Paws, Reflect & Heal with Dr. Randy

Why I Don't Recommend Kidney Prescription Diets

• Dr. Randy Pet Vet • Episode 50

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In this episode of Pause, Reflect & Heal, Dr. Randy Aronson and co-host Olivia Sacci provide essential guidance for pet parents managing a feline kidney disease diagnosis. This integrative veterinary guide explains why traditional low-protein prescription diets may contribute to muscle wasting and how specific blood markers like creatinine, BUN, SDMA, and GFR (glomerular filtration rate) impact your cat's long-term prognosis. Drawing on 43 years of experience, Dr. Randy explains how transitioning from inflammatory kibble to whole-food nutrition supports senior cat health and renal function.

Learn the "root cause" approach to managing kidney failure in cats using nitrogen binders.  Dr. Randy and Olivia discuss how to increase blood flow to the kidneys naturally with specific supplements and why biannual exams are critical for early detection in senior pets. Whether you are dealing with a new diagnosis or looking for holistic alternatives to Western allopathic treatments, this video provides a roadmap for pet wellness and longevity.

Connect with us: Instagram: @drrandypetvet. On YouTube, subscribe to Dr. Randy Aronson - The Pet Vet. Questions? Email Dr. Randy with questions at askme@drrandypetvet.com. Follow Olivia’s journey on Instagram: @drsacci

#cathealth #kidneydisease #holisticvet #petnutrition

Links

Azodyl: https://www.vetoquinolusa.com/products/azodyl

Porus-One: https://www.porus-one.com

AminAvast: https://aminavast.com/

Naroquin: https://www.chewy.com/brands/naraquin-2947094


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Products and Resources I Recommend

Dental:                                                                                                                            TEEF: https://teefhealth.com

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Books
Four Paws in Five Directions; by Dr. Cheryl Schwartz
The Forever Dog; by Dr. Karen Shaw Becke...

SPEAKER_01

Hi guys, Dr. Randy here from Pause Reflect and Heal with my good friend and co-host, Olivia Stacci from the University of Arizona Vet School.

SPEAKER_00

Nice to see you guys again. I still like when you call me your friend. Oh, you makes me happy every year.

SPEAKER_01

You're always my friend.

SPEAKER_00

You're my friend too.

SPEAKER_01

Absolutely. Well, this is great. And I and I have to tell you, I love her helping us with these because it makes it so much fun for me. It's not just one ugly mug staring at your camera.

SPEAKER_00

That's I that is not true.

SPEAKER_01

Anyway, uh we have uh question from Jay.

SPEAKER_00

Perfect. So Jay is from Los Angeles, California. Um, and he said that his cat is recently diagnosed with kidney disease. What should Jay actually focus on first and what treatments make the biggest difference long term?

SPEAKER_01

So kidney disease uh in our cats um can can be very, very significant and definitely a progressive, ongoing problem. Um I address it a little bit differently than other veterinarians. So I'm gonna give you the integrative perspective, not just the allopathic or western perspective. Uh what happens in kidney disease is the kidney uh starts not being able to hold all of the protein in the body, and more that protein comes out, the way we can diagnose it is that there are um there are certain tests that look at the enzyme, especially nitrogen, uh from the body when this starts to happen. The the the names of that are creatinine, B U N, SDMA, and also we always look at a urinalysis because in that urinalysis, the concentration in the urine will start getting more and more dilute and the protein levels will start to rise.

SPEAKER_00

Which you can see all of that if you if you get lab work done on your animals, those values are usually going to be um on the sheet that they hand you or or the whatever they discuss with you.

SPEAKER_01

That's correct. And the sooner that you do something about that, the better off it is. So that's why we really recommend our cats in in their senior years get a biannual exam with their veterinarian and have lab work done because this can change so quickly. It can. It can progress pretty fast. So so Jay knows that his cat is starting with this disease. Hopefully, it's early on. What I like to do is one, again, talk about getting them off of kibble. And the reason why I'll do that is kibble has a lot of inflammatory carbs in it, which create more and more inflammation, and we know that affects the kidney. So I tend to use uh a lot of veterinarians will recommend, I mentioned other veterinarians work differently than I do, they'll recommend the kidney diet, uh, one of the prescription diets. I'm not a huge fan of those diets. And the reason I'm not is usually the first ingredient is either corn or wheat, um, and it has a lot of carbs in there. Uh, they're specifically made to lower the phosphorus level, which I'm gonna talk about in a second. And also they keep the protein low. But what actually ends up happening is in kidney disease, since they're loo, as we mentioned before, they're losing protein through the kidney. If you continue to make the protein low, guess what happens?

SPEAKER_00

It's gonna get lower.

SPEAKER_01

And what happens to the body?

SPEAKER_00

Uh, it doesn't have enough protein. Are you gonna start losing muscle mass?

SPEAKER_01

Yes, yes. Olivia, dynamite. So I long ago started feeding uh regular protein diets through either freeze-dried, lightly cooked, uh fresh whole food, and I add a product called azodil or porous one. These are products that bind nitrogen. So the cat can eat the same amount of protein, but that nitrogen isn't uh building up. So we don't see that higher creatinine, B U N, SDMA level, but they can still function on quality protein where they're not losing muscle mass.

SPEAKER_00

I've that's so interesting. I didn't know about that. Yeah. This is so interesting.

SPEAKER_01

I also use a product called amino vas, which I've used for years. It's a supplement that increases what's called GFR, glomerul filtration rate, which is really like blood flow to the kidney, but it does it naturally.

SPEAKER_00

And I I have learned about this in class. Glomeryl glomer what he said, what he said. GFR.

SPEAKER_01

GFR. So and then the last thing I do is I put them on a um a phosphate binder. Um so um often if I if the phosphate phosphorus level starts to rise, I'll use a product called Narraquin, which will bind the phosphorus in that cat. So now I have a cat that's eating its regular diet, but we're not worried about nitrogen because we're binding it with azodil or porous one. We're uh using amino vast, and these can all get incorporated right into the food. It's really nice. They're not forcing these to the animal. Um, and then lastly, if the phosphorus level starts to rise, we can use this this product called Naraquin, which will do that. And I have often seen these cats live numbers of years where those numbers haven't moved.

unknown

Perfect.

SPEAKER_01

They're not losing weight.

SPEAKER_00

That's what I want to hear.

SPEAKER_01

They're not losing weight, they're not losing muscle mass, and it really seems to work well. So I hope that really helps um helps you, um, Jay. You know, it really makes a big difference on a long-term basis to look at those types of things.

SPEAKER_00

Thank you so much for sharing that. That's so interesting to hear. And thank you, Jay, for your question. We love answering your guys' questions. If you have any, please feel free to comment them on the Instagram, on the YouTube, or at Dr. Randy's website. All of those can be found at Dr. Randy Petvet. And thank you guys so much.

SPEAKER_01

And you can reach Olivia if you'd like, also at uh Dr. Saatchi.

SPEAKER_00

Dr. Saatchi has all of my vet school journey, all the crazy things I'm doing so far.

SPEAKER_01

I love it. Well, it's fun to watch and it's fun to keep up with Olivia. So uh come back and we'll talk some more. Uh, thanks for listening today, guys.

SPEAKER_00

Thank you guys.