Hi all

I have been told that my cat has a kidney disease and needs a low phosphorus food.

At first he took well to the food given to us my the vet but he now won't touch it... am trying loads of different things but I am starting to get worried for him.

Does anybody know of any foods I can give him (chicken, egg, fish??), am willing to make food up myself if it means he eats it.

Needs ideas please.

My cat had chronic renal failure and wouldn't eat the 'special food' the vet gave him. The vet said he may not, as it isn't that palatable or tempting.

So I gave up on that and tried various foods until I struck on something he liked. By that point it didn't matter as he was quite unwell and it was better he ate something rather than nothing.

Is there anything your cat has particularly liked in the past? My cat happened to like tinned tuna, cooked coley, and a new brand of biscuits I tried - Eukanaba. He would sometimes eat his usual Felix pouches too. I hope you find something your cat will eat.

He has just eaten some cooked chicken with gravy.

This morning alone I have tried, the vets KD catfood, tuna and cooked coley, finally tried the chicken and when I put the bowl in front of him he jumped up and ate most of it (thank god!).

At least that gives me a few more hours to come up with his next meal.

Our other cat must think all his Christmases have come at once with all the food choices, he comes in a hovers it all up after!

That is good news.
One of the features of kidney failure (I found) was that some days they will not eat at all no matter what you offer them, other days they eat relatively well.

As his appetite seems to have diminished it would be worth taking him for a check up if he hasn't seen the vet recently.

Have you tried all the renal diet foods out there? When my cat was diagnosed my vet gave me samples of Hills KD pouches, tins and dried food and Royal Canine pouches (which come in a variety of flavours). He turned his nose up at Royal Canine tuna but loves their beef flavour. He also enjoys the Hills KD dried food, but won't touch the tinned stuff.

Unfortunately Woody (my other cat) loves the Hills KD dried food too, and would scoff the lot if I didn't keep an eye on him.

But as Lippencote says it is better he eats something than nothing at all - that was what my vet told me as well.

Slightly off topic, have you got a water fountain for your cat? I was advised to get one of those so that his water is filtered which will help his kidney function. It took him 2 weeks before he would drink from it, but now it's not a problem.

When I was looking after a cat with renal failure recently, he took to the special diet really well for about a week and then went off it, typical cat behaviour!!

He went from having a massive appetite to not being interested in anything, due to mouth ulcers which can be quite common with kidney failure, I think.

After some research on-line I was able to get him eating egg white scrambled egg, jars of baby food (make sure they don't contain onion or garlic) and a sardine soup, I made him by blending sardines and water to make a paste that he could just lick from my finger.

I did find that he would eat much better if I hand feed him rather than put food down for him, messy and time consuming, but worth it to see him eating!!

Hope this helps and that your boy is feeling better soon.

Thanks guys, much appreciated.

Have only tried the KD stuff at the moment but he has had chicken with gravy since yesterday morning... really conscious that he may turn his nose up at it any moment and I will be back to square one so appreciate the ideas.. Will have to stock up on some baby foods!

Has got to go back to the vets on Thursday for another blood test and a scan so will wait until I get more advice from the vet then.

Random question...
When we last took he down he ate his lunch moments before being put into his box (weren't expecting him to have a blood test so didn't starve him before hand)

Could this be a cause for a very high phosphorus rating? Vet said it should be between 16 and 20, his was 41. The vet also said he should be vomiting and have blood in his poo but other than being a little more subdue there is very little sign of any illness in him.

Have read the notes from the tablets we were given and it says one of the side effects is that it may stop him from wanting to eat… well what’s the bloody point in those tablets!

I too was told that my cat's blood results were through the roof, and he 'should' have all sorts of symptoms like mouth ulcers and vomiting, but he never did.

The vet said all cats are different, some with much lower blood results would have much worse symptoms. My cat's symptoms were always 'only' inappetance and lethargy; I think he also vomited once in the week before he died. Cats hide their symptoms very well and often are very ill before you realise anything is wrong.

It's very true about them hiding symptoms. That's why Shadow always gets his pet MOT every year. This year his kidney failure was picked up - even though he had no symptoms. And last year when he had his MOT bloods his T4 (thyroid) was the highest the vet had ever seen, but he showed no symptoms at all (other than vomiting, which could have been caused by any number of illnesses). I'd recommend an MOT to all cats of middle to old age, it really is worth while if you can catch something early enough, because cats can be too tough for their own good.

I hope it all goes well on Thursday - is he having his staging then, or has that been done already?

