I was going to say the same thing about the Phosphrous binder, or egg whites, but... Over at Catsfur I recommended this to a cat that was having kidney insuffeciency. Then another catsfur member said this after my post.
"Your friend's cat won't need a phosphorus binder unless his BUN becomes very elevated. In fact, adding a phosphorus binder to a cat's food isn't a good idea and isn't recommended unless the BUN is very high. If that does happen, there is a tasteless phosphorus binder that comes in powder form that can be added to the food"
Now I know that cats BUN levels are higher when fed a high protein diet, compared to a cat eating regular ole run of the mill cat food.
Hi Shadow,
You actually need to start using phosphorus binders when the phosphorus levels (shown on bloodwork) become elevated (preferably should be in the lower half of the reference range for CKD kitties). If the BUN is high and the phosphorus levels are okay you wouldn't necessarily need a binder, although probably the phosphorus would be high if the BUN got really elevated. And for CKD kitties, you want to try to feed a lower phosphorus food anyway (good list of canned food with phosphorus levels at Tanya's site that Mo posted), and you could put in some binder in if the food you're feeding has higher phosphorus to prevent it from increasing.
Hi Bump, phosphorus levels can get high in cats with kidney issues and too much phosphorus can make kidney disease worse. I've also read that high phosphorus makes CKD kitties feel bad.
I am using aluminum hydroxide right now for Gump because his phosphorus has gotten too high. I also give him cooked egg white which is also supposed to dilute phosphorus levels as someone mentioned. I fry them in butter to make them tasty and chop them up and put in his food. Egg whites are high quality protein with little phosphorus (sometimes I drizzle some raw yolk on it to make it even tastier). I have also read that eggshell powder can be used a more natural phosphorus binder. Eggshell powder is a natural source of calcium carbonate; there are other calcium-based binders like Epatikin (can't remember how to spell that) that some people use. There has been one study that showed that calcium-based binders don't raise calcium levels, but it still concerns me some. Anyone have any thoughts or info? But aluminum hydroxide works very well and seems to be used most often as a binder, but there are some concerns about aluminum.
Mo, if you see this, I'm wondering what you think of issues with using aluminum/aluminum hydroxide?