Dia
My 16 yr old cat is starting to have kidney issues. The vet has recommended buying cat food that has between low protein, 9-12% protein. He said that the prescription diet contains 8% and she does not have to go on that yet. I have searched, but can not find food with less than 28% protein. Any suggestions?
Geneva
Hi If your cat is not in final stages, this is not want you want to do. There are new thoughts on this and the thinking is it is not the amount of protein but the quality of protein that matters. The Merck veterinary manual [www. merckvetmanual. com] says that cats need "4 g of protein of high biologic value per kg body wt/day". Thats about 7 calories from protein per pound body weight per day. If a cat isnt a good eater and consumes, say, 20 calories per pound per day, then 7/20 = 35% of calories can safely be from protein. It must be high quality protein, which means meat, fish, milk, and eggs, and not grain or soy. I am under the assumption that you have been feeding mostly dry foods. Many use a vegetable based protein instead of animal and that is part of the problem.. Your cat needs protein as it is a carnivore and cutting down on it will lead to other health issues and may cause faster degeneration. You want to cut down on fat and phosphorous (no fish allowed now) The best way to do this is with a raw diet which you can make yourself or buy. (making yourself is better) link provided at the bottom If you are unwilling to do that then something like the non fish flavors of Wellness or merrick with NO grains are good alternatives. You also will want to look into phosphorous binders. Something like aluminum hydroxide You also either want to talk to the vet about having injectable pepcid ac on hand or you can buy it in pill form (ac not plain pepcid) and give 1/4 tab for stomach upset which happens alot in crf cats due to acid in the stomach. I hope this stuff helps, here are many links for you Making cat foodhttp://www. catinfo. org/makingcatfood. htmother linkshttp://www. marvistavet. com/body_chr…http://www. felinecrf. org/http://www. felinecrf. com/http://pets. groups. yahoo. com/group/Felin…
Consuela
Merrick is a good all natural pet food. People can eat it. I give it to my pets. Only Certain pet shops or groomers carry it. Try this phone #1-800-664-pets maybe they can tell you whocarries it in your area.
Ima
Avoderm Select Cuts this has between 1o and 12 proteinhttp://www. breeders-choice. com/cat_produ…
Angel
Im not a vet, but I have read up on cat nutrition - which many of THEM have not. Although it used to be common for vets to recommend low protein diets for cats with kidney problems, that is becoming less and less common. I cant go into a great amount of detail on this topic, but I urge you to do more research yourself. Dont sentence your cat to her remaining lifetime eating an inappropriate diet. Also, dont give a cat with kidney problems dry food. I would go so far as to say none at all. Its quite possible that a lifetime of eating dry food leads to kidney problems in the first case. Keeping the cat properly hydrated will be important here - and because cats dont drink enough water (and theres nothing much you can do about that), you need to feed wet food. Please check out these links. Even if you choose to go the low protein route anyway, at least youll do so after having all the facts.
Dalila
Wet and dry foods list different protein levels. Whats 10% in a canned food is comparable to 30% in a dry food. Try this site;http://www. felinediabetes. com/cat_food_n…Theres canned and dry comparisons. Click on each in the blue lettering and scroll down, it lists protein levels in a lot of different brands for comparison.