Usually when people see their old cat drinking lots of water and peeing all day long and maybe even throwing up, they start to wonder, “Is my older cat showing kidney disease signs?” And if it is CKD, chronic kidney disease, can it get better?
What a Google search revealed
Can chronic kidney disease in cats get better?
“No, Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) in older cats isn’t curable, but it’s manageable; with early diagnosis and dedicated treatment, you can significantly slow its progression, improve your cat’s comfort, and extend their quality life for months or even years through diet changes, hydration, medication, and managing blood pressure.”
What I did for my old cat
First, I don’t buy into the “Incurable Disease” model. Sure, things can progress past the point of no return, but where is that point?
My 15-year-old cat, Puss-Puss, was becoming lethargic, losing weight, drinking water and peeing all day and night (and yet his stools were hard as rocks), vomiting-especially in the night and often just yellow liquid. In short, it was starting to look like the beginning of the end. So, I decided to conduct an experiment.
I put him on a supplement, Bark and Whiskers, “Bladder Support.” (Here is an Amazon LInk for which I don’t get any compensation.) I put ½ scoop in his wet cat food at each meal for several weeks, and then a full scoop at each meal for several months, and then back to ½ scoop per meal indefinitely. He is not a picky eater, and he didn’t seem to notice it.
Better cat food for old kidneys
I also changed his food a little bit. I searched for a lower protein cat food that wasn’t a prescription diet. In my opinion you pay a lot for not much with those foods. I found a reasonably priced Friskies product called Friskies Farm cat food. I got the combo pack from Chewy. One flavor is Chicken and Carrots and the other is Salmon and Spinach. The vegetables also contain minerals that help to buffer the acids created by protein digestion, which puts less stress on the kidneys.
Then I added bowel support
In addition to supporting his urinary system, I also supported his bowels with another natural product, NaturVet Hairball Help, containing pumpkin and psyllium, which I got from Chewy. I started him out at two for a late-morning snack and after a month I went up to three for his snack. His stools are perfectly normal now, and no hairballs either.
The results for Puss-Puss
Puss at 17 is still skinny, but he never was a heavy cat. His energy level is great! He plays with our 5-year-old female, and they wrestle and run all over the house like you would expect from a much younger cat. His bowels are regular and normal consistency and his litter box used to smell terrible, but it doesn’t anymore! I believe that supporting the kidneys and bowels helped him to eliminate acids and toxins that he wasn’t keeping up with. For an older cat with kidney disease signs his turnaround has been miraculous!
Neuro-Energetic Balancing™ for cats
The final piece of the puzzle is keeping the nerve and energy system free of interference so that the body can operate at its highest efficiency. Of course, Puss-Puss gets regular tune ups. If you want to learn more or have a free consultation with me, Dr. Nels, (that is a chiropractic degree and not a veterinarian) just click this LINK and fill out the form on our contact page and I’ll set that up for you.
