The studies used to establish the "normal" ranges for BUN (blood urea nitrogen) in cats are based on cats that were not fed species-appropriate high-meat-protein diets. A cat on a healthy, high-meat-protein diet will often have levels that are somewhat higher - i.e, outside the so called "normal" range of laboratory results. 

SO WHAT? If your cat's blood work comes back with a higher than "normal" BUN - and your cat is on a raw meat-based diet - make sure your vet accounts for this in using BUN as a definitive diagnostic marker for determining if your cat has kidney disease. Dr. Elizabeth Hodgkins notes, "[Veterinarians] need to be aware that some degree of elevation is normal in such patients and is not harmful."


LIKE us on Facebook to get these Bites in your news feed. 

There are NO studies that demonstrate that restricting protein halts kidney deterioration in a cat. Yet, the typical veterinary prescribed diet for a cat with kidney disease (CKD, previously called CRF) is a low-protein dry-food diet that contains largely biologically unavailable plant proteins. These diets frequently lead to muscle wasting and weight loss in cats as the cat must now use their own body's muscle for fuel.

SO WHAT? If your cat is facing CKD, get as educated as possible about the optimal nutritional program for your cat. Although protein-restricted diets gained a great deal of popularity in recent years, such an approach is regarded as, at best, "misguided by some of the leading lights in the world of cat nutrition. 

To learn more about the origins of the (now widely discredited) notion that protein restriction is a good way to manage CKD cats, read the enlightening chapter on this topic in Dr. Elizabeth Hodgkins' book, "Your Cat: Simple New Secrets to a Longer, Stronger Life."


LIKE us on Facebook to get these Bites in your news feed.