Can anyone recommend a low protein wet and dry cat food?

Question

My 16 yr old cat is starting to have kidney issues. The vet has recommended buying cat food that has between low protein, 9-12% protein. He said that the prescription diet contains 8% and she does not have to go on that yet. I have searched, but can not find food with less than 28% protein. Any suggestions?

Answer 1

Hi

If your cat is not in final stages, this is not want you want to do. There are new thoughts on this and the thinking is it is not the amount of protein but the quality of protein that matters.
The Merck veterinary manual [www.merckvetmanual.com] says that cats need "4 g of protein of high biologic value per kg body wt/day". That's about 7 calories from protein per pound body weight per day. If a cat isn't a good eater and consumes, say, 20 calories per pound per day, then 7/20 = 35% of calories can safely be from protein. It must be high quality protein, which means meat, fish, milk, and eggs, and not grain or soy.

I am under the assumption that you have been feeding mostly dry foods. Many use a vegetable based protein instead of animal and that is part of the problem.. Your cat needs protein as it is a carnivore and cutting down on it will lead to other health issues and may cause faster degeneration.
You want to cut down on fat and phosphorous (no fish allowed now) The best way to do this is with a raw diet which you can make yourself or buy . (making yourself is better) link provided at the bottom
If you are unwilling to do that then something like the non fish flavors of Wellness or merrick with NO grains are good alternatives.
You also will want to look into phosphorous binders. Something like aluminum hydroxide

You also either want to talk to the vet about having injectable pepcid ac on hand or you can buy it in pill form (ac not plain pepcid) and give 1/4 tab for stomach upset which happens alot in crf cats due to acid in the stomach.
I hope this stuff helps, here are many links for you
Making cat food
http://www.catinfo.org/makingcatfood.htm
other links
http://www.marvistavet.com/html/body_chronic_renal_failure.html
http://www.felinecrf.org/
http://www.felinecrf.com/
http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/Feline-CRF-Support/

Answer 2

I'm not a vet, but I have read up on cat nutrition - which many of THEM have not.

Although it used to be common for vets to recommend low protein diets for cats with kidney problems, that is becoming less and less common.

I can't go into a great amount of detail on this topic, but I urge you to do more research yourself. Don't sentence your cat to her remaining lifetime eating an inappropriate diet.

Also, don't give a cat with kidney problems dry food. I would go so far as to say none at all. It's quite possible that a lifetime of eating dry food leads to kidney problems in the first case. Keeping the cat properly hydrated will be important here - and because cats don't drink enough water (and there's nothing much you can do about that), you need to feed wet food.

Please check out these links. Even if you choose to go the low protein route anyway, at least you'll do so after having all the facts.

Answer 3

Wet and dry foods list different protein levels. What's 10% in a canned food is comparable to 30% in a dry food.

Try this site;
http://www.felinediabetes.com/cat_food_nutrition_canned.htm

There's canned and dry comparisons. Click on each in the blue lettering and scroll down, it lists protein levels in a lot of different brands for comparison.

Answer 4

Diet plays a significant difference in overall health, no matter if we're a human or a cat. Feeding a healthy diet that appropriate is the biggest contributer to good health for us. While we can all point to people who've smoked heavily and lived on fast food, and lived to a ripe old age, most people aren't so lucky. You can't argue that not smoking, eating healthy foods, and exercising go a long way towards keeping the average person healthy. And it's the same with cats. Nature made cats to eat meat, not grains. Nature made cats to get their moisture from the food they eat. Dry cat food was created to be a conveniece for us, not to be healthy for our cats. Most dry foods are filled with corn and fillers, then sprayed with fats and flavor enhancers to make them appealing to our cats. The idea is to provide "adequate" nutrition, and maximum profit. Read the ingredients on a bag of Meow Mix for example and there is no meat in there! The next ingredient is always by-products. Again, this isn't meat it's scrap "parts" that are unfit for human consumption. Clever use of a waste product to make money for the manufacturer. Canned or dry the idea is to feed a diet that contains meat, not by-products and corn. It's like comparing a hot dog to a piece of chicken. Dry food doesn not clean the teeth, it causes plaque and gingivitis when the dry food sticks to the gum line. Canned does not cause diahhrea, it's generally the switch to a high-moisture, higher fat food that the cats's system needs to get used to. And all the by-products in the grocery store canned foods have to do a number on their systems. Cats will generally do much better on an all-wet diet. You come close to eliminating the problems that dry food causes - diabetes, crystals, cystitis - the list goes on. If your cat refuses to eat canned, one of the no-grain dry foods will work, like EVO or Wellness Core. And yes, everyone will chime in saying how their cat lived to be 20 eating only Purina. I will say that the ingredients in all of these old-standby foods have changed radically over the years, and challenge anyone to get past the clever advertising and actually read the ingredients of what they are feeding their cats.

Answer 5

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Answer 6

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Answer 7

Avoderm Select Cuts
this has between 1o and 12 protein

http://www.breeders-choice.com/cat_products/avoderm_selecutcan.htm

Answer 8

Merrick is a good all natural pet food. People can eat it.
I give it to my pets. Only Certain pet shops or groomers carry it.
Try this phone #[phone]-pets maybe they can tell you who
carries it in your area.