So, I have 3 cats with Chronic Kidney Disease and who need hydrolyzed/novel protein for various reasons (age7 is stage 2 borderline 3, age 3 is early stage 2, other age 3 has a blood clot caused kidney damage, next month he goes in to see how much has stabilized and where we are on functionality).
I was going to an internal medicine specialist who was helping us. She was wonderful because she also tried to make my life easier. I was feeding them different foods and fighting to get the older cat to eat/drink his mix (for 8 months).
the core of her treatment concept:
- Proper hydration is king (we went back and forth to get the right amount)
- newer information was coming out that the low protein diet for kidney cats wasn't doing much to help and the low protein caused muscle loss which she wanted to avoid.
- our biggest nutritional enemy is phosophorus
- which we could get a lower phosophorus from most prescription foods.
- she didn't like the kidney foods (at least for my cats' stages) because they were low protein
So, she gave me a list and I decided to try Reyne's rabbit pate. the cats LOVE it. more than anything else. I blend it with water and they get the right amount of liquid every day.
Sadly, she had a personal problem and had to quit on short notice. I had to seek out another internal medicine specialist.
This new one is gently opposed to the diet my previous vet led me towards. She is hesitant, like, it's OK for now, but they will need to get on the hydrolyzed kidney food at some point. She didn't counter the hydration or phosphorus, just emphasized the lower protein was important.
When we left, my partner was upset because we had two medical professionals giving us conflicting information.
I dont know if my first vet was using newer medical discoveries that haven't filtered out to the medical community at large because new info can take a little while, or if my first vet is using fringe "science". Is low protein still very important? or is it really just the phosphorus that is the big problem?
so, does anyone here know? Both are professionals accredited and working at ER hospitals.
and is there really only one food choice available to me?
Two cats have IBD and the the third has bad allergies. (incidentally, his allergies are better on rabbit than they were on a hydrolyzed diet)