Hello!
I moved out of my parent's house a few years ago and was finally able to take my kitty, Tiger, to live with me this August. He will be 14 this month. I am very interested in proper nutrition and ever since he has moved in with me he has been put on a 100% grain-free canned diet (no more kibble!!). He and my boyfriend's cat, a 1.5 yr old calico female terror (that we love dearly) also get a few meals of raw weekly but their diet is mainly canned. They get a variety of flavors from Wellness, Nature's Variety, Weruva, Petcurean, and Evanger's. I am trying to familiarize myself with the lower phosphorous varieties as well as calculating dry matter and read some good pointers in the thread already concerning that, luckily he likes almost everything suggested! I will start making those a more prominent part of his diet. The cats get 2-3 meals a day. His appetite is great, he is my secondary alarm clock which has saved me from being late a few times! I'm glad he is always eager for breakfast. We have several water dishes across the apartment and he seems to drink a lot, perhaps a bit less after starting fluid therapy but I catch him drinking more than Asha. Living with a young and spunky (on the verge of violently insane) kitty has really livened up his life and activity level too.
Tiger went in for bloodwork last month. The following were the only things with abnormal ranges:
ABS Lymphs - 946 /uL L (1300 - 7000)
BUN/Urea - 51 mg/dL H (15 - 34)
CHOL - 274 mg/dL H (82 - 218)
CREA - 3.1 mg/dL H (0.8 - 2.3)
My vet advised me to begin sub-q fluid therapy at home, 300cc's twice weekly. We did not discuss any medications. He is due for another blood profile in one week. Are we supposed to see a drop in his levels? I am uncertain whether or not 300cc's twice a week is better or worse than a smaller amount more frequently. I just ordered a digital infant scale on amazon to track his weight/hydration a bit more accurately as advised by
http://www.felinecrf.org which I was linked to in this thread. Lots of great info there (and here!). Glad I found you guys.
Any advice or thoughts on Tiger's specific situation would be greatly appreciated.