03/10/2026
Let’s talk feline kidney disease! CKD is one the most common leading causes of death in older cats. 😿
It cannot be stressed enough how important preventative measures are when your baby is young and healthy. The kidneys are essentially a filter, made up of thousands of microscopic filtering units called nephrons. Once these nephrons are damaged and unfunctional, they cannot be repaired. The remaining nephrons do expand and take on more of the workload, but this overcompensation can only go on for so long.
🔹Human kidney: 800K – 1 mill nephrons each 🔹Canine kidney: 400K – 500k nephrons each
🔹Feline kidney: about 200k nephrons each
You can see that cats already are getting the short end of the stick. 😿
One of the most alarming facts of kidney disease is that it is often not diagnosed until the kidneys are already 70-85% damaged. Since the functioning part of the kidney will attempt to overcompensate to cover for the damaged parts, early detection is always tricky. For this reason, it is extremely important to start preventative care as early as 6 years old. By 7, cats are considered to be in their senior years. Most vets will not tell you this and do not intervene until your cat is already at stage 3/4 kidney failure. 🥹
As a certified pet nutritionist, many clients do come to me when it is often too late. Supportive care can always be started to try to extend life and slow disease progression, but it is much more difficult and watching our babies suffer with clinical signs like increased thirst and urination, decreased appetite, vomiting, weight loss, anemia, etc is so heartbreaking. 💔
To give one example, last month I had a client come to me regarding chronic vomiting for her 10yo. She showed me labs from June 2025, indicating kidney levels were trending on the high side but still just barely in normal range (stage 1). Her vet indicated to do nothing, that they would simply just keep an eye on it. She was feeding low quality commercialized food. Fast forward 7 months and she ran labs again per my request and now her cat is high stage 3 kidney failure, nearly stage 4. This disease can progress quickly. 😞
The key to prevention is very simple. Since our kidneys are a filter, putting in clean high-quality biologically appropriate food/nutrients means the kidneys will have less waste to filter out. The easier their job is, the less damage will occur. Feeding your cat waste quality biologically inappropriate food is like putting mud and debris in your pool, and wondering why your pool filter is no longer working great. Filters can only manage so much, before they get damaged and so full of waste, that they can no longer do their job.
Besides a poor diet, exposure to toxins, harsh medications, over-vaccination, some medical conditions like periodontal disease or chronic UTIs, can all contribute to kidney disease progression as well.
Simple steps for PREVENTATIVE support:
1. Water water water! The single most important ingredient for kidney and urinary tract health is water. Always encourage water intake by providing several clean sources of drinking water. Feed high moisture wet food if possible (dry kibble is unhealthy/counterproductive). Always add additional water to food.
2. Feed a human grade grain-free diet. Focusing on these two characteristics will eliminate 95% of the risk that comes with the biologically inappropriate toxic food full of chemicals and preservatives not fit for human consumption. Don’t forget, it’s the major commercialized manufacturers that have normalized and capitalized on “pet” food, mainly for profit and convenience. Food is food; generally what is healthy for us is healthy for them.
3. Start supplements or nutraceuticals that support kidney function, digestive function, immune function, etc. It is never too early! 🤩
While we all wish our babies could live forever, our promise to them can be to give them the most healthy, disease-free, pain-free years for the time they are with us. 🐾❤️
