He had advanced kidney disease when I started spoiling him, which inhibits eating. The healthiest food I could give him at that point was literally anything he’d eat, and there was just something about frozen white meat chicken nuggets from Costco that he just really liked.
He was on a very low phosphorus diet for years, and it was a constant struggle to get him to eat, even though I found a ton of things that were ok for him outside of the Rx diet food (which he refused to eat for every meal). My vet ended up asking me what I was feeding, because he wasn’t supposed to make it more than a year based on his kidney function labs, and he made it another 8, and was pretty healthy for most of it getting all the way up to a chubby 9 lbs at one point (small cat). He passed last July, and even my vet was sad to see him go (he was a charming lover boy who adored strangers of all species). It turns out, Rx kidney food for cats isn’t actually optimal because cats are obligate carnivores and need protein, but low protein is recommended for omnivores with kidney disease and that was just assumed to be true for cats as well, and the Rx foods are low phos and low protein, so cats waste away over time.
I don’t eat nuggets (or a lot of meat) normally, myself, and I usually don’t give my cats people food either, but I appreciate the suggestion all the same if I come across that need again :)
Cats and kidney disease is a combination that unfortunately is way too common. I’m happy to hear he had a loving caring owner and lived many years, sorry to hear about his passing but I’m sure he had a great life.
I like sharing this little nugget recipe around just because it’s very cheap, and healthy for children, pets and to be fair us adults too, I like nuggets haha.
He had advanced kidney disease when I started spoiling him, which inhibits eating. The healthiest food I could give him at that point was literally anything he’d eat, and there was just something about frozen white meat chicken nuggets from Costco that he just really liked.
He was on a very low phosphorus diet for years, and it was a constant struggle to get him to eat, even though I found a ton of things that were ok for him outside of the Rx diet food (which he refused to eat for every meal). My vet ended up asking me what I was feeding, because he wasn’t supposed to make it more than a year based on his kidney function labs, and he made it another 8, and was pretty healthy for most of it getting all the way up to a chubby 9 lbs at one point (small cat). He passed last July, and even my vet was sad to see him go (he was a charming lover boy who adored strangers of all species). It turns out, Rx kidney food for cats isn’t actually optimal because cats are obligate carnivores and need protein, but low protein is recommended for omnivores with kidney disease and that was just assumed to be true for cats as well, and the Rx foods are low phos and low protein, so cats waste away over time.
I don’t eat nuggets (or a lot of meat) normally, myself, and I usually don’t give my cats people food either, but I appreciate the suggestion all the same if I come across that need again :)
Cats and kidney disease is a combination that unfortunately is way too common. I’m happy to hear he had a loving caring owner and lived many years, sorry to hear about his passing but I’m sure he had a great life.
I like sharing this little nugget recipe around just because it’s very cheap, and healthy for children, pets and to be fair us adults too, I like nuggets haha.