Best Food for CRF Civvies?

A friend's elderly cat (18-ish?), who has recently been diagnosed with hyperthyroidism (under control with meds) says that now some kidney problems have surfaced and her vet said it is "Degenerative Kidney Disease". The vet recommends k/d Hills prescription diet.

She is getting overwhelmed trying to research more nutrition options on the internet. I was wondering if any of you might have some suggestions. I think she is also possibly willing to learn to make "home-made" food too, so if you have a link to some appropriate recipes, I will pass them on.

Any input appreciated. Thanks.

 

Here are the CRF links that are in Holly & Spader's signature:


CRF Links

There CRF groups in there - forums like this one for CRF - and food links too. Pass that on to her, but you might want to read the stuff too so that you can discuss it and support her that way.


PS: I've read on this site that KD is not the best food for CRF kitties. I think we have to be suspicious of any of the Hill's products.

 

Thanks Vic for posting my links!

Friskies Special Diet wet food is basically what I fed Spader. I tried to keep the phos under about 230-250. Check out Janet and Binky's charts and my links for some other ideas.

 

Thanks Vic and Holly!

I am sending her the links with the info......seems that she has a bit of reading to do.

 

I'm feeding:

Friskies Special Diet - turkey giblets
EVO 95% - chicken turkey
Raw - Natures Variety chicken turkey

All of these are low carb and low phosphorus (under 250).

 

Send her to Dr. Lisa's site - great article there on kidneys and food.

Basically, anything EXCEPT Hill's k/d! That is so low in protein that the cat may start cannibalizing their own muscle mass to get protein. Studies now show that it's not the protein that causes the problem in CRF cats, but the waste product, so high quality, good protein is best, and keep the phosphorus low. Canned or raw food only- they need the moisture.

 

Could someone please send me the link for Dr. Lisa's site?

 

Sorry 'bout that! It's : http://www.catinfo.org/

 

Thanks so much, Karen!

 

I'm feeding Gabby Friskie's special diet right now, but I'm starting to become concerned with it because my vet told me that urinary tract diets make the urine more acidic, and a cat with CRF already has very acidic urine and it can further deteriorate the kidneys. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12831103

I've researched foods again and I'm about to switch her to Petguard to the Chicken & Beef, and Fish, chicken and liver flavors. I called the company for the as fed values, used Jan's calculations and the carbs/phos levels are as follows:


Chicken & Beef:
Prot.: 37%
Fat: 48%
Carbs: 14%
Fiber: 1g/100kcal
Phos: 141mg/100ckal

Fish, Cx, Liver:
Prot.: 35%
Fat: 57%
Carbs: 7%
Fiber: 1g/100kcal
Phos: 195mg/100ckal


There's no by-products, so I'm hoping the higher quality protein will also help Gabby out, as it should produce less bad waste.

 

Thank you for the info........I'm passing everything posted here to her to look over.

 

I just switched Calliope to the Friskies Special Diet flavors Turkey and Giblets and Beef and Chicken. I'm concerned about this information. Anyone else have any issues with Special Diet? I don't want to create another problem while trying to solve one.

Thanks

 

I just commented on Julia's other thread about Friskies Special Diet.. maybe follow that one as well. I'm interested too! I'm wondering if they've changed the special diet foods lately? I was looking into those foods back in 05 I believe, when Cuddles was dx with CRF. If I saw anything that said 'urinary health' on the cans, I don't think I would have tried them! I'm definitely going to take a look at them when I go buy Friskies today or tomorrow.

(Also, someone posted the ingredients of the Special Diet ones, but someone else said the companies have up to 6 months to actually update the ingredients & labels? Kind of wondering if anything like this has happened with the special diet foods..)