Food & Litter Suggestions

Hi everyone! It's been a hot minute! I apologize for my absence. Moose's diabetes has been in remission for quite some time which is great. However, there's still the issue of the kidney disease. He just went for his semi-annually senior check up and remarkably, everything seems to be in order. While his creatinine/BUN levels aren't ideal, they haven't gotten worse.

The issue is, he is ravenously hungry and can't seem to keep on weight. At his highest (when he was diabetic) he was 24 lbs! Now he's down to a mere 7 lbs. I feed him the recommended calories per Lisa's recommendation on this site, but he doesn't seem to keep weight on. The vet checked his thyroid and checked his stool for worms. Both were normal.

I have tried to feed him more, but on the days that I do feed him more, he ends up with diarrhea. Even if I split the amount up and feed him small meals throughout the day. Not to mention, he no longer poops in his box. He hasn't for 2 years now. All medical issues have been ruled out, and I have tried every trick in the good (new litter, extra extra litter box, low sided litter box, move the litter boxes, add cat attract, etc.) I believe his avoidance of the litter box started after I switched his food once, two years ago. He ended up with diarrhea at that time and since then he refuses to poop in the littler box.

I'm having a hard time finding a food that is 1. low carb 2. low phosphorus and 3. high calorie. The vet suggested the Science Hill KD food which I politely declined, as I had discussed with my last vet that it was better to keep him on the high protein to keep the diabetes in remission, rather than focus on low protein for the KD.

Also, he has now started to pee outside of the litter box. The pooping outside of the litter box has been an issue for a while but the peeing is new. Again, all is fine in the medical arena. Blood sugar is normal, no UTI, no crystals or sugar in his urine. I did switch to a new pine pellet litter about 2 months ago and he was using it just fine. I do have one little box with the pine pellets and another with regular clay litter (Dr. Elsey's which is what he has used for years.) I'm not sure what the sudden desire to pee outside the litter box has come from when there have been no changes. I do have a large, low sided litter box in case it's due to arthritis.

Any suggestions are welcome when it comes to the food that will help him to put on weight and a littler box and/or litter that will encourage him to box poop/pee in the litter box. Right now my downstairs has been lined with puppy pads for the time being (working on getting some more washable ones) but the carpet has definitely been destroyed and will need to be ripped up at some point. & yes I do scoop the boxes regularly and use Nature's Miracle to clean the poo/pee spots on the carpet.

 

Hi there! I'm fairly new to the FD + CKD dance and we've tried many options. The one food I found to be ideal for both FD and CKD is Weruva's Jeopurrdy Licious that is just chicken, no fish. According to the Weruva site, it's got 4% carbs, 31 calories per ounce, protein is 34.1% and phosphorus is 187mg/100 kcal. My Ruby prefers pates and she loves this mashed up with lots of warm water. You can buy it in a 5.5 oz pouch from Chewy or Amazon so it's less pricey. Wish I had some ideas for your LB troubles though. Sounds very challenging. Good luck with it.

 

Omg he's wasting away. If he's underweight, please feed him as much as he will eat.

Two weruva foods that are good calorie wise are Goody Stew Shoes and What a Crock. Both around 100 calories but they are also basically gravy so easy to eat. They are also both under 10 carb and under 1 percent phosphorus.

My cat had ckd and diabetes and has hyperthyroidism so it's important for her to keep up her weight.

Here's a list of foods she eats
Weruva slide and serve pate foods Family Food (.97 phosphorus and 0 carb). Also Jeopurrdy Chicken (0.97 P 6.1 carb)

What a Crock 0.71 phosphorus and 8 carb lots of gravy so she loves it.

Goody stew shoes 0.71 phosphorus, 8.5 carb. This one is a big hit

Weruva Steak Frites (0.57 phosphorus 5.5 carb although I take out any big pieces of potatoes to try to limit the carbs just a bit)

Weruva LA isla Bonita - phosphorus 0.77 carb 4.5 (used to like, not a favorite anymore)
Glam and punk 1% carb, 0.93 phosphorous.

Weruva paw lickin chicken 3.3 carb 0.82 p and
Press your lunch 5.9 carb. 0.82 phosphorous

Bff play Laugh Out Loud chicken and lamb 7.7 carb, 0.82 phosphorous

BFF play destiny (chicken and duck) 0.87 phosphorus 7.7 carb

Bff play chicken cherish 0.71 phosphorus 7.6 carb

Bff play best buds chicken and beef 7.9 carb 0.9 phosphorus

Bff play chicken Checkmate. 7.7 carb 0.7 phos

New favorite On the Cat Wok 3.8 carb 0.74 phos

 

Idiopathic cystitis?
Stress?
Have you tried pre and probiotics?
Profibre from protexin?