Thanks for the book tip. On it
Correction on the title: It's "Your Cat: Simple New Secrets to a Longer, Stronger Life." I left out a word and switched a couple of others. That's what I get for not actually looking at the book when I typed the name.
Here are some highlights from the chapter on kidney disease:
- "In the cat with insufficient kidney function, high dietary phosphorus intake may promote further decline in that function." That's why low-protein diets have been recommended. However, there are phosphorus (phosphate) binders that you can get from your vet. You can also add cooked egg white to the cat's wet diet. It's great protein, but doesn't have phosphate, "... so it effectively "dilutes" the phosphorus in the food."
- She mentions that "Recently, scientists studying cats with CRD have also begun to recommend supplemental calcitriol to control renal secondary hyperparathyroidism (see
http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/calcitriol/). Calcitriol is an active form of vitamin D." This is if the kidneys can no longer activate vitamin D. She goes into a lot of detail here, but basically, "As active vitamin D levels drop, blood calcium also drops and blood phosphorus levels start to climb." This can create an inbalance in the blood that, long story short, can lead to bones becoming soft, and bone crystals being "deposited in the soft tissues, including the kidneys themselves." She also included another link:
http://members.bellatlantic.net/~vze2r6qt/calcitriol/calcitriol3/htm). A vet can prescribe the appropriate low doses to give and can monitor the patient.
- Another thing she mentions are a class of drugs called ACE inhibitors (
www.felinegood.co.uk/treatments/en/ace_inhibitors.shtml), which "have been shown to have remarkable value in stabilizing the CRD patient." She likes to use benazepril, which is used in humans to lower high blood pressure. This class of drugs "may also increase blood flow to the kidneys, allowing these organs to better filter toxins from the blood."
- She mentions calcium channel blockers, which is a different calss of drugs, in case the ACE inhibitor doesn't control the blood pressure enough. She specifically mentioned amlodipine.
- If the cat has a poor appetite, she uses drugs like cyproheptadine "for a short time, to stimulate food consumption."
- She prefers giving cats fluids subcutaneously (under the skin) rather than via IV, because "it is extremely easy to overhydrate a cat with IV fluids." She states it's very easy to do subcutaneous fluids at home (
www.marvistavet.com/html/body_subcutaneous_fluids.html). She states that "Cats receiving fluid supplementation as part of their CRD treatment protocol should have potassium and B-vitamin supplementation as well" because the "increased fluid flow through the kidneys in these patients can cause excessive loss of potassium and the water-soluble B vitamins from the body." The vitamins "can be added directly to the patient's fluid solution" or orally. A couple more links she provides:
www.vetmed.wsu.edu/ClientED/cat_fluids.asp and
www.sniksnak.com/cathealth/subques.html.
- "If your cat has serious anemia, your veterinarian may prescribe erythropoietin to help the bone marrow produce more red cells to carry oxygen throughout your cat's body."
Above all, she advises that these cats NOT be fed dry food. Instead, they should be fed a wet diet, e.g. canned or raw.