What treats or food toppers are safe for my cat with kidney disease?

Hello, thank you for your question about Tony. I am sorry to hear that Tony does not seem to love the kidney diet; these are known to have a bland taste so many animals do not like them. The freeze dried morsels have a high protein content; most veterinarians recommend minimizing protein ingestion in patients with kidney disease. However with that being said, the main goal in any patient with kidney disease is to ensure that they eat. If this helps Tony eat his food regularly I think it is ok to add this as a meal topper. One other thing you could try (if you are using dry kibble) is to add a small amount of low sodium chicken broth to moisten the food and help improve the taste. Hope this helps, good luck!

Because this food isn't prescription, it won't be formulated to be lower in phosphorus and protein. I would speak to Tony's vet to see if they recommend using something as a topper to get him to eat his food.

Hello. This actually sounds pretty darn good! The only thing to add is to make sure Tony takes in as much fluids as possible & make sure you stay on top of those kidney rechecks. Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach.

We always say that it doesn't matter how good a food is if the pet won't eat it. This is especially true with cats. Your goal with a diet for a kidney patient is to avoid foods that are too high in protein, so you will want to avoid any kitten foods. Most non-prescription diets are very similar in their protein levels because they are made for the needs of an average adult cat. If Cricket was previously on a dry food, I found the best way to get my cat to eat canned food was to grind up dry food, then sprinkle it on the top of his canned food to get him eating. I am attaching a link to a handout below with tips to transition a cat onto canned food. https://www.veterinarypartner.com/Content.plx?P=A&S=0&C=0&A=3041 Since Cricket has been a fussy eater, the most important thing will be to find a food that she likes. I have found that cats tend to like Fancy Feast the best, so that might be an option if you can't find something else that she will eat. Good luck! I hope that was helpful. Thanks for using PetCoach.

There is a lot of misconception when it comes to pet food. Grains are not bad for pets as long as they are the right kind, high-quality and easy to digest. They provide many essential amino acids that are not found in animal products. Royal Canin and Science Diet are both high quality brands with lots of research, data and good quality control. Switching to the recommended diet is the best thing you can do for Mercy. The diet contains controlled protein, controlled phosphorus, controlled potassium and additional omega three fatty acid supplements as well as antioxidants. You can certainly supplement her as it is not likely to hurt but the main control for kidney disease will be found with the protein and phosphorus. I hope this helps and please feel free to post any additional questions.

I would opt for a prescription kidney diet (Hill's K/D or Royal Canin renal) instead of any over the counter option if he has kidney disease especially, because the mainstay of treatment for this is the diet alone. This is also ok for his pancreatitis for now and hopefully he will get over this pancreatitis episode soon with the treatment recommendations through your vet. Pancreatitis in cats is often associated with a triaditis (3 disease) condition affecting both their intestines (IBD), pancrease (pancreatitis) and liver (cholangitis), so its imperative to follow your vets instructions on follow-up care as well. Here is more information on this condition in cats --> https://veterinarypartner.vin.com/default.aspx?pid=19239&id=4952234 I do hope that your pet Cat is going to be ok moving forward. Best of luck and take care.

The key here is to go VERY slow. I saw a presentation by Hill’s that said over 90% of cars will eventually transition into a kidney diet- but it can take up to two months. I’d say go back to whatever Tony was eating well and try one of the following: 1) If he eats dry food, mix in a few kibbles of the kidney food at each meal. As he begins to finish all the food, very slowly creep up on the prescription food and back off on the regular food. 2) If he eats dry food but is interested in wet - or eats a mix of wet and dry: top dry food with a tiny dollop of canned kidney food. As he begins to eat this, replace more and more kibbles with wet kidney food. OR, if you want to keep him on a mix of both, start slowly replacing the kibbles as described in option 1. 3) If he eats only canned, mix a tiny bit of canned kidney diet in with it. Same as for the dry food, slowly increase the kidney diet and decrease the regular stuff. Again, this could take a month or two so be slow and patient. Best wishes to you and Tony.