Kidney diet for cats
Please read the following short ten paragraphs:
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An excellent alternative to the following home
cooking strategy is to simply add plenty of
Epakitin (a safe and effective phosphorus binder)
to your cat's premium quality CANNED cat food.
Twice as much Epakitin is needed for non-KD cat food
than what your vet would recommend adding to KD.
You'll likely have to add some potassium as well
at some point, based on your cat's bloodwork.
Between 90 mg and 180 mg added to the commercial
diet per day is commonly required at some point
for a crf cat with increased water intake. (When
your cat begins to walk low on its haunches, you
can be quite sure he or she is low on potassium.)
Wellness, Organix and Hill's ZD, in that order,
have yielded the best results for my cats. If
your cats will eat Hill's KD, fine. Mine won't.
Feed four times per day, rather than twice, to
prevent your cat's BUN and creatine levels from
spiking. Add 1 to 2 tablespoons water per serving.
Important: CRF cats have a tendency to binge
eat for a few days, then not eat at all for
a few days. Do not allow your cat to binge eat.
One can per day is the maximum for a 7 lb elderly
CRF cat. This will prevent BUN and creatinine
overload and the "down" days.
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Two of my cats went CRF nearly 4 years ago. My
vets recommended sub-q fluids. My cats struggled
along under that regimen. I quit subcuing after
8 months, instead adding water to their food.
That was their big breakthrough.
(I now sub-q only when some crisis has kept my cat
from eating for more than one day. 75 - 150 cc
sub-q per day is a good amount during a non-eating
crisis.)
My crf cats get between 60 and 90 cc water added
to their canned food daily.
Note that long term high water content in your cat's
diet (as well as long term sub-q) commonly causes
high blood pressure. Have your cat's blood pressure
checked every 3 to 6 months. He or she might
require blood pressure medication. One of my cats
was on such medication and did fine.
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It is better to err on the low side when adding
water to your cat's diet. Even adding no water
would be okay, so long as you feed canned food
and are adding Epakitin. Keep fresh water next
to the food bowl, and keep fresh water easily
accessible 24 hours a day.
I learned this from long term experience with
my own cats, and regret the overwatering I did
to them (which was in the 120 - 180 cc range).
My surviving cat is doing far better now that
I've left her mostly in charge of her water intake.
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The home cooking:
I hope you have a meat grinder. By making the
meat into a paste (along with the mashed potatoes),
it is quite easy to add water at meal time and
keep the water blended with the food.
While this recipe is very much a crf diet (being
high fat, low protein, high potassium), it is
also good to add some water at serving time.
I add about one tablespoon (15 cc) water to each
1 ounce serving. (And the food has the normal
80% water content even before adding the extra
water.)
Click here for image file of recipe assay
The recipe:
(Three day supply for two cats. Cut this
in half for one cat. After three days in
the frig, he/she might not care for it.
Don't forget to cut the supplements in half
as well.)
(SEE BOTTOM OF PAGE FOR LATEST & BEST RECIPE)
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You might need to add metamucil to the
following recipe. My cats have sometimes
developed constipation when on my home
cooking. So add fiber as needed.
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13 ounces peeled red potatoes
(measure raw, after peeling)
8 ounces 85% hamburger
(measure raw)
(I actually use steak, such as
bottom round, or whatever is about
$3 a pound at Sam's Club. It should
be well fatted.)
3.5 ounces lamb liver (Do not substitute)
(measure raw)
(I get mine at the co-op)
1/2 teaspoon wheat grass powder
(I get it at the co-op. They need
a little green in the diet.)
1 teaspoon of the probiotic blend they may
have told you about at the clinic, which they sell.
(I use a pet probiotic from the co-op,
plus acidophillus, 1/2 tsp of each.)
I cut the steak and liver into cubes, then
microwave on a rotating platform on high
for about 9 minutes.
I dice and boil the potatoes, then mash, keeping
the water with it of course.
I put the steak and liver through a meat grinder.
I mix it all up and let completely cool, then add
the supplements, along with the wheat grass powder
and probiotics.
The consistency (i.e., water content) should be
like that of canned cat food.
A few notes about how I supplement the recipe:
I don't supplement calcium up to the minimum,
because I use calcium citrate. Regular bloodwork
on my animals shows me that I'm supplementing
correctly by staying at the minimum or a little
below.
