Is Fish Good for Cats with Kidney Disease? | Fish Oil for Cats with Kidney Disease?
Today’s video we’re answering the question is fish good for cats with kidney disease?
The short answer: yes, it is in moderation. If a cat has kidney disease one of the things we want to look to do is reduce the amount of protein in the diet. We don’t want to get rid of it completely, we just want to shrink it down a little bit because protein stresses out the kidneys.
Cats do need some protein even if they have kidney disease. A smaller portion fish is okay for cats. It has some health benefits like omega-3s, that are good for kidney disease. Also, fish is a little bit easier to break down and digest than chicken, turkey, and beef products. The big thing you want to watch out for is you don’t want fish as the only source of protein in a cat’s diet. What happens is long term, six months or longer, of the only protein source being fish is it can lead to some nutritional deficiencies. These include Vitamin E deficiencies, and some amino acid deficiencies.
You want to have it as part of your cat’s diet, but not the sole protein source. You want to have other protein sources in there as well. Some commercial cat food brands mix fish and meat together. What you definitely want to do is feed your cat a renal diet a kidney-friendly diet no matter what. That’s going to provide all the types of benefits.
Fish does have some omega-3s and we know that omega-3s are really good for a cat’s kidneys when they have any loss of function, or when they have any kidney disease. Your cat will get some through fish but you definitely want to give your cat an omega-3 supplement. We have a supplement called Kidney Shield for Cats and Dogs that’s designed just for kidney problems. This product has really high therapeutic EPA. You can take a look at that if you’re interested.
In terms of fish for kidney disease for cats, keep the amount smaller. It’s okay, just do not make it the only protein source. Cats actually respond very well to nutritional and supplement interventions because they’re so small it allows things to be more therapeutic at smaller doses.
