- Joined
- May 3, 2016
- Messages
- 48
- Purraise
- 1
I feel you. I fed my senior kibble his whole life up until a year and half ago, and when i tried to transition him to wet food he wouldn't have any of it. We settled on mostly raw with a little kibble as a snack. I've been lucky that his only medical issue up to this point was hyperthyroidism, which was treated with radioiodine and (fingers crossed) so far his kidneys look good.
Hi,
Thanks for the reply. I've had a look at that site and have it bookmarked so will definitely refer back to if i need to.
The vet did mention dehydration when the high levels came up, and that may be the case seeing as they seemed to have dropped. The SDMA is still in the upper range of normal, so I guess that's what was on my mind. Whether it's possible to quantify the likelihood of it developing based on that. I feel terrible thinking dietary choices I made may cause something like that.
I have to speak with the vet again in more detail, but no they didn't seem overly concerned at the moment.
Thanks. I actually bought some of the grain free holistic select the other day and have yet to try it. Is that what you feed? I had a quick look at the ingredients and it contained xantham gum, and cassa gum. I don't really know much about either so wanted to do a quick research.Hi there, I'm in Australia too. I'm so sorry to hear about the possible kidney issues with your lovely cat. You mentioned Ziwipeak as a food, and thought I may also suggest Holistic Select canned food. It's more pate style but could be another option too add in as a bit of a change.. It's available at most pet stores and online pet stores, just a suggestion if you wanted to check it out
I share your same concerns, and don't really feel I can do the total homemade raw until I know exactly what I'm doing. There isn't any balanced complete raw (aside from the barf) that is available overseas, but its seems using a supplement with your own meats is a good alternative. Of course, there's not much available here either. I've had a look into it over the past few days and it seems most companies won't ship due to stricter import restrictions here in Australia. (great!)It's hard here is t it, trying to get decent wet food. I have been considering raw but don't know enough about balancing the nutrients etc and don't want to take the risk of long term damage (made by me!). Sigh! Would love to know if you have any other suggestions as well
From what I understand SDMA is really the first and best indicator of kidney disease, so the fact his numbers went down is a great thing. Ultimately we don't really know what causes CKD other than feeding dry food. But sometimes it's just genetics and nothing can change that. The best thing you can do is feed all wet/raw food, offer lots of water sources (bowls or drinking fountains) to encourage drinking, and regular vet check ups. There's no evidence that low proteins diets help the kidneys at all, so I wouldn't go that route. It sounds like you're doing all the right things.
My cat since has been in and had some follow up results. I'm still not sure what to make of them. His creatinine is still in normal range and his sdma actually dropped a bit. Although his urine is now more dilute and slightly out of the normal range. Aside from the possibility of kidney disease, the vet said this could caused by the move to a wet diet, or also due to some damage in the kidney that was found a number of months ago.
Any experience or thoughts on this are welcome. Are there any 'just in case' type dietary changes for possible kidney disease? My vet said it was just regular checkups and nothing to alter at this point.