Blue Buffalo Natural Veterinary Diet K+m Kidney + Mobility Support Dry Food
If you want to feed your cat a veterinary diet but prefer dry food to wet food, this Blue Buffalo Natural Veterinary Diet K+M Kidney + Mobility Support Dry Food is a great option. Formulated specifically for kidney support, this recipe features controlled levels of protein, phosphorus, and sodium but is rich in omega-3 fatty acids and essential nutrients. It is naturally grain-free for easy digestibility and supplemented with glucosamine and chondroitin for joint support. Plus, it is made only with wholesome, natural foods which puts it well above many prescription diets on the market.
- Pros: Wholesome natural foods, grain-free carbohydrates, controlled phosphorus and sodium, moderate protein, rich in omega-3s, nutritionally complete and balanced
- Cons: Expensive to feed as a staple diet, contains some plant protein
At A Glance: Best Food To Buy For Cats With Kidney Disease
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Want a quick look at the products reviewed in this article? In the comparison table below, weve highlighted some of the most important features of each product. Youll find more detailed information about each product later in the article.
- Maximized energy density to help keep cats strong and muscular
- Contains omega-3 fatty acids to reduce inflammation
- Low phosphorus levels help your cat to feel better
- Added omega-3 fatty acids for anti-inflammatory effect
- Calorie-dense to support muscle mass
- Omega-3 fatty acids from fish oil help to reduce inflammation
- Controlled phosphorus helps your cat feel healthier
- Customers report that the square kibble is easy for their senior cats to eat
- Low in phosphorus, which may help to prevent and ease the symptoms of kidney disease
- Rich in easily-utilized animal protein
- Low carbohydrate content
- Some reviews indicate that its highly palatable
- Calorie dense to support healthy muscle mass
Because its low in phosphorus with controlled sodium, added B vitamins, and anti-inflammatory omega-3s, we recommend Royal Canin Veterinary Diet Renal Support D Morsels in Gravy as the overall best cat food for kidney disease. This product has a strong reputation for helping cats with chronic kidney disease , but its far from perfect.
To help you find the right match for your cat, weve gathered eight very different formulas, including prescription and non-prescription options, dry kibble, and one raw recipe.
What Is Fish Oil For Cats
You dont need to be a cat owner to know that theres a lot of healthy eating buzz around oily fish.
Oily fish such as trout, salmon, sardines, mackerel, tuna, herring, anchovies and whitebait, are packed with vitamins and minerals, and a rich source of fatty acids, including the famous omega-3 fatty acids. Fish oil supplements can then be given to cats as part of a comprehensive and nutritious diet.
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In Depth: Should I Feed My Cat With Chronic Kidney Disease A Raw Diet
The internet is awash with recommendations, forthright opinions, and recipes for cats with chronic kidney disease . This is concerning it’s one thing for people to give bad nutritional advice for a healthy adult animal, but it’s another thing when it’s for an animal with a medical condition. Poor nutritional management of cats with CKD will shorten remaining lifespan and increase secondary complications – that has been well-established in cats, dogs, humans and many other species.
So in this post, I thought we would have a look at some common nutrition-related questions for cats with CKD, and also analyse an easily available free recipe and see what it looks like. This is a longer post, but if you are interested in feline nutrition, please do persist.
I’m going to get stuck into the hardest and most controversial question first, which is:
Should a cat with kidney disease be fed a protein-restricted diet?
This question has previously been a topic of contention and debate, even amongst board-certified veterinary nutritionists. Fortunately, some recent research appears to be making this a slightly more straight-forward question to try and answer. And that answer is, yes, cats with chronic kidney disease very likely benefit from a degree of protein restriction. Here’s why.
Does it matter what proteins I feed?
Should a cat with kidney disease be fed a phosphorus-restricted diet? How much phosphorus restriction is necessary? What supplements should I use?
Here’s the recipe:
Kd Cat Food Alternatives
Homemade cat food for kidney disease can be a good alternative to store-bought food. So take a look at some of such alternatives:
- Chopped or ground chicken breast
- Cooked white rice
- Any salt substitute like potassium chloride
- Tablets or capsules with calcium supplements
- Multi-vitamin containing feline
- Phosphate substances
One can either add those supplements to their pets diet or give them as capsules to keep all kidney ailments at bay. With proper and everyday inclusion, cats will develop a better immune system to fight ailments.
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What Can I Feed My Cat With Early Kidney Disease
If your cat has recently been diagnosed with kidney disease in its early stages, your vet is the right person to make the best recommendation regarding your cats condition. Canned over-the-counter kidney care cat foods can be good options, as canned wet food contain large amounts of water compared to other dry food alternatives.
At the same time, if you are ready to cook, homemade recipes can be helpful. Its better to avoid raw chicken and stick with only cooked homemade cat food instead.
