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What You Will Find in This
Section
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Diet can be a very useful way of controlling CKD and
helping your cat to cope better with the disease.
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Please ensure that your cat eats. Cats who don't
eat can develop a potentially lifethreatening condition called hepatic
lipidosis. So eating is more important than what you feed.
This section contains information on the following:
Nutritional Requirements of CKD Cats
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Cats have unique physiological needs. This page explains
more about the
nutritional requirements of CKD cats. It discusses the main components of
food, such as protein, phosphorus, fibre, essential fatty acids, vitamins
and water, and includes a discussion of whether to feed low protein food. It
also covers other nutritional issues, such as feeding frequency and dry food
versus wet food.
The B Vitamins
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B vitamins can help CKD cats with appetite and other
issues. Since they are water soluble, supplements are usually safe. This
page explains more about the B vitamins, especially Vitamin B12 (methylcobalamin).
What to Feed (and What to Avoid)
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Choosing a food can be difficult and many people
worry about which food to feed. This page explains the benefits of
prescription kidney foods and what to do if your cat refuses to eat them. It
also discusses which foods to avoid, such as garlic and tuna.
Persuading Your Cat to Eat
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CKD cats often have a poor appetite, so I explain
ways to encourage your CKD cat to eat. This page also has information on how
to get additional nourishment into your cat.
Food Data
Tables
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Since phosphorus control is an important part of managing
CKD, I have created tables of many commercial cat foods available in the
USA and UK in order of phosphorus content. Please read this page before
using the tables, it explains why I have created them, how to use them,
and why the data in my tables differ from that provided on the
manufacturers' websites or on the cans of food themselves.
USA
Canned Food Data
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This page contains the data for many US commercial canned
foods. It provides the data in Dry Matter Analysis (DMA) format for
phosphorus, protein, sodium and fat.
USA
Dry Food Data
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This page contains the data for many US
commercial dry foods. It provides the data in Dry Matter Analysis (DMA)
format for phosphorus, protein, sodium and fat.
USA
Cat Food Manufacturers
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Contact details for the various cat food manufacturers in
the USA, including website addresses and phone numbers. You can use the
links to their websites to check the ingredients of the food you are thinking of feeding, and
contact the manufacturers in case you have any further details.
UK
Canned Food Data
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This page contains the data for many UK
commercial canned foods. It provides the data in Dry Matter Analysis (DMA)
format for phosphorus, protein, sodium and fat.
UK
Dry Food Data
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This page contains the data for many UK
commercial dry foods. It provides the data in Dry Matter Analysis (DMA)
format for phosphorus, protein, sodium and fat.
UK Cat Food Manufacturers
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Contact details for the various cat food manufacturers in
the UK, including website addresses and phone numbers. You can use the links
to check the ingredients of the food you are thinking of feeding, and
contact the manufacturers in case you have any further details.
2007 Food Recall USA
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Some cats in the USA developed CKD during the
contaminated pet food scandal of 2007. I still hear from people almost five
years later whose cats were affected, and I'm pleased to say that some of
them are still going strong. This section includes information
about the court case and which foods were affected.
This page last updated: 16 December 2011
Links on this page last checked: 16 December 2011
