1. Stop feeding commercial cat foods of all kinds.
It is no coincidence that the increase in renal problems in cats has followed the increased use of commercial cat foods. Cats are designed to eat the freshly-killed bodies of herbivorous animals. What you see on the shelf at your supermarket or vet’s office does not even remotely resemble what cats are supposed to eat. Disease is a predictable consequence of feeding this garbage, particularly diseases which afflict the organs tasked with eliminating waste, such as the kidneys. The less digestible a “food” is, the more waste it produces in the body, obviously. Canned foods have slight advantages over kibble because of their water content, but they are not formulated to provide what is best for cats, but to provide the most profit for their manufacturers. Canned food is not fit sustenance for your cat.
2. Start feeding ONLY raw meat, organs and bones.
Stop researching, just do it. Too much analysis can be immobilizing! Some things just do not require analysis, and this is one of them. If you’ve tried feeding your cat raw but s/he refused, it’s likely because you sprung it on him/her too suddenly. There are ways to get even the most hard core kibble-addicted cat transitioned to a healing diet. Email me and I will send you my transition tip sheet for cats, free of charge. Raw feeding is not complicated or expensive, and it all but guarantees a healthy cat.
3. Stop listening to vets.
Vets are not trained to teach people how to provide the conditions under which cats can thrive. Vets are categorically opposed to proper feeding because it is FAR AND AWAY the #1 factor which determines whether a cat will be healthy. Are healthy cats good for the vet industry?  Most of the nutrition instruction vets receive in their training comes from pet food manufacturing reps.  Their diagnoses are unnecessary except perhaps to alert you to a problem that you should immediately begin resolving by removing the causes, which vets cannot help with because of their ignorance on dietary matters.  Their treatments are often harmful and drive disease further into the body. Even so-called “natural” treatments do not heal anything, they only shut down symptoms at best, and exacerbate your cat’s underlying toxic condition.
4. Start trusting nature.
The incredible power within your cat’s body that allowed him/her to grow from a fertilized ovum into a full grown organism can heal his/her disease. Just as external injuries heal, the internal injuries done to your cat’s organs by past feeding mistakes can heal as well. Perhaps not in every case — even nature has her limits — but in the vast majority of cases, even chronic disease is quite reversible if the proper conditions are put in place. Educate yourself on the truth about disease and health at websites like this. Note these resources are all about human health, because very few others besides myself are applying this incredible body of information and wisdom to the care of dogs and cats. Fortunately, the principles of health are UNIVERSAL and apply to all species. Healthful living, and ONLY healthful living, produces health.
5. STOP being afraid.
Industries in general like to create fear because it increases their profits. The medical and veterinary fields are the masters of this tactic, the latter perhaps the best of all because of the emotional connections people have to their pets. FEAR sells. Fearful people seek out help from mis-educated “experts” (who only recommend what comes from industry), buy foods they perceive to be “safe” (packaged and sold by industry) and always follow the rules laid down by the ones to make the rules (the industry/government cabal). And if it wasn’t bad enough that we have industry trying to scare us to death, we have their fearful sycophants (most pet owners, unfortunately) telling us how scared we should be. We’ve been HAD, people! Stop fearing and take back your power.
I have a 23yr old female cat who I acquired after my husbands younger siblings discarded & abandoned her for newer, funner, younger (& thus less damaged & expensive) pets. When I took her on (5yrs ago at the age of 18) she lived in a kitchen cupboard emerging only to eat, drink or eliminate, and had only ever eaten kibble. She was skiddish, unsociable, snarled, hissed and bit, and seemed to be in pain to be touched. She was known to urinate and defecate on beds, bathmats, and interior floors. Her vet records indicated chronic flea infestations for which she was endlessly subjected to a merry-go-round of chemical interventions. And of course fully vaccinated and continually boosted. I immediately transitioned her to a home-made raw food diet and she took to it instantly. The hardest part was that she was so skiddish that the slightest noise or movement would cause her to bolt only to return some time later expecting food to still and always be there the same way kibble was. But she gradually got better and better to the point that now does not hiss or bite when touched, and instead actually loves to be cuddled and held. Her turnaround has been amazing & it’s hard to believe she is the same cat. Lately however she has developed some kind of nasal blockage with congestion & discharge from the right nostril and eye. Because of this it seems she can not smell her food and as result does not eat even though she is mobile, active and displays a desire for food, coming to the kitchen at meal times and waiting by her bowl. A trip to the vet, bloodwork and biopsies can’t find any infection, but they diagnosed her with stage 2 renal failure. I suspect 5 years ago it was likely much worse and has actually improved. My question is for an animal that is (& has been for 5yrs) ALREADY on a fresh homemade species-appropriate 100% ORGANIC raw food diet, what are your recommendations for treatment?
