Chicken-free renal diet (wet) for cat with chronic kidney disease?

September 10, 2024 11:38 AM

Vet suggested we put our cat with chronic kidney disease on a renal diet. I told him she has a chicken allergy, and he said he would research and find some chicken free options. The list he gave me are renal wet foods labeled tuna, vegetable, etc. but when you go to the ingredients list for these foods they all include chicken. What can I feed my cat?

I know that typically the issue with these kinds of allergies is that they can’t digest the protein and not all forms of chicken are going to be a problem for cats with a chicken allergy. But none of the ingredients lists differentiate, they just say chicken.

Hills has a hydrolyzed protein kidney care dry food, but not wet. We have previously tried turning kibble into wet food at home by adding water and she would not have it. Kitty is currently on FirstMate single ingredient turkey wet food but it’s not renal formulated. We’ve started a phosphorous binder but would really like a renal formulation if possible. I looked through all the ones on Chewy and they all had some variation of chicken in them, though some were “chicken fat” and “chicken hearts” and I don’t know if those would be OK re: the protein thing?

Cat tax: 19 yr old lady visiting the graveyard with us after her vet checkup, picture taken minutes before she attempted to jump off a 5ft tall monument, arthritis and cataracts be damned! (I caught her and lowered her to the ground, much to her annoyance).

posted by brook horse to Pets & Animals (4 answers total)

The CatFoodNerds site has created a list of low phosphorus cat foods. These are not specifically advertised as renal support cat foods, but I am posting in the hopes that they might work for you anyway. They have a page for low-phosphorus cat foods that are also chicken-free as well.
posted by Jeanne at 12:10 PM on September 10 [5 favorites]

Tanya’s CKD cat page is very helpful and also has a low-phosphorus foods list—at the top of the standard wet foods list I see the Bengal, Truluxe, and Wysong foods would all match your criteria.
posted by music for skeletons at 2:08 PM on September 10 [4 favorites]

Link to Mefi's own CGG's excellent CatFoodDB which has extensive info on ingredients.
posted by Runes at 6:01 PM on September 11 [1 favorite]

According to the staff at my trusted local pet store, chicken fat doesn't have the problematic protein. The only acceptable kibble we've found contains chicken fat and doesn't seem to bother my girl. I sympathize, it's really hard to find truly chicken-free cat food.
posted by doift at 9:38 PM on September 12