Typically, potassium should be, very roughly
speaking, about 1.5 to 2.5 times the minimum
requirement. One of my crf cats needs the high
end, the other needs the low end. If your cat's
potassium is not running low, then you'll want
to use instant potatoes, rather than fresh,
or just use less potatoes. If you want, I can
adjust this diet for you, based on your cat's
lab work (potassium / sodium / calcium /
phosphorus).
I don't supplement phosphorus at all. It's
okay to be a bit below the minimum for a crf
cat.
Supplements:
In general, I try to supplement very lightly,
erring on too little rather than too much.
It's about flavor. Besides, the aafco has
some margin already built in, and our old cats
have been heavily supplemented their whole
lives with commercial food.
It's the major minerals (potassium/sodium/
calcium/phosphorus) that need the most attention.
And of course, taurine is absolutely vital for
every meal, or no protein can be utilized.
It is also important to include the iodine
and thiamin in every batch.
(To summarize - calcium, salt, taurine, iodine
and thiamin must be added to every batch. It
would be okay to skip the other supplements
occasionally. You might want to skip the other
supplements on the first batch, just to make
it as palatable as possible, until your cat
gets used to it. And it is delicious, with or
without the supplements.)
Any supplements in pill form, I crush finely.
Calcium - 1.5 to 2.0 tsp calcium citrate powder.
(700 mg per tsp)
Iron - 1/3 of a 29 mg pill.
Salt - 1/4 tsp (this also provides the chloride).
Manganese - 1/5 of a 15 mg pill.
Thiamin (B1) - I have 100 mg capsules, which
I give about 1/10 of per batch. There's
lots of leeway with the B vitamins.
E - About 4 drops (about 50 IU).
K - 1/2 of a 100 mcg pill.
Inositol - About 1/5 of a 500 mg capsule.
Choline - One 250 mg pill.
Iodine - 1/2 of a 225 mcg pill (it's a kelp pill).
Biotin - About 1/5 of a 600 mcg capsule.
Taurine - I give 1/2 of a 1000 mg capsule.
Everything else is covered by the natural
ingredients.
If your cat is getting some sunshine, her/his vitamin D
will be fine.
Don't worry about the great amount of vitamin A
in the liver. I checked with peteducation.com
on that one, as well as the copper. (I wouldn't
mind, however, if the copper and vitamin A were
lower. I might yet look into a blend of other
organ meats that might do better here.)
The liver makes this recipe very appealing for
our cats, and helps keep the supplementing to
a minimum.
I like to use the potatoes to bring the potassium
level up, rather than potassium supplements, as
potassium is rather bitter. If you ever do
supplement potassium, make sure it is finely
ground and thoroughly wetted and mixed into the
food, or it can be dangerous to your cat's intestines.
A little cod liver oil (1/4 tsp daily) on the side
is a good way to get a little omega three boost, though
the beef does fair on that.
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BEST RECIPE EVER:
For the past few months, I've been using only the following
five ingredients for Little Bear's KD diet, a 5 day supply.
Beware of adjustments for your own cat's needs. I have blood
drawn from Little Bear for a mini renal panel every two months,
which shows sodium, potassium, calcium and phosphorus levels.
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You might need to add metamucil to the
following recipe. My cats have sometimes
developed constipation when on my home
cooking. So add fiber as needed.
=========================================
Steak, lean (3%) 320 grams
Beef fat 40 grams
Green Beans 200 grams
Acorn squash 200 grams
Bluberries 40 grams
Cod liver oil 2 tsp
These are raw measures. The steak, green beans and squash
are then thoroughly cooked.
Everything goes through meat grinder.
Add water to bring total weight to 1800 grams.
Calcium Citrate 800 mg (adj based on your cat's bloodwork)
Potassium 900 mg (adj based on your cat's bloodwork)
Salt 3/8 tsp (adj based on your cat's bloodwork)
Epakitin 2.7 scoops (adj based on your cat's bloodwork; controls phosphorus)
Forti-Flora 5 pkg (Optional. Mix in 1 pkg per day, rather than in advance)
B-complex X3 - X20
Choline 500 mg
Iodine 110 mcg
Taurine 1000 mg
Iron 30 mg
Zinc 25 mg
Copper 2 mg
Manganese 5 mg
K 100 mcg
E 50 IU
Biotin 100 mcg
Inositol 150 mg
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