Common Feline Health Problems and Their Ties to Diet - Pt 2

Please also note the following list of the first four ingredients of Hill's dry k/d after reviewing this section on reading a pet food label - and bearing in mind that your cat is a carnivore.

This diet (or any other dry 'renal' diet) would never find its way into a food bowl owned by any cat in my care.

The first three ingredients are not even a source of meat and the fourth ingredient is a by-product meal which is not necessarily an unhealthy source of protein but it would be nice to see some muscle meat ("chicken") in this product.

Brewers rice, corn gluten meal, pork fat (preserved with mixed tocopherols and citric acid), chicken by-product meal

The purpose of this 'prescription' diet is to restrict protein which, unfortunately, it certainly does. However, please understand that there are no studies showing that restricting protein to this level will prevent further deterioration of kidney function.

'Renal' diets restrict protein to the point that many cats - those that are not consuming enough of the diet to provide their daily protein calorie needs - will catabolize (use for fuel) their own muscle mass which results in muscle wasting and weight loss.

This internal breakdown of the cat’s own muscle mass will cause an increase in creatinine (and BUN) which needs to be cleared by the kidneys. The rise in creatinine and BUN, and muscle wasting, can lead to an often-erroneous conclusion that the patient’s CKD is worsening.

Of course, the same deterioration can occur in any cat that is not consuming enough protein, but the level of protein in these diets is not only at an extremely low level, it is in an incomplete form for a carnivore. Note that they are often made up mainly of plant proteins - not meat proteins - especially the dry versions.