Management of chronic renal failure in my cat

Heidi, thanks for your questions! To properly help manage Beau I need to know the results of his bloodwork, specifically BUN, creatinine, phosphorus, hematocrit, and whatever other results you can supply.

In general however, feeding a *high quality* lower protein, lower phosphorus diet is critical to his long term quality of life. For home-cooking, see if he will eat white meat chicken or turkey, which can then be added in a 1:4 proportion to "wet" rice (which is rice cooked with double the amount of water, for twice the length of time resulting in a "mush").

A good multivitamin source such as Nutrived microencapsulated cat vitamins is also important. Kidney supporting western and chinese herbs, kidney glandulars etc. are all excellent adjuncts.

It is also critical to monitor his red blood cell count since it is this value along with the presence of kidney toxins in the bloodstream which help maintain his appetite and weight. This is critical since most CRF cats die or are euthanised, not from their underlying disease, but from wasting due to inappetance.

Depending on the blood values, I also may recommend that you start administering fluids subcutaneously at home. This is a simple procedure but extremely important .

A urinalysis and urine culture are critical for ruling out the presence of bacteria and other complicating factors such as crystals.