Would you take any steps to prevent CKD in this case?

I mentioned in my other thread about my civvie (still waiting for vet to call back this morning, normal vet is off today so other one in the office has to review the charts) that her kidney values were marginal.

Specifically, her BUN is 35 (normal reference 14-36), and her Creatinine is 2.4 (normal reference 0.6-2.4).

The only number outside the normal range on her chart is ALT (SGPT), which is 102 (normal reference 10-100), which the vet said is probably because of her infected tooth.

So given that, should I consider any diet change, or other actions, yet (obviously AFTER we sufficiently resolve the issue of her not eating at all), or wait until the numbers creep up out of the normal range?

She gets the same food as Shenandoah - FFC plus pumpkin mixed with some water, usually split across 6-7 feedings/day, and she eats small bits at a time so probably actually eats more like 12+ times/day (sigh. When she's eating at all).

 

There is really no diet that prevents/slows kidney degradation. BUN is a poor indicator of kidney degradations since it is greatly affected by diet. A high-protein diet will raise BUN. A high protein or high phosphorous dieted does not help "wear out" the kidnesy any faster.

 

Larry,

So why is it suggested to change diets in an attempt to lower the phosphorus level when CKD is in the picture?

 

Actually, high phosphorus levels will cause CKD to progress more rapidly: http://www.felinecrf.org/phosphorus.htm. It's a good idea to feed a lower phosphorus food, with higher quality protein to a cat with CKD.

It's also very important to keep CKD cats as hydrated as possible--mixing water in with food is a good way to increase moisture intake.

BUN numbers can be misleading if the cat is on a high protein diet, but there's no harm in feeding a lower phosphorus diet and increasing moisture intake (like you would with early stage CKD) just to be on the safe side. You don't mention how old your civvie is, but most cats over the age of 12 do have some reduced function of their kidneys (and it takes for them to lose about 2/3 of function before it will show up in tests). There's a food chart here that lists many commercial foods in order of phosphorus levels--anything under 250 mg/100 kcal is considered low phosphorus.

Low protein (prescription) diets are controversial--there's a lot of debate on whether the benefits outweigh the side effects of these (mainly muscle wasting), and if they're even all that effective. I definitely would not recommend feeding one of these to an early stage cat.

 

I would definitely go lower phosphorus with the food if you can. I've been fighting a raised phosphorus level for Rosa pretty much since she was diagnosed - her kidney values had been borderline 6 months before that, but the vet (and I) thought they were being affected by her diabetes which was diagnosed at that point. So keeping the phosphorus down now could mean you're fighting it less further down the line. Like Julia, I would not reduce the protein content in her food - in early stage CKD they need the protein to prevent muscle wasting. And the benefit of a low protein diet for CKD in cats is definitely still debatable - even among vets, some recommend low protein and some don't.

 

I am not disagreeing with that but higher phosphorus does not bring on CKD.