Quote Originally Posted by BleeckerSt_Girl View Post
We had four cats- 5 years ago cat #1 got kidney failure and almost died (she was 5). She miraculously recovered after two years of home water injections. Then cat #2 got kidney failure 3 years ago (she was 7)- despite our best efforts, she died.
Then 2 years ago cat #3 got kidney failure (she was 5). We treated her and at that point I caught on to the fact that there were toxic ingredients in most commercial cat food....the whole rat poison/Chinese gluten thing hit the news.
Ironically, one of the recalled canned foods was a high priced canned vet food for cats with kidney problems.
None of the foods I had been feeding our cats were on the recall list- yet I'm convinced they all had bad things in them.

Since then, for the past two years I feed only Newman's organic pellets and a mix of my own homemade stuff....and our 3 kitties have been thriving ever since.
Kidney failure is not just an old cat issue- there are bad things in lots of commercial pet food, and I bet there still is bad stuff in it.
Tainted pet food continues to be a problem. There is all kinds of crap in pet food. Have you tried the higher end pet foods, like California Natural or Natures Variety? Nature's Variety is a close to raw as you can get with a bagged food. Also remember to mix in the new food with the old gradually. Your kitty is very, very finicky! Switching food too quickly can make finickiness worse.

Have you found the discussion forums at Itchmo!.com? Itchmo started at the beginning of the pet food crisis last year. The front page is no longer being updated but the forums are still very active. Many members lost pets from renal failure caused by tainted pet food. The members over there are warm and friendly and will be more than happy to answer any of your questions about food. You will get some who say a fur-parent should only a certain diet (the raw vs. homecooked vs. brand kibble/canned debate) but most of us think as long as your feeding them good stuff you will do fine.

I started homecooking for my dog. The cats are a different story. Iams kibble and Pinnacle moist only, please. UGH! Good thing they are cute or I would kick them to the curb! Yeah right!