My cat with kidney disease is starving on special food. Can I feed more?

Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! To be safe, I would recommend blood testing the second cat. If she's not in failure, it would give a good baseline for future blood testing. It will not hurt both cats to be on the special diet. They are safe for all pets and could help stave off renal changes. Good luck and kisses to both kitties!

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.

Thank you for submitting your question regarding Paanti. The diet choice for her depends on her current blood work values. Kidney disease has four stages. Depending on where she falls, dictates if she requires protein restriction. If she has very early disease, I would consider a prescription diet such as Purina ProPlan Veterinary Diets Early Care Renal. You could also ask your veterinarian for a prescription for a very high potency fatty acid supplement as this can help in cases of renal disease. I hope this information helps!

Thank you for contacting Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach with your question about your cats. My mother has this same problem. She has one cat who has renal failure and needs to be on a special diet, and the other does not. She solves this problem by feeding them twice a day, and feeding them in separate rooms. She puts the cat who doesn't need the special food in his own closed room, and feeds him in there. Bacchus, the cat with kidney failure, is fed out in the kitchen, and Hermes (the other cat) isn't allowed out of the laundry room until Bacchus is done eating. Hermes typically eats all his food at once, but if there is any left, she picks it up so Bacchus can't get to it. Same with Bacchus's food, she picks it up so Hermes won't eat it. You can put your cats on twice a day feeding, and feed Sadie in her own room so that the other cats won't eat her food. I hope this helps!

Hello. Honestly, I hate to see you deprive Bebe of her occasional treat. I just can not see the problem with what you want to give her as long as the majority of what she eats is the Hill's K/D. Thanks for contacting Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach.

Hello and welcome to Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach. I am sorry about your little girl. Any food is better than no food, so if you can get any food into her, keep going. Low protein diets are best, so see if you can increase the rice portion, and also try to get some fibre (pumpkin/squash) into her. You can talk to your vet about prescription diets, as these are often designed to be yummy, so trial that out. Best of luck with your little girl, I hope she feels better soon!

Renal diets are very effective for cats with kidney disease -by reducing the amount of toxins the kidneys are required to excrete many of the symptoms can be reduced; they are also naturally antiinflammatory and enriched with vitamins etc and are proven both to extend life expectancy and quality of life. The larger proportion of the diet that is made of of kidney food, the more effective it is however calorie intake is very important and tempting or supplementing the diet with easy to digest protein sources such as egg, boiled chicken or fish is ok (for some clinical diets this is not appropriate but for kidney patients it is better than not eating the special diet)