Two years ago one of my cats was diagnosed with early (IRIS stage 2) kidney disease. I tried the prescription diets and he said not just no, but hell no. So I looked for low phosphorous non-prescription foods that he would eat. He mostly eats Weruva’s Wx Phos Focused wet foods, along with Weruva Steak Frites, Royal Canin Aging 12+, and Hill’s Chicken and Rice Medley for variety. He also eats Hill’s Urinary Hairball dry food. I drizzle vitamin B12 on his wet food, but so far he hasn’t needed famotidine or mirtazipine. Oh, and he still supplements his diet with mice.
So today I took him to the vet to check how his kidneys are doing. I fully expected that his BUN and creatinine would have increased, maybe enough to put him in stage 3 after all this time. Both my vet and I could hardly believe that his BUN and creatinine have actually decreased! His creatinine went from 2.1 two years ago to 1.7 today, which is just barely stage 2. His phosphorous result was on the low end of the reference range, which the vet was very happy with since he’s on a low phos diet. I don’t think the results would have been any better on a prescription diet.
If any of you are struggling to persuade your CKD cat to eat a prescription food I think it sure wouldn’t hurt to try non-prescription low phosphorous foods. My cat especially likes the Weruva Phos Focus canned foods, both pate and shreds. My cat’s results may not be typical, but it does show that a CKD cat can do well on a non-prescription diet.
