The Scoop On What To Feed You Cat With Kidney Disease: Renal Cat Food

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Cats that are diagnosed with a kidney disease require renal cat food. Unfortunately, many times that renal disease is diagnosed, it is already in a chronic state and is irreversible. This means that care needs to be provided for the rest of the cat’s life. Taking care of your sick kitty with a renal diet for cats will ensure the best quality of life for your cat.

Feline Renal Diseases

There are a number of disease processes that can cause kidney diseases, including chronic tubulo-interstitial nephritis, glomerulonephritis, pyelonephritis, amyloidosis, hydronephrosis, renal lymphoma, polycystic kidney disease, renal aplasia, renal hypoplasia, and renal dysplasia. These causes can be either congenital or acquired. A congenital cause means that the cat is born with the problem and it has a genetic component to why it is happening. An acquired disease means that the cat contracted the disease during its life.

Diagnosing Renal Disease

The biggest problem with renal disease and the reason why it is usually irreversible is because up to 75% of the kidney’s function needs to be lost before symptoms begin to appear. By this time, it is usually too late to recover. Signs and symptoms of renal disease include weight loss, drinking too much water and consequently urinating a lot, vomiting, diarrhoea, no appetite, depression, anaemia and weakness.

Managing Renal Disease

Unfortunately, there is no cure for renal disease, but the disease can be managed. If you feed a proper and adequate renal cat food, studies have shown that life expectancy can be increased. Alleviating the symptoms is often one of the goals of nutritional therapy. Restricting protein is one of the recommendation that is often proscribed to accomplish this. Protein metabolism can be what is responsible for the vomiting, diarrhoea, depression and lack of appetite that the cat suffers. Kidneys are responsible for the elimination of nitrogenous waste, which is also a result of protein metabolism.

Minerals are another aspect of the diet that must be given attention, especially phosphorus, sodium, potassium and calcium. Phosphorus and sodium levels need to be decreased. Calcium and potassium levels need to be managed by your veterinarian. This may mean increase or decrease.

Examples Of Cat Food Especially Formulated For Kidney Disease

The following list was compiled from Amazon.com as a reference to what types are available for purchase. Even though the price is subject to change, it provides an idea of what you are looking at. The list is organized according to price, from most expensive to least expensive.

Royal Canin Feline Renal LP Modified Cat Food 24/6 oz Cans – $56.99