Kidney disease

Does kidney disease and insulin or diabetes go hand in hand? What is the best food for a kitty with both?

 

Low carb low Phosphorous ... what stage kidney disease is Mel in?

 

Supposedly early stage . His # was 1.6. And something about tribe as well. Mel is a very picky eater. I am taking him to the specialist in August. I have read vitamin B is used sometimes. Also I have been adding extra water to his food.

 

Urine not tribe.

 

Yeah thats where my Zoe is at stage 1-2. They SOLD me 12 cans of "special" food for 40 bucks! she ate one can then refused the rest.

 

I will be VERY interested in what a specialist has to say! Please post again after that appointment.

We cant afford to even see a reg vet at the moment so I'm flying blind here

 

Will do. I know what you mean. I have that care credit card. His vet said leave him be let him be a cat. I am doing that but if there is anything to improve his quality of life I am interested. I would also like to know if Diabetes is most likely pre I motive to the kidney disease.

 

I dont think for every cat it is . Not sure on that though. Zoe doesnt have diabetes so...?

 

I am sure that it does not go hand in hand although the risk may be moderately related. Monkey and PenPen (remitted) has diabetes and normal kidney function. My another cat FaFas has stage 2 CKD but no diebetes at all

 

Hi Merrie,

You are correct in your thought that diabetes can have a knock-on effect on kidney function but it's not an inevitability. CKD can also develop in non-diabetic cats. Both conditions can be managed - although there can be a bit of juggling. The better regulated a kitty is, the lesser impact the diabetes will have on other organs in general.

In case you've not had a recommendation for it yet, I can do no better than point you to Tanya's Site, a tremendous resource for all things feline CKD—and a highly reputable one. The site is down for maintenance at the moment but they estimate that it will be up again very soon.

** Word of warning**: there is a mountain of information on Tanya's site and with CKD there are a lot of things to get your head around. I suggest pacing yourself going through the site because taken in one hit it can be utterly overwhelming, both in terms of trying to take in the information and also the emotional impact.

As JT recommends above, for cats in early stage renal insufficiency the easiest way to start helping them is to find a low carb, low phosphorus food that your kitty likes to eat. I feel for you with the finnicky kitteh! Adding a little drop of water to Mel's grub's a good idea, too.


Mogs
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Thanks for letting the forum know about this, Mogs. Tanya's Site is the bible for CKD. If I'm sending someone to Tanya's site, I'll check to see if it is still offline and add a caveat.

(((Mogs)))

 

Thank you

 

@Merrie - How's Mel doing? Any improvement in the appetite? (Vitamin B12 supplementation can help a bit with that.)


Mogs
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Mel is ok he is stage 2 and no phosphorus. On advice of internal medicine specialist we a going to start him on Rx kidney diet and monitor the diabetes and adjust insulin as needed. Going to be a long few weeks. Right now his B12 level is ok . Lots of info to digest for sure. Thanks for asking

 

OS. Mel’s appetite is ok at this time. Eating fairly normally. Weight nit significantly changes. Constipation is an issue. Managing with Miralax.

 

Please be aware that many of the renal diets are high in carbs.

 

Yes I know. It is very difficult to find a solution to this diet issue. Mel’s Vet said the diabetes is more important than Kidney and the specialist says early stage it is important to give the kidney diet and manage the diabetes. Quandary for sure.

 

What a darling looking kitty.

 

Our kitties certainly do keep us on our toes, don't they? I have one cat who was diagnosed with 2nd stage kidney failure 16 months ago and another cat who was heading towards remission from diabetes when she was diagnosed. It was so overwhelming to find a food that was both low in carbs and low in phosphorus because all of my cats eat the same thing. (I have 5.) it was at that time that someone on this message board told me about EZ Complete raw food supplement. Because it's made with egg shell it is low in phosphorus, and it's also low in carbs. It can be added to raw ground or chopped up meat, and it is complete. It's a little expensive, but compared to the prescription foods and the canned foods that all of them were permitted to eat, it's still cheaper. I honestly believe that this food is what kept Celie from progressing any further in her kidney disease and helped put Jack into full remission two months after he started eating it. Jack is still in remission and Celie continues to be fabulous! I'll come back and share a link with you, in case you're interested. It's not for everyone, but for those who have specific needs it can be an answer to a dilemma. Good luck in whatever you choose to do.

 

https://www.foodfurlife.com/store/p4/EZComplete_Fur_Cats_450g_-_Makes_24.2_lbs_of_food.html#/
This is a link to a larger bag. Smaller bags can be purchased, and you can even get a small sample size to try it out. It does take some of them awhile to adjust, and you have to introduce it slowly. All of that info is on their website.

 

Hi and sorry for Mel's diagnose but it is not that difficult to manage especially if the CKD is in it's early stages, if you took a look at Tanya's web site and according to may specialists renal diets are not really the best option for early stages even without diabetes because those diets have very low protein content and they may start losing muscle mass ( in the late stages things and priorities are very different), but you do need to start taking care of his kidneys, so starting him on a low phosphorus diet ( not necessarily as low as the kidney prescription diet) as long as is also low carb is going to really help him going forward, and starting him on omegas and B vitamin complex will also help him.

Even though it doesn't appear to be a relationship between diabetes and CKD, there are a lot of diabetic cats with no kidney problems what so ever, having a non regulated diabetes can put extra strain in a cat's kidneys with CKD making things worse on the long run so I would not recommend giving preference to the kidney diets over keeping him regulated you will need to assess both issues juggling a bit between them and that is low carb with as low phosphorus as possible and you may eventually need to start giving him phosphorus binders but probably not yet

What were his kidney numbers in the blood work (creatinine, BUN, phosphorus, calcium, potasium, SDMA)?

 

Hi Merrie,

Thank you for the update. I'm glad to hear Mel's doing well and is eating OK.

Here is a very helpful page from Tanya's Site which discusses dietary choices for CKD cats. It may help you in your decision-making, given that you've had conflicting advice from the vets involved in Mel's care. It's especially useful for learning about feeding approach based on the stage of CKD you're dealing with:

CKD - What to Feed and What to Avoid

Good blood glucose regulation can reduce the risk of damage to internal organs such as diabetic nephropathy, but when managing multiple health issues one needs to be guided by each individual cat's health requirements. If CKD is in the early stages, good phosphorus control is probably the most critical thing to get a handle on. This can open up options to feed a diet that is lower in carbohydrates than the Rx renal foods provided one keeps an eye to their phosphorus content. As the CKD progresses it may be more appropriate to prioritise CKD dietary needs over the diabetes and to work the insulin around foods with a higher carb content. Phosphorus binders can be used if a cat refuses low phosphorus commercial foods or specialist renal support foods.

Re the constipation, here's another helpful resource:

felineconstipation.org


Mogs
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