Kidneys - 3 months on

I picked up a set of postal scales to keep track of Linus's weight, he gets weighed once a week and, in true geek fashion, I have a spreadsheet keeping track of it.

His weight wobbles up and down but there was a distinct downward trend so he went back to the vets a couple of weeks earlier than planned.

On the vets scales he weighed the same as on my post scales which was good. Overall the vet wasn't too concerned with the weight loss as some is to be expected due to switching to a low protein diet. If it carries on through the rest of the year or suddenly starts to plummet then we will need to investigate further.

His blood values (creatinine and blood urea nitrogen - aka BUN) have both dropped a little which is good. So the plan is to continue the low protein diet, continue to monitor his weight and re-check his blood values in another 3 months time.

 I will try and remember to take a photo of Linus sitting and looking regal in his waste paper bin on the scales.

Kidneys about 1 month on

So yesterday Linus had another trip to the vets. He was due his annual MOT and boosters and it also gave us the opportunity to see if there was any difference in his kidney values.

He got a clean bill of health and his boosters, then we turned our attention to his kidneys. His weight was exactly the same as it was back at the end of December and so were his blood values. This is good news as it means he hasn't got any worse. So the plan is to re-check his blood values in 3 months time, in between now and then I need to weigh him regularly and if there is either a sudden or a gradual creeping change in his weight to take him back in.

He is now fully on his new diet and eating it with great enthusiasm. All the tins and pouches say he needs 3 of them a day but as I feed him dry as well he is getting 1.5 tins/pouches a day so, theoretically, he is on a half and half dry and wet food diet.

Just in case anyone is interested he is getting the James Wellbeloved Senior (Fish) dry food. The wet food is a random tin or pouch from the following

Fish4Cats: Salmon Mousse for Cats, Trout Mousse for Cats, Tuna Fillet With Crab, Tuna Fillet With Salmon, Tuna Fillet With Seaweed & Sardine and Mackerel
Sainsburies Delicious Collection (Ocean Fish)
Natures Menu Country Hunter Duck and Pheasant
James Welbelloved  Grain Free Senior (Lamb)

For treats he is getting Fish4Dogs Superior Adult Complete Small-Bite. We got a free sample of this with the first order from them and Linus loves them.

There were other foods out there that he tried and either rejected or ate without enthusiasm. Applaws (wet ad dry) & Wainwrights. He also rejected the one Hills chicken free renal diet. I have listed them so if anyone is looking for chicken free cat food then they know that these options are available, just because Linus doesn't like them doesn't mean another cat won't.

Kidneys

2017 was, in some places, a fairly stressfull year and by Christmas I had hoped it was all over. But in the couple of weeks running up to Christmas I noticed that Linus was drinking more than normal. I left it over Christmas as it could have been due to me having the heating on more so I wanted to observe and check he really was drinking more and it wasn't my imagination.

It wasn't my imagination, so when Hilda went to the vets for her annual MOT and vaccinations between Christmas and New Year Linus came along too to get checked out. My initial thought was Diabetes, Fluffy was diabetic towards the end of her life and while this felt similar it wasn't exactly the same so I wasn't totally sure. Hilda got a clean bill of health and then we turned our attention to Linus. After explaining what I had noticed the vet thought similarly to me and, after giving him a quick all-over check, took a urine sample to check.

The various bits of analysis took a couple of minutes and the good news was that it wasn't diabetes. Just about everything else was also normal, the bad news was that it was a very dilute sample and the specific gravity was way below normal. One blood test later and the results were in, Linus is in the early stages of kidney failure. What was needed now was a change in diet. Sounds simple enough but Linus cannot have chicken so the task of finding a suitable diet was handed over to one of the vet nurses.

I took the vet nurse something from Bothams Bakeries in Whitby as a thank you as I knew the struggle she was going to have searching for suitable Linus food. I have spent years reading the ingredients of every new cat food on the market, usually with great dismay. It no longer surprises me to discover that in a 'fish' cat food the first ingredient on the list is usually either Chicken or the dreaded "Meat and Animal Derivatives". So to find a selection with no chicken and also very strict limits on protein, ash and phosphates was not going to be easy.

We are both pleasantly surprised to discover there was more options than we thought, there was only one specialist renal food (which he won't eat) but between us we have found 6 different dry foods from 4 manufacturers and good collection of tinned and pouched foods from 5 manufacturers. So Linus is now enjoying a smorgasbord style buffet dining experience of dry food and a random daily sample of different 'wet' foods to try. The idea is we can work out which ones he likes and settle on those for his future diet.

So far we have discovered that some 'wet' foods are actually very dry but the addition of some water makes them palatable (to Linus not me!).  In addition to the specialist renal food one of the dry foods has also been rejected by Linus so until the remaining 3 samples arrive from the manufacturer he is on two different dry foods. He isn't keen on mousse style wet food, I think it must be the texture, he eats it but not with any enthusiasm and doesn't ask for more when it's done.

Linus is due his annual MOT at the end of this month so I will report back on progress after that.