Interesting tips from Big Balls, I'll bear those in mind if Shadow goes off his renal diet.
Last edited by Shadow70 : 14-06-2011 at 12:29

When you say an MOT, do you mean full bloods in addition to the annual examination? Full bloods are very expensive, but could be worth doing for older cats. My 15 year old had full bloods a few months ago because she was drinking a lot. The tests didn't show any problems though, waste of money that was (joking)

My cat who died of kidney failure was only 8 years old so it was a big surprise to both me and the vet. He was put on Fortekor, but it didn't seem to help at all. As vets say, outcomes are very variable.

That is sad about your cat, and very young to lose him.

The MOT my vets does includes bloods, urine test and a physical. It costs £30 if you have it in conjunction with the cat's annual boosters. Considering how much a set of blood tests cost if they were a stand alone test, this is a good deal I think. And as it picked up Shadow's health problems well worth doing.

That sounds like a good deal. The full bloods my cat had done cost a lot more.

Depends a bit on what facilities your vet has I suspect. Mine can do the liver and kidney stuff in-house but has to send away the T4s. It also depends on your vet - some charge an arm and a leg just to say 'hello'.

Same here, all the blood tests are done in house at our vet, results back same day. But T4 gets sent away and takes a few days.

I was lucky that my vets do T4 in house by the sound of it. Especially as both my elderly cats had thyroid problems. The only thing they don't seem to do in house is faeces samples - I remember having to send one off in the post to a lab in Newmarket and thinking of the poor old postman, if only he knew what was in the package that he delivered.

And when Shadow had his cystocentisis (sp) this year that had to be sent away too.

Thanks for the ongoing advice.

Both cats are going in on Thursday for a full checkup, I want to know what I am dealing with and what I can do to help them.

It may be my imagination but when picking him up today he feels heavier - will make sure he is weighed on Thursday to check his weight from when he was first disguised with this.

He is currently sat on the back of the sofa behine me without a care in the world!

Hope it all goes well at the vet's today.

Thanks, good news an not so good news.

Took the cats in and it turns out that both cats are suffering from the same condition.

Vet is keeping them in overnight on their drips.

Went to see them at the vets this evening and it was heart breaking to see them in there with the pipes coming from them. It is very hard but I know they are in the right place at the moment and fingers crossed they are both much better tomorrow.

Vet did keep saying they will have to go back 'in a few months' for a check up... am currently clinging to the few months quote which she said more than once.

How old are your cats Chris?

My uncle's cat lived for 18 months after her diagnosis of CRF, the vet had suggested putting her to sleep at that time but she had a good quality life up until the last week or two before I took her to the vet to be put to sleep. She was 13.

My cousin's cat is over 16 and was diagnosed with CRF about 6 months ago. She's not eating her special dietary food but is eating other food reasonably well. The vet told my cousin he would expect her to live about a year.

Good luck with both your cats.

Chicken, fish and lots of water.
Plus anything she or he fancies (& they usually let you know). If the renal problems are advanced what they need is tlc, not Hills science plan renal stuff which they usually ignore.

Aw, your poor kitties (and you). And extra sad as it turns out that both of them have the same problem. I bet you can't wait to get them home from the vet and give them lots of love.

I think it depends to some extent what stage the kidney disease is at, though I was warned by my vet that it's not an exact science. Shadow's is early stages and I have been told that he could have another year/year and a half, I hope it is the same for your two.

As awful as it sounds, at least with CRF we have time to prepare for when our cats get too ill and come to terms with it. My other cat had heart failure and I had two and a half years with him after the diagnosis. It made me appreciate him so much more and make the most of our time together and when I did have to say goodbye it was still heartbreaking but easier to accept. I know that doesn't sound like much of a consolation right now.

My cats are Persian brothers - same Dad. There is three weeks between them and they are 16, which I am told is very good for Persian cats.

Got them home on Friday and the first thing they did was go to their food bowls!

They do seems much better for the moment - vets phoned twice yesterday to see how they were - have to go back for a check up on Thursday to see how they have stabilised.

Thanks for all your advise and support folks.

Glad to hear they are doing well.

Hope everything goes well on Thursday, let us all know how you get on.

My Jingle was diagnosed with renal failure and ate the special food for a while! I came across a site which gave you the phosphorous content for each type of food and I opted for one that was easily available locally.

http://www.felinecrf.org/tinned_food_uk.htm

She lived for a good couple of years after diagnosis on a combination of Felix Senior in Jelly (I think it was) and the drugs prescribed.

Best of luck OP.

That's a really good link, thanks for sharing it.