Raw Food Rules For Cats
There are two main rules for feeding cats. When you follow these, youre working with the cats natural nutritional patterns.
After seeing so much success with switching our cat Bob to a raw food diet for kidney disease, friends and family and readers have been asking me about a recipe for kittens and healthy cats.
The only change to the Feline Kidney Care Raw Food recipe is that I used bone-in chicken in place of the beef, as it contains the healthy fats from the skin as well as bone bone that cats need to grow and maintain bone health. Cats with kidney disease need to limit their phospherous, but cats without kidney disease should NOT limit phosphorous and should include bones in the diet.
Is this recipe enough taurine? I wasnt sure, since taurine in the chicken heart may degrade when its frozen, and my chicken hearts come frozen. Since taurine is so essential to cats, I sprinkle powdered taurine, 1 pinch, on each container of his food .
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Best Cat Food For Kidney Health Buying Guide
Until now, the write-up has been informative on different brands selling cat food to support good kidney health in cats. Readers learnt about low phosphorus and low protein cat food for kidney disease that a feline should consume for better renal health. Detailed descriptions, as mentioned above, have certainly answered most questions about products and their effects on your cats. However, all such information is specific to those brands themselves. Few more questions might linger that might require common answers researched. We will make that job easy for you. Upcoming sections will describe generic questions with apt answers.
Fish Oil For Cats With Dry Skin
Supplementing cats diets with fish oil to combat dry and itchy skin conditions like flea allergy dermatits and atopic dermatitis has been a subject of veterinary research since the 1990s. In 2010 a small study on 14 cats found that a diet supplemented with fish oil can reduce skin inflammatory responses in cats with allergies, especially when combined with flaxseed oil.
However, a study submitted to the Veterinary Record in 1993 suggested that fish oil by itself was not enough to resolve miliary dermatitis . Although when combined with evening primrose oil, it was.
Since healthy skin supports a healthy coat, many cat owners who give their kitty fish oil also report an improvement in the overall condition of their coat too. However, this is currently only supported anecdotally.
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They will take into account the background fatty acids already present in your cats main food, their size, age, and other relevant health factors. Furthermore, ingesting high quantities of fish oil has been linked to vitamin E deficiency in cats, so your vet will help you monitor and correct against this happening.
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Understanding The Causes And Treatment Options
In addition to learning how to identify the signs of kidney disease in cats, you should also familiarize yourself with some of the underlying causes, so you know if your cat is at-risk or not.
Acute kidney disease can happen at any time, but chronic kidney disease tends to affect older cats. In fact, as many as 3 in 10 senior cats develops this condition. Age increases your cats risk for kidney disease, but his risk is particularly high after the age of 9 years. This condition is also more common in certain breed types such as Persians, Chinchillas, and Exotics.
Other risk factors for kidney disease in cats may include the following:
- Kidney infection
- Bad breath, often with oral ulcers
- Pale gums, indicating anemia
- Ocular hemorrhage or blindness
Once your veterinarian has confirmed a diagnosis of kidney disease, the next step is to identify the cause and to determine a course of treatment.
Acute kidney disease is often the result of an injury to the kidneys. This can be caused by the ingestion of a toxic substance, physical trauma, a severe infection, blocked blood flow to the kidney, or heart failure that reduces circulation. Chronic kidney disease is often related to untreated kidney infections and other chronic conditions that progress over time.
Keep reading to learn more about dietary recommendations for the management of kidney disease.
Below Is My Holistic Approach To Ckd In Cats:
- Diagnostics. When your cat reaches 7-8 years of age starting monitoring blood work regularly. Be sure your veterinarian is checking your kittys thyroid and kidney function. for cheat sheet of laboratory values that we monitor for kidney function. If your kittys lab work indicates any signs of kidney disease, begin monitoring every 3-6 months.
- Diet. Water is key here. Cats are notorious for poor water drinking! The more moisture you can put in your cats diet the better. Generally, a raw or canned diet will have the most moisture. Avoid dry food at all cost.
Protein content is a major source of debate between allopathic and integrative veterinarians. The idea behind protein restriction is that you stress the kidneys less and build up less toxins in the bloodstream. While this may be true, cats as a whole are much healthier on a high protein, low carbohydrate diet. For this reason, many integrative veterinarians recommend normal amounts of protein in the interest of the whole cat, not just kidney function.
I see both sides, and generally give my clients the option to feed either. For my cat, Sammy, I continue to feed a high protein diet.
Supplements. Let me start by saying, many cats wont take any supplements. So, I have listed in order of importance the ones I recommend for chronic kidney disease:
- Fish Oil. I use high doses of fish oil to help reduce inflammation and recommend Ultra EFA.
