Cat Chat Feline Forum

Hi all.
I have ADHD (with Autistic traits) so please bear with me as I try to explain and ask my questions. I love my cats dearly!

Cookie is 16 and not diagnosed with Chronic Kidney Disease although her sister Mischief (also 16) has been diagnosed 3 months ago and the vet said either the k/d food (totally refused!) or ipakitine.
Problem is Cookie will eat Mischiefs food which has the ipakitine powder mixed in. . Is this okay? Will it harm Cookie? Cookie is starting to show the same signs (drinking loads more water, peeing more, loss of appetite etc) thatMischief started with. So I’m thinking maybe it will do Cookie some good. So long as having ipakitine won’t harm her? (Cookie does have heart disease but not offered any treatment for it. She’s had it for 4 years).
They eat Felix senior food as have both rejected EVERYTHING else.

I’ve recently lost my job due to my health and am living frugally on very low income but still trying my absolute best to put their needs first. As soon as the PDSA takes regular appointments again I will take Cookie for blood tests.

So my questions are
1. Is it going to harm Cookie to have ipakitine?
2. Can I spread the daily dose for Mischief over 3 or 4 smaller meals instead of the 2 recommended daily doses?
3. If a cat weighs 3kg but the dose says 1 spoon ipakitine for 5kg cat do I give her just over half a spoon as a dose or the whole spoon? ( do they mean UP to 5kg needs a whole spoon or do I need to give the lesser amount?)

Thank you for your time. I can’t find my answers on the internet.

Hi and welcome to the forum. Isn't it the beauty of the internet that you have all the time you need to find the words for your questions and comments and reading your post I for one wouldn't know it you wrote it in one minute without thinking or took an hour. The questions are pretty clear!

I don't have any answers about Ipakitine as I have never given it, but I hope I can give you some reassurance.

Lots of cats don't like the renal diet, or any of the renal diets. I do know that renal diets won't hurt an older cat that doesn't have renal failure, though it's best not given to a young cat, but at 16 I would almost expect some loss of kidney efficiency. I don't know if the same applies to Ipakitine. The best person to ask would be your vet. They may say you need to give Mischief a blood test to be sure but if you know the signs and are reasonably sure it's really your decision whether to have the test or not.

From what you describe it sounds like fairly early stage CKD if k/d food is still a viable option. My Boo had it from age 13 and he was fine with k/d for a while but then it made him sick, because he had other health issues. So I put him on Felix and his kidney reading were still very mild, he just drank and weed a bit more than usual. My Molly also has very mild early stage CKD and she is on Felix too, we are due a blood test to follow up other things as soon as we can see the vet with her but she has no symptoms and I expect her to be fine.

There is an excellent website about CKD http://www.felinecrf.org/index.htm The lady's name is Helen, the site is named after her first CKD cat Tanya. It is very well researched and some of the most down to earth practical sensible advice there is anywhere about this common disease. She says the best food for a CKD cat is a food they will eat, and k/d or any other is no use at all if they hate it. Do have a look, Helen is very reassuring. CKD caught early is very manageable even for cats that don't want to eat what's recommended for them.