My kidney cat scratches. Could it be a Royal Canin Renal food allergy?

Yes, it is ok to eat renal food, but only as a treat or supplement to the main diet of Hills Rx Senior. Renal food is lower in protein than normal cat food since the kidneys can't handle excess protein when they are failing. So it would be best for long-term health if Tony gets plenty of protein, which is in the senior diet!

If she responded initially to d/d then this confirmed a significant food sensitivity. A hydrolyzed diet such as royal canin hypoallergenic or anallergenic would be recommended, antiinflammatory medications should also be prescribed to provide short term relief

There are several types of food allergy. If you have not had any luck with the brands you have tried, I recommend to try a prescription brand made by Royal Canin called Ultamino. The protein is broken down to the amino acid level, thus it will not trigger an immune response. Basically you need to feed this diet for 8 to 12 weeks. During this time she cannot eat anything else. No treats, no canned food, nothing. At the end of the 8 to 12 weeks, if her skin is all cleared up, then you know it is food. If her skin is not cleared up, then it is not likely food and you should look into other causes. I hope this helps and please feel free to post any additional questions!

Many cats with renal disease get picky with food so you may end up trying all the brands at some point or alternating between them. You need to feed Mercy a prescription diet for the renal disease. The brand Royal Canin tends to be the most palatable. They make 3 varieties of kibble and 3 varieties of canned food that are all for renal disease. They have different smells/textures...etc so just pick a bag (or all 3) and try it. You will need to ask your normal veterinarian about continuing the milk thistle. The renal diets are lower in protein, higher in fat and higher in fatty acids/antioxidants and this can be beneficial for the liver depending on the cause of liver elevations. Your normal vet will best advise you. I hope this helps and please feel free to post any additional questions.

Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach. I am so sorry to hear about Anano. Although the royal Canin renal diet is ideal, it’s more important that he eats SOMETHING. So go ahead and feed him the meat. Then contact your vet to see if he or she has any other testing or treatments to try. Best wishes to you and Anano.

Hello. Thank you for your question about Marcus. It sounds like he is suffering from allergies. This is likely unrelated to his kidney disease. Cats can have allergies to food or to something in the environment. Typically what we see is loss of hair, itching, scabs. Feline allergies can be managed with injections or a medicine called cyclosporine. There is also the possibility that he could have a parasitic skin infection but this would be more unlikely. I would recommend taking Marcus to Your veterinarian and having them check for these things. I would also have them run a bloodwork panel and make sure everything else is looking normal and that an underlying organ malfunction is not what is causing the hair loss. Best to you and Marcus.

This is probably due to an allergy, although it could also be infection or mites. First of all, in order to rule out skin parasites, you will need to treat with a high quality flea treatment (advocate or advantage), then ask the vet to perform a skin scrape - this might reveal an infection or a mite infestation. If all of those came back negative, the next step is to treat the allergy symptomatically and try to discover the cause of the allergy. Three main type of allergies are usually affecting pets: food allergies, flea and parasite related ones and environmental type (allergens coming from trees, pollens, dust etc etc). Some medications can be given by the vet in order to repair any possible skin lesions (like steroids and antibiotics). Having said that, in terms of diets, exclusion diets are probably the best way to rule out certain allergens (what triggers the allergic reaction). Exclusion diets are made with one source of proteins (turkey, venison, salmon etc etc) and one of carbohydrates (usually potatoes or peas). These diets and ABSOLUTELY nothing else must be given for 4 weeks at least. I would recommend to discuss their use with your vet rather than try an home made diet (which is very difficult to be effective). Please do not hesitate to contact us again on the forum or by requesting a consultation if you have any more questions or to discuss it any further.