Our customer asked:
My vet has put my 15 year old cat on Renal food as his creatinine level is 212 as opposed to an acceptable level of 180 (these are the figures I recall him saying, so I could be wrong). Unfortunately my cat's appetite has always been poor and he eats less that half the Royal Canin diet I am feeding him. Much of it goes in the bin. Rightly or wrongly I am feeding him 2 or 3 coley portions a week just to cheer him up!
I am now aware of the product called Renalzin. Could you tell me if, given that my cat is likely to lose weight on what he is eating at present, this would be a suitable alternative to the renal food if the creatinine figure I have quoted is correct? I expect you will tell me to ask this of my own vet but I would appreciate your opinion.
Our reply:
You should indeed ask your vet as well, but I am happy to give you my opinion. You are not unusual - lots of cat owners face the same problem. Ideally your cat would eat proper renal food in large amounts and that would certainly be a help to him. In the real world, many cats like him have poor appetites and do not eat enough, so losing weight and putting further strain on the kidneys. You are right to tempt him to eat extra, high biological value protein, such as white fish. In this circumstance Renalzin is a significant additional benefit and well worth adding to his food.