? Pre-diabetic/pre-renal, need support

Hi! This is my first post in this forum. Just found out that my 10 year old cat Buttercup is pre-diabetic and early renal failure. She's overweight at 11.2 lbs (she has a small frame). Our vet said to give her a set amount of renal food, get her to lose 1 lb and come back for more bloodwork. If not improved, she starts insulin. :-( She's getting 1/4 cup of renal kibble in the morning and a small can in the evening.

Problem is, I mistakenly free-fed kibble until I found out why that is a big problem with cats about a year ago. My other two cats love canned food (we make "cat food soup" with half a bowl of water, and it's gone in the morning), but Buttercup is addicted to her kibble. Is tough love here appropriate? If she's hungry enough, she'll eat the canned food we put out, right? The only reason I cave and still give her kibble in the morning is because she isn't eating all of the can at night. Should I stop the kibble completely at this point? I need her to lose weight so she doesn't become diabetic, but I need her to eat wet food so she doesn't kill her kidneys. She doesn't want to do either. She is being pretty dramatic, and it's hard not to give in but I would like to control this with diet if possible! Please tell me she won't starve herself to death, and she doesn't need kibble.

 

Here's a great article on Transitioning from kibble to canned but you don't need (and probably shouldn't) bother with any of the "Prescription" foods anyway.

They are horrible.....there's nothing in them that requires a prescription and there was a class action lawsuit against all of them

You want to find a low carb, low phosphorus canned food.....that will help control both the blood glucose and the renal issues.

 

One example of a low carb, low phosphorus food is weruva bff cans. Do you have a copy of your cats most recent labs you could post? When you say prediabetic, what were the numbers? What are the creatnine and bun for the kidney values? The Renal kibble is not diabetic friendly at all.

 

Thank you for your response! Her glucose was 225, and I don't remember her BUN/creatinine. I will call the vet this morning and find out.

Right now I have Sheba cans that a coworker gave me after her cat died, as well as Royal Canin renal canned food, which she hates even more than she hates other canned food. I just ordered I And Love And You's Oh My Cod, because it's low carb according to a chart I found online. Now that I look at that chart again, the phosphorus is 433. What is the upper limit of phosphorus I should look for?

 

Try to keep phosphorus under 250 and carbs under 10.

http://catinfo.org/docs/CatFoodProteinFatCarbPhosphorusChart.pdf

 

Just got off the phone with the vet's office. Glucose 225, BUN 35, creatinine 2.6.

 

ok, it's stage 2 kidney disease... So it's a good idea to find a lower phosphorous food and add extra water to it. Add a few more water sources around the house too... maybe santa can bring your kitty a fountain or two. In the future you can look into adding sub q fluids to her treatment plan. The glucose is high, but not crazy high... plus it usually elevates a bit from vet stress. I would get a monitor for home so you can make sure it doesn't go up.... and see if the lower carb food will (hopefully) be enough.

 

Thank you Janet! We have a fountain, and she uses it but certainly not as much as she should. I add quite a bit of water to the canned food. Since I've started that, there is MUCH more pee in the litter box, but likely from my other cat who doesn't care for kibble. I have some saline flushes at home and 24 gauge needles (I'm a nurse and these followed me home in my pockets), so I can give her a little sub q fluids. I'm working to get her completely off kibble. We're down to 1/4 cup of it in the morning, and a small can with water per cat set out in the evening. I'm headed to Petco today with the cat food chart to get some low carb/low phos food for her.
I watched your video on testing blood sugar. Do you think I should invest in one at this point, or wait for our follow-up labs after she's lost a pound?

 

totally up to you. you could get a cheap human meter to monitor. the relion confirm or micro from walmart are poplular on here. the meter is like $17, and 50 test strips like $20.