Ipakitine - 60g

Summary points:- Fussy cat takes it and causes no stomach upset- Phosphate levels have not increased and have remained stable as has her CKD- Is great if your pet won't touch renal foodThe StoryMy 15 year old cat with CKD was put on a renal diet but started to lose a lot of weight on it. She has always been on the slender side (fussy nibbler of food), but when she started to look anorexic I thought I might lose her to malnutrition rather than CKD. Renal food is extremely bland, and although she appeared to be eating it she continued to lose weight. I tried different brands of renal diets to no avail. I did some research and decided to take her off renal food. It's widely thought older cats need more protein not less, and the renal diets were so low I think it was doing her more harm than good, she was literally wasting away. I switched her to Lily's Kitchen Suppurrs (which have phosphate levels on the lower end of mainstream food though not anywhere as low as renal food) and bought a phosphate binder to add to it. This was 10 months ago.Since then she has put back on 25% of her bodyweight and is still increasing steadily (considering a common concern with CKD is that pets lose weight this is a positive sign) and she is almost where she was in weight before she had CKD. Furthermore her kidneys have stabilised. She has blood tests every 4 or so months and whilst her phosphate levels could do with being lower, they're not awful, and they have not been increasing since being on Ipakitine, (phosphate levels are more important than protein levels in many respects in CKD as keeping phosphate intake in check should help slow down the rate of CKD). She also seems healthier than ever since her CKD diagnosis. Ipakitine also doesn't cause her diarrhoea like the other liquid phosphate binder I had initially tried. Considering she's fussy as hell, I thought the powder would put her off, but it doesn't bother her at all and thankfully it blends well in her wet food and even dry food.Also one more thing, after discussing with my vet who is experienced, I decided to double the dose of the Ipakitine because my cat is a grazer and has many small meals throughout the day. I worried that she wasn't getting Ipakitine with all her food and therefore some phosphates were making it through which otherwise wouldn't. The tub says only to give it twice a day however my vet and I felt that it said twice a day because that is how often most pets get fed. He checked his medical manual and it said that the dose can safely be twice as much which meant I could give it 4 times a day and therefore I could add it to most if not all her meals. This has caused her no harm which was confirmed by her recent blood tests. The risk was that her calcium levels may increase and become too high, but they were normal (he did say there could be a higher risk in dogs though). Do discuss with your vet before changing doses, every pet is different.Ultimately if your pet can eat renal food well and is not losing weight because of it, then that is the preferred option due to the much lower phosphate levels. However it wasn't a sustainable option for my cat and Ipakitine has been a good alternative.

It was fine.

My cat is nearly 20 and as with most cats of her age, her kidneys are not functioning as well as they did. She was vomiting a lot.Vet recommended a specialised renal diet. Problem: my cat is a fussy eater and would not eat the renal diet food. You put a tiny level spoon (contained in the product) of the ipakitine in the cat's food twice a day. This can be the food she WILL eat. Result: cat eats the food she likes and the ipakitine (so far) has stopped the vomiting. Read the product details for how it works. What I want to tell you myself is that my cat is also more lively and chatty than she has been for a long while. Every so often I give her some of the special diet stuff which she will eat sometimes just to make sure she is getting the best of both worlds. I always give her the better quality foods anyway to give her the best chances of a healthy life. The ipakitine works, as far as my cat is concerned.

Purchased on advice of vet as cat will not eat the special renal food ( though my other two cats love it!! )No instructions had to Google themOn PDSA web siteDosageBody weight of cat or dog:3-5kg: 2 scoops per day10kg: 4 scoops per day15kg: 6 scoops per day20kg: 8 scoops per day

Order and got it fast, just what I needed

This product came labelled in Cyrillic. I expected an Englisch label including instructions on usage.

Our cat has been suffering with renal failure for some time and this item sprinkled on her food has kept her alive for far longer than we anticipated. Cats are fussy eaters, however, our cat has not even noticed this powder, which we just sprinkle it on her food and she takes no notice of it.We have our cat's urine tested every three months at the vets and despite the fact that her kidney function is poor, there has been no noticeable deterioration in the viability of her kidney function in the two years since we started using this product. It might not work for every cat, but it does for ours. We tend to feed her with a high quality food (Encore) twice a day and supplement this with dedicated renal food (Royal Canin) when she wants more food - in common with most cats with renal failure, she has a voracious appetite.This product might not work for all cats, but it appears to work for ours and is helping keep her alive.

Arrived promptly and in good condition.