I think you will have to wait out her lack of appetite and in the meantime rethink the foods you’ve been feeding. It’s not enough for them to be “organic” and raw, they need to be extremely low in fat and if they’re not, these are the kinds of issues that result. If you’ve been feeding any kind of commercial raw pet product or even commercial human-grade ground meats, you’ll need to buy whole cuts and prep them yourself. There is a list of appropriate foods in the back of the book. Stage 2 is reversible in most cats and for a 23 year old that’s probably normal kidney function. It might help to use some of the transitional strategies in the book to get her eating low fat foods, like braising the surface of the meat or pouring a bit of unsalted tuna water over it. Best of luck.
Hi Nora! I was so happy to have found your site! I just downloaded your e-Book and have been flying through it…so much interesting information. Our 3yo cat was just diagnosed with kidney disease, unusual for a cat of such a young age. We had been feeding him Blue wet cat food and various quality kibble (or so we thought) this past year or so. I want to transition him to raw, but I don’t see a schedule for cats in your book. Is it the same as the dog schedule? He has lost several pounds in the past 4-5 months due to a kidney infection (later to be diagnosed as kidney disease after his antibiotic treatment). His BUN & creatinine levels were very high. I am hopeful that transitioning him to raw foods will help. Please advise as to what you think a good schedule would be. He’s a good eater, an outdoor cat, and a “predator,” so I feel he would transition easily to this new lifestyle. Thank you!
There is a section in the back of the book that provides strategies for getting cats switched over to a new diet. It must be done gradually, unlike with dogs, and, since cats are strict carnivores, their diets are not ‘rotational’. They just eat meat everyday, unless you’re fasting them. If you have a copy of the book that does not include this, please contact me via the contact form here on the website and I will send you the new version. Good luck with your kitty. Yes, feeding properly constitutes removal of the causes of kidney problems so the body will be able to heal and normalize itself once the causes are removed.
Is your ebook for dog care only or is it also for cat care? Does it include how to prepare raw cat food and how to transition the cat from HK food to raw?
I tell people that the book is mostly about dogs but there is a section in the back about transitioning cats. While being about dogs, the book conveys very important information about understanding the connection between commercial pet food and disease, and it explains true disease causation and the function/purpose of disease. The information in the book is usually sufficient to get any cat owner up and running with raw feeding. There are precious few resources for truthful information about feeding dogs but there are some good cat resources. The ones that keep feeding simple and that advocate feeding nothing but meat and whatever plant foods a cat likes (not many in most cases) are the best. Hope this helps.
Thank you for your help. I am new to this and have just rwcued a cat that has chrinic kidney failure. Eats well, drinks a lot but also vomits and pulls her hair :(. She apparentlu is 10 yrs old. If I could have the diet recommendation I would be very grateful.
Best regards
Dd
A home prepared raw lean diet may be able to turn things around for her. Please read the book as there is a section in the back for transitioning cats. Best of luck!
My cat who is 16 was recently diagnosed with kidney disease and has been put on a commercial renal food diet.After reading your article I am interested in your transition tip sheet .Thank you
Jansen was diagnosed with stage 3 kidney disease. He has always been an aggressive eater no mater what the food is (can, dry, fresh cooked chicken) I have been trying to atleast feed him Instinct or Primal raw foods. He will like a bit of it only to end with me struggling to get him to eat the remaining i fixed in his bowl. I am up for the challenge for raw foods and trying to get him to eat it on his own.
Sadly my beautiful Dakota, Maine Coin died from purina poisoned can cat food causing kidney failure & cancer. I will NEVER EVER feed a cat anything but raw food & bones. I didn’t know then what I know now about animals…both cats & dogs…& raw food. I wish we could blow up these big pet food manufactureers…all they are doing is lying to us & killing or seriously sickening our fur babies. How horrible they are…Be warned people…they ONLY CARE ABOUT THEIR DAMN PROFIT…