How can I find my old pictures?

[Olly]

When my elderly cat was diagnosed with kidney disease some years ago, the vet prescribed Hills dry food for her - the special low protein one. I was worried because she had almost no teeth left, but he said she would just crunch it up in her gums - and he was right.

 

Like you Seagazer, the smell of wet food makes me heave, and I'd understood that dry foods had improved a lot so that the worries about kidney disease were reduced. However at a recent consultation about the hypothyroidism, I asked about this and the vet said that in his opinion cats never drink enough to counteract the lack of moisture in dry food, he said he only feeds it to his own cat with water added, and wet food on top. My cats are now getting mostly wet food - they are very happy!

 

I would feed Sophie whatever she enjoys eating and not worry too much. I had a constant battle with my former neighbour ('I've just given her some lovely fresh salmon, dear') who didn't understand the low protein thing! In the end I reckoned it wouldn't make a lot of difference to the outcome and it was more important for Lonnie to enjoy life. She had a good three/four years after the diagnosis, reaching the age of 17, so with an early diagnosis Sophie's chances are pretty good.

[Seagazer]

Thanks Olly, honestly it's almost as bad as having a new baby and not knowing what to do for the best!

 

Sophie keeps miaowing at me for more of the runny stuff - I think I'll get a few sachets of wet just in case she turns her nose up at the dry Hills food.

 

So funny when I'm feeding her, I shut us in then kitchen and I have a glazed door - Toby and Lottie (the kitties) and Cook keep sitting patiently at the door hoping to get some of the lovely food!

[Chucky Mama]

Good to hear that you now have a diagnosis. Shifting cats from dry to wet food helps enormously with cats with urinary and kidney issues.

 

Hmm should I just leave her on wet food then?

I would if she were mine

[Seagazer]

Thanks for that CM

[Chucky Mama]

Hills do a wet feline KD food, I just thought I might have confused things. I meant that ideally she should be having Hills wet (tinned) KD which is the kidney diet. Royal Canin do one too called Royal Canin Renal Support, that comes dried or in pouches.

[Seagazer]

We have the Hills Kd wet and dry food now. She ate half the dry portion, so that's probably more than she would normally eat. I might give her one of each per day.

[Space Chick]

If you don't like the smell of wet food, have you thought about raw feeding.

 

I know the cats with kidney problems can do really well on it.

 

If you are nervous of getting the balance right, then a company Natural Instinct does complete raw cat food.

 

My cats (even my Sophie kitten) are thriving on raw food (although I make my own using the Frankenprey approach with good quality free range meat from the farmers market..... In fact I was telling OH at tea I'd put in the order for this weekend and the poor guy was gutted when he found out some of the meats weren't for us, as he really wanted the Ox Tongue )

[Seagazer]

I have to say I've never thought of raw feeding any of them, cats or dog. my problem is that I'm away quite a few weekends and I don't think that ES would probably cope! I'm dreading our first weekend away as who knows who he'll end up feeding what (I've currently got Toby kitten on metacam in food for a limping leg)! He has to eat separately as does Sophie!

 

I'm thinking of just setting up a standing order to the vets!!

 

Plus side is that Sophie has gained a little weight and her fur looks better.

[Lavenders_Blue]

Raw feeding is easy peasy once you get the hang of it - quite a few of us on here do it and would be happy to advise if you wanted to have a go. There are plenty of high quality foods that you can use if needs be (eg going away for a weekend) such as Naturediet for dogs (sorry I don't know anything about cat foods) or even 'preprepared' raw such as Natural Instinct, which is quite expensive for a raw food but could be handy to keep in the freezer if needed for weekends away etc.

[The Dogmother]

I also feed raw to both cats and dogs; easy once you get into the swing of things and you see a marked improvement in their condition.

 

A lot of dried foods can cause kidney problems as they are designed to be fed in conjunction with a good water intake and some cats just won't drink that much. Try adding about a dessert spoon of water to the wet/raw food and mixing it up, this will increase liquid uptake. I once had an adopted cat who came to me with kidney problems, he just went on a raw diet like the rest of the critters and improved no end. Tinned/pouch cat food is highly scented to encourage them to eat it, so if they turn their noses up at chilled raw them add a bit of warm water to increase the smell.

 

It's worth trying.

Edited February 5, 2013 by Guest

[Seagazer]

Over the last couple of weeks Sophie has begun to lose weight again. Took her back in for more tests - blood and urine. The blood was slightly raised on the kidney analysis but the urine was very high. She's been given some tablets for chronic renal failure which should make her feel a bit better in the short term. The vet said that she has a very poor prognosis and she doesn't expect Sophie to last more than a couple of months.

 

I'd sort of expected this diagnosis, it doesn't make it any easier though. Now I just have to make sure that I recognise when the time is right to make that awful decision. At the moment she's still going out, likes to have a lap to sleep on. I'm hoping she at least makes it to her 15th birthday next month.

 

It doesn't make it any easier with each pet that you have, the end is always awful. I'm making the most of our lap cuddles.