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Are There Any Potential Side Effects
Fish oils are generally very safe. Side effects, particularly at high doses, may include diarrhea, vomiting, delayed wound healing, sleepiness, a fishy odor to the breath or skin, increased itchiness, or an oily coat and skin flakes. Discontinuation of the supplement should resolve these side effects. In cats, changes in blood clotting can occur. Serious side effects include persistent stomach upset, inflammation of the pancreas , abnormal bleeding or bruising, or heavy metal toxicity characterized by appetite loss, incoordination, or seizures.
This moderate-acting medication may last for several days and may last longer in pets with kidney or liver disease.
Is Fish Oil Safe For The Kidneys
Fish oil is used to slow the progression of kidney disease in people with IgA nephropathy. Although fish oil capsules can be effective in many patients, some patients do not respond to them. How it works? Omega-3 fatty acids in fish oil prevent kidney inflammation to slow the progression of kidney disease.
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Recipe : Tuna Brown Rice With Vegetables
The third recipe includes seafood. It is an easy-to-cook recipe, and it is not only healthy but tasty as well. Your cat will love the combination of tuna and rice. Apart from that, the recipe also includes vegetables.
| Ingredients |
| 1 gm |
Instructions:
- Just like the other recipes mentioned above, start by boiling rice and vegetables. You can add any cat-friendly vegetables of your choice, apart from carrots and peas.
- After the rice is cooked, combine all the ingredients tuna, vegetables, olive oil, taurine, calcium carbonate. Mix properly, and make sure they are small enough for your cat to consume without any problem.
- You can add taurine as per veterinary advice.
Do not use canned tuna, as they usually contain high amounts of salt and plenty of preservatives. And since we are talking about recipes for kidney disease, we need to avoid salt at all costs.
Weruva Cats In The Kitchen Chicken Fricka Zee Recipe Au Jus Canned Food
One of the few cat food recipes that lists phosphorus content is this Weruva Cats in the Kitchen Chicken FrickA Zee Recipe Au Jus Canned Food. This formula features fresh chicken as a digestible source of real animal protein with chicken broth for moisture and natural flavor. It contains a rich blend of omega fatty acids for healthy skin and coat, including plenty of omega-3s for their antioxidant benefits. This recipe is complete and balanced with the help of nutritional supplements and is highly palatable for cats.
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Which Is Better For Kidney Issues & Prevention: Wet Or Dry Cat Food
First, let’s take a look at an important aspect of managing kidney disease: hydration. A cat with the impaired renal function will need to be adequately hydrated. Wet cat food will add much-needed moisture to your cat’s diet. Thus, wet cat food is preferred if your cat does not like drinking from its water bowl, or the veterinarian advises increased water intake.
On the other hand, dry cat food can be beneficial if your cat refuses to eat wet cat food. Loss of appetite or aversion to certain cat foods may happen after your cat is hospitalized. To avoid weight loss, experiment with different brands of commercial cat food to see which one your cat can tolerate.
Does Dry Food Cause Kidney Failure In Cats
If you have been feeding your cat with cat food for a long time, this may increase the chances of urinary tract issues and chronic kidney disease. This can be worse in the case of adult cats.
Further, other complications may also include the formation of urinary crystals or stones in cats. Some common symptoms can include excess urination, constipation, drinking a lot of water, dry coat, losing weight.
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Terramax Pro Omega 3 Premium Liquid Fish Oil
This highly-rated supplement includes fish oils from sardines, herring, anchovy and mackerel*, caught using dolphin-friendly fishing methods. This fish oil supplement for cats contains 35% omega-3 fatty acids, 18% eicosapentaenoic acid, 7% omega-6 fatty acids, and no preservatives. The pump action bottle makes accurate dosing a little trickier, but can be less messy, if you know you only need whole squirts.
How Is Fish Oil Given
Fish oil is given by mouth in the form of a liquid or capsule. It may be given with or without food however, if stomach upset occurs when dosed on an empty stomach, give future doses with food. Fish oil can easily be mixed into wet food. Measure liquid forms carefully.
This medication can take up to a few weeks before full effects are noted, but gradual improvements are usually noticeable.
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Good Foods Give Your Cat Extra B Vitamins
Because cats with kidney disease urinate so much, they often lose crucial B vitamins in the litter box. Deficiency in B vitamins is associated with loss of appetite and overall poor health.
Prescription or therapeutic diets for kidney disease are usually fortified with additional B-complex vitamins. Your veterinarian may also recommend B12 shots to give your cat a boost.
In addition to vitamins in your cats diet and subcutaneous injections, consider giving your cat a multivitamin supplement like Vetoquinol Renal K+. Formulated for cats and dogs with kidney disease, this gel contains B-complex vitamins and potassium. Both substances support muscle function and your cats nervous system health.
Are There Any Drug Interactions I Should Be Aware Of
The following medications should be used with caution when given with fish oils: anticoagulants, doxorubicin, and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs .
Vitamins, herbal therapies, and supplements have the potential to interact with each other, as well as with prescription and over the counter medications. It is important to tell your veterinarian about any medications that your pet is taking.
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