Sick Cat - Chronic Renal Disease Website

The purpose of this thesis is to create a better understanding of chronic renal disease (CRD) within felines and dive into the main nutritional aspects of treatment and prevention. Over the course of our research, we also decided to include a section on cat nutrition in an effort to assist cat owners whose cats are not suffering from CRD. This research will primarily include literary research and field surveys from cat owners. This information will be gathered to produce a website that will contain credible information that could be used to help better inform cat owners about their cat’s health and diet. Renal diseases are very common in cats, especially as they get older. Chronic renal disease is the loss of kidney function over time. The amount of function left in the kidney is dependent on the extent of damage from the disease. Diving into nutrition, this thesis will look into the components of food that work well and do not work well with chronic renal disease patients and foods that should be avoided to ensure the healthiness of cats without renal disease. Our research showed that limiting both phosphorus and protein intake was key to managing CRD. Cats that ate a diet specifically tailored to managing CRD by lowering the amount of phosphorus and protein were shown to, on average, live longer than those cats that did not change their diets. For general cat nutrition, our survey showed that Purina and Hills Science Diet were both the most popular brands and also had the best reasoning behind why owners chose it; mainly vet recommendations and treating health problems. The website we have put together, catcrdinfo.org, contains a wealth of information on both CRD in felines and general cat nutrition.