28/08/2024
➡️ Renal diets – why they’re important!
➡️ It’s really important for cats diagnosed with chronic kidney disease (CKD) to eat a diet that has been recommended by their veterinary team and is specially produced for their condition.
➡️ We know that diet changes for cats with CKD can help slow down disease progression and increase longevity. Not only can dietary modifications extend your cat’s life, but they can also improve their quality of life by reducing the build-up of toxins that cause nausea, and providing extra electrolytes and vitamins that can be lost in the urine.
➡️ The kidneys are responsible for filtering excess phosphate out of the blood. When they stop working properly, this phosphate can build up causing all sorts of problems and worsen kidney function. Veterinary “renal diets” are produced specifically for cats with kidney disease and contain reduced amounts of phosphorus. While phosphate restriction is the most important feature of renal diets, there’s much more to them than that. Good quality renal diets are carefully formulated with a variety of functional ingredients that all have a part to play in supporting the patient’s health – see here for more:
https://www.vetvoices.co.uk/post/diet-and-chronic-kidney-disease
Cats can be fussy and slow to accept a new food. This is especially true if they are feeling unwell.
✅Some top tips to improve acceptance:
✅ It can take months for a cat to accept a new food, so don’t expect it to happen in days. It doesn’t mean the new food isn’t tasty, or that the cat won’t come to enjoy it, given time. As diet is such an important factor in the disease, it's really important to persevere.
✅ If possible, don’t make diet changes when your cat is stressed or unwell and avoid feeding the new diet at the same time as medications. These can all cause aversion to the food.
✅ Choose the right diet. Your vet practice should recommend a high quality, science-based diet that is tested for palatability and available in wet and dry formats to suit all preferences.
✅ Smell is important to cats. Let the food reach room temperature before serving or gently warm a small amount to body temperature to increase the aroma.
✅ Sometimes tasty toppings can be added to your cat’s diet. You must check with your veterinary team before adding anything. They may recommend a palatability enhancer that is formulated to be safe in cats with kidney disease.
✅ Slowly substitute the old food for the new one over at least one week. Try putting the foods in separate bowls if your cat doesn’t like them mixed.
💦Furthermore, when we have cats with renal disease, we become even more aware of maintaining hydration💦
💦When cats become dehydrated, they can be slow to initiate drinking and have a low thirst stimulus. When they do start to drink, they are not very efficient as they cannot create a suction with their tongue!
💦Behaviour also has an impact; cats can feel vulnerable when drinking from a bowl of water and can be sensitive to the presentation and taste of the water.
💦Dehydration can be associated with several conditions including chronic kidney disease!
💦When we are managing feline cases holistically, looking at their environment is essential and this includes water intake!
💦Increasing a cat's liquid intake should be considered as a key factor to reach a correct level of hydration, together with a healthy diet and proper environmental management.
So what can we do?!
💧Cats can feel vulnerable while drinking, so giving them privacy can help
💧Cats don't like their food source near their water so having separate food and water stations can help
💧Having water stations in different areas of the house. This is especially essential if you have a multi-cat household to prevent resource issues and inter-cat conflict
💧Proving them with different types of bowl - wide (so their whiskers don't touch), and different material in case they don't like the taste or reflection of water in them
💧Changing the water regularly so it is fresh and cool
💧Flavouring the water or providing them with a hydration supplement to encourage drinking such as Purina Pro Plan Hydra Care
💧Providing them with running water such as water fountains
💧If we have mobility issues such as osteoarthritis, we might struggle or be reluctant to jump up and take water from a bowl on a high surface or a tap - please remember that as we get older we may need changes to our access
Read more about the science behind feline drinking and how to get your cats drinking more below 👇
https://www.vetvoices.co.uk/post/help-i-need-my-cat-to-drink-more
