was 2.6mg now 3.0mg. Her liver and pancreas levels are fine now.

Alright, I'm sorry, I didn't have this information.
It might be that whatever ingredient she can't eat because of her IBD is included in one of the foods you're giving her.
My cat has been diagnosed with IBD and she can't eat fish or chicken (or whatever meat coming from feathered animals) and absolutely no grains!
Had you investigated what is that bothers her intestine?

 

[okeelady]

Hi Antonio! I'm still researching the canned foods. What do you feed your cat with IBD? Mine will only eat turkey pate. I may check into the Royal Canin (non-rx) foods. I did find this list that could be helpful!
Wet Cat Foods - Low Phosphorous & Restricted Protein

 

[okeelady]

My vet did say the "grain free" really didn't matter as long as the phosphorus was low and the protein was a minimum of 30. But I would imagine every vet may be different. She did say she just went to a seminar about kidney/urinary issues and the phosphorus was the main thing to look for.

 

[Antonio65]

Yes, in the case of a CKD cat, low phosporus is important.
My cat isn't CKD, only IBD.
I had noticed that whenever she would eat something with grains (or rice) she would throw up. Same thing with fish or chicken.
Now I'm feeding her with a wet food only.
I'm Italian, live in Italy. I have found an Italian brand who produces special needs wet food.
Natural Adult Lamb Chunks in Soft Pâté | Novafoods Trainer
It says lamb as the main ngredient, but actually the main ingredient is pork, as you can read in the composition tab.

 

[okeelady]

I'm still having a hard time with this low phosphorous canned food search. I've emailed/called several companies and confused even more. What does 10% As Fed Protein 0.12% As Fed Phosphorus mean? So I find one food that she "may" eat on one of the charts that were referred here and call Petco before I drive an hour to make sure they have it and guess what? They don't have it in stock! I decide to go by my vets office and get the Hill's K/D until I can figure things out and guess what? They don't have it in stock! Really makes you want to cry.

 

[okeelady]

Update...after a ton of researching etc I believe I found a canned cat food that will work. It's Royal Canin Aging 12+ loaf in gravy. I emailed them to find out the phosphorus level and ordered a case of it. It's not cheap but thats OK and she loves it! I was concerned about diarrhea and vomiting and shes been fine. I'm still giving her the dry food but smaller amounts to keep her IBD in check. This is what Royal Canin said about the phosphorus:
Phosphorus (min) 0.125%