Authors
Tomás Rodrigues Magalhães, Ronald Jan Corbee, Felisbina Luísa Queiroga, Ana Luísa Lourenço
Published in
Journal of veterinary internal medicine. Volume 40. Issue 5. Sep 01, 2026.
Abstract
Wet renal diets are considered the best option for managing cats with chronic kidney disease (CKD), but their palatability is a recurrent concern.
Assess the palatability of a commercial wet diet formulated for early-stage CKD in cats.
Forty-two healthy cats privately owned by 31 caregivers.
An open-label in-home feeding trial was conducted over three 6-day phases, during which cats were offered the wet renal diet (Phase 1), their usual wet diet (Phase 2), and both diets simultaneously (Phase 3). Time from diet presentation to eating (latency time), food intake, and feeding-related behaviors were recorded by caregivers. Analyses included descriptive statistics and mixed-effects regression models.
Caregivers classified renal diet acceptance as positive for 69.0% (n = 29) of cats, negative for 23.8% (n = 10), and neutral for 7.1% (n = 3). Overall, cats were significantly more likely (P < .001) to be recorded in a higher diet intake category in Phase 2 than in Phase 1, whereas latency time did not differ significantly (P = .07). Based on recorded intake during Phase 3, neither diet was significantly preferred (P = .34), although caregivers perceived a preference for the usual diet in 47.6% (n = 20) of cats and for the renal diet in 45.2% (n = 19). If prescribed, caregivers would offer this therapeutic diet to 78.6% (n = 33) of cats.
In this short-term feeding trial, most healthy cats accepted the renal diet formulated for early-stage CKD with no apparent palatability concerns.
PMID:
42842766
Bibliographic data and abstract were imported from PubMed on 08 Oct 2026.
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