[sugarcatmom]

Originally Posted by Zerosmom2

I stopped because my vet told me they get cases of food poisening from pets who eat raw.

Most vets tend to be completely ignorant about raw feeding, and unfortunately it would appear that this one is no exception. Wonder how many cases of "food poisoning" they get from kibble? Diamond pet food recall anyone? In any case, Nature's Variety follows some very strict production protocols and uses High Pressure Processing to minimize the risk of pathogens in their food.

Originally Posted by Zerosmom2

then a few months later I noticed that Zero wasn't eating well,

Maybe he got bored of the food? I'm a big fan of regularly rotating several brands, partly to avoid addiction, but also to keep it interesting for the cats. And it helps lessen the risk of nutritional deficiencies or excesses. Maybe there are some other commercial raw products available to you that you could try Zero on.

Originally Posted by Zerosmom2

so I got paranoid and gave up on the raw. I have been considering it again but had no idea if the phosphorus and protein levels were any better than the canned.

The NV raw has excellent phosphorus levels compared to the canned. If you scroll down to the bottom of this chart you can see what they are in mg per 100Kcal: http://binkyspage.tripod.com/CanFoodNew.html
And here is another page showing the phosphorus levels of various foods as a dry matter percentage: http://www.felinecrf.org/canned_food_usa.htm

But again, unless Zero has high blood phosphorus levels, I wouldn't be obsessive about it. The absolute most important thing is that he maintain a good appetite.

Originally Posted by Zerosmom2

At the vet they drew blood but did not get a urine sample.

Hmmm. A urinalysis is probably the most important piece of the puzzle. I personally don't think a diagnosis of renal insufficiency can be made without knowing what the urine specific gravity is.

Originally Posted by Zerosmom2

All she told me was that her creatinine was 2.4,

I highly recommend asking the vet for a copy of her blood work. 2.4 is not an outrageous value (would even be considered within normal range at the lab that does my cats blood work), and besides, CKD is about more than just creatinine levels.

Originally Posted by Zerosmom2

I did buy Azodyl (expensive!), but I've had a hard time getting Zero to take it in a way that might be effective.

I'm not a fan of Azodyl. I think the company that makes it is sleazy, and it's definitely a tough pill to administer (who thought it would be a good idea to try giving cats something that big??!!). If Zero really does have renal issues, the supplements I linked to above might be a better option for you. There are lots of other things you can try as well, such as acupuncture or aqua-puncture, vitamin B injections (helps with appetite and anemia), slippery elm bark if constipation becomes a problem, subQ fluids, etc. But I think first you need to nail down a diagnosis based on a complete work up, including a urinalysis. I don't think it's good practice for a vet to just "assume" kidney failure without anything to back it up.