We took Middle Cat to the vet earlier in the week, just for a basic checkup (she hadn't been in a while, and she IS seventeen). The bloodwork came back today, and they said that there are very mild changes in kidney function, so they recommend putting her on cat food designed for management of renal disease.
The thing is, in the past Middle Cat has had some serious food allergies (they began after I gave her some cat food designed to prevent hairballs). What we were told at the time was that cats with this kind of irritable bowel problem are reacting to the proteins in cat food, which are overwhelmingly from chicken, so one solution is to give them food made out of more unusual proteins, which they haven't yet developed a reaction to. So for a time, Middle Cat was eating food made from duck, rabbit, and venison. (Which I don't think she appreciated as much as she should have!) Also, so many pet foods are bulked up with corn, and cats have a hard time digesting corn, that we were advised to avoid it as well (so she was eating exotic meats with rice).
Over the years, she's had no problem being transitioned back to non-exotic meat foods, so now she eats stuff made from chicken, beef, turkey, and fish with no problem (in fact, she looooooves tuna, which often gets put in cheap cat food, and is so strongly flavored it can make cats unwilling to eat anything else).
But the biggest thing is that we've ALWAYS bought really good quality food. Stuff made with human-grade ingredients, without corn, and WITHOUT BY-PRODUCTS. For instance, these are the ingredients in the food we currently give her: Chicken, Chicken Liver, Turkey, Chicken Broth, Carrots, Natural Chicken
Flavor, Sweet Potatoes, Squash, Zucchini, Cranberries, Blueberries,
Guar Gum, Dicalcium Phosphate, Carrageenan, Ground Flaxseed, Potassium
Chloride, Calcium Carbonate, Taurine, Iron Proteinate (a source of
Chelated Iron), Beta-Carotene, Zinc Proteinate (a source of Chelated
Zinc), Vitamin E Supplement, Choline Chloride, Cobalt Proteinate (a
source of Chelated Cobalt), Thiamine Mononitrate, Copper Proteinate (a
source of Chelated Copper), Folic Acid, Manganese Proteinate (a source
of Chelated Manganese), Niacin, d-Calcium Pantothenate, Sodium
Selenite, Vitamin D-3 Supplement, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, Riboflavin
Supplement, Vitamin A Supplement, Vitamin B-12 Supplement, Potassium
Iodide, Biotin. And I have had really healthy, long-lived cats. NLLDH swears that Youngest Cat (who was feline leukemia-positive) lived as long and as healthily as he did because he got such good food.
So now I've been looking these renal diet foods up online. They ALL have meat by-products — ALL of them! And not just as a component — in some cases, as the first ingredient listed after water! Now, a few of them name specific by-products (e.g. "pork by-products"), which is supposed to be better than the generic "meat by-products," but I really dislike the idea of feeding her by-products, given what can be in that crap. IAMS is also chock full of corn meal — yuck. (Hill's Science Diet has some cornstarch, but I don't know if that's quite as bad, and it's not one of the very first ingredients, so…)
It's surprising to me how much this bothers me, but it does. I don't WANT to give her messed-with by-product crap — I want to give her the good stuff we've always given her. But I guess we'll get some of the prescription stuff from the vet and see how it goes. Blechh.
New Kid on the Hallway 
Maybe talk to the vet about it?
We feed Voiceover supermarket stuff, mainly because my childhood cat lived to 19 on nothing but Little Friskies. But enough of my friends feed their cats special protein food that I wonder if I should join the club.
I feed the Boy Wellness dog food. German Shepherds have sensitive digestive systems. It is a natural food which he likes very much. It has cut back on his throwing up stomach acid.
They make cat food too. You can find them here.
http://wellnesspetfood.com/
I know nothing about cats, but Science Diet dog food is excellent and generally avoids the gross stuff that goes into generic grocery store brands like IAMS. Talk to your vet, though.
NK, this article has some useful info and a list of high-quality/limited-ingredient cat foods that may be suitable for cats with kidney problems. I, too, use Wellness for Eldest Doggie, but I can also report that Very Old Cat lived long and happily on one of the Hill’s Prescription Diets. (I’m always skeptical, though, of these diets that you can only buy through the vet.)
Thanks, all, I will talk to the vet about it; I just wanted to vent earlier! Thankfully, Middle Cat is kind of a hoover and usually eats anything put in front of her; Eldest Cat was hugely finicky, and if he decided he didn’t like something, he’d reject a fresh dish of it and then yowl for something else.
meg, when my dad was a kid his cats (and dogs) didn’t even get supermarket stuff (I’m not sure it even existed back then?) — they got table scraps and (the cats) what they could catch! So I do kind of laugh at my obsession with giving them really good (expensive) food. I mean, it’s as first-world a problem as you can get! That said, when I switched from supermarket stuff to the ritzy stuff, I definitely noticed a change for the better in the quality of their fur (and, um, output). And THAT said, really, all that matters is that they ARE fed!
Seeking Solace — that’s what I feed her now — Wellness is great stuff!
T.E., thanks for the article! That’s very encouraging, especially since what she gets now is the Wellness Turkey/Chicken stuff listed in the article. That’s really interesting about not feeding only dry food — I have always preferred to feed them canned (and of course all the cats have liked it better).
My cat has recurrent pancreatitis, so I feel your pain! Since last April, I feel like i have done more research on cat food than I have for my own damn career.
Our vet actually told us that Wellness was too high in fat, though it’s certainly possible that it’s fine for kidney problems. We feed ours Weruva wet food now, and prescription dry food. You can actually identify the meat in the canned food–little calimari and shrimp and skipjack. It costs more than a can of people-food tuna, but I treat my cat like a child as well!
Bravo to you for the care you take with your cats. I know some people think we are nuts that we are so picky about what we feed our dogs, but we have NO vet bills except their annuals. Good luck!
I’ve only seen Voiceover’s, um, output once, when he woke us up howling in distress and then shat explosively all over the sheets. I don’t know where or when he puts out his output, but it’s never within eyeshot.
Which reminds me that I’m only somewhat in control of his diet anyway. He dines with various neighbors’ outdoor cats on a regular (perhaps daily) basis, and I know they ain’t putting out swanky kibble. So I might upgrade his wet food, but I doubt it’s worth getting fancy dry food.
We’re going through some food changes right now with our puppy. It’s interesting to read how similar cat and dog owners’ experiences are.
Well, my old former cat lived for many years on the K/D stuff from the vet, which solved kidney problems (including using the bed instead of her box, ahem.) I eventually gave her only dry food because she didn’t like the canned food.
I think partly you have to experiment.
My vet tries out new options all the time. Not really sure any of them are THAT much better than the other.
Hi, I managed a cat with chronic renal failure for 10+ years. I also avoid cat food with by-products and chemical preservatives. We did extremely well on Pet Guard Beef + Wheat Germ, and Nutro Natural Choice Weight Management dry food (blue bag). Both of these have protein and phosphorus levels within range of the veterinary “kidney” diets, and better ingredients.
If you do a search on Feline Chronic Renal Failure you will find some very helpful websites. There are also some great and very supportive listservs on YahooGroups.
If you have any questions, feel free to contact me. Over 10 years of CRF, I learned quite a lot.
ps – I have added you to my bLAWg Roll. Happy new year!