Potassium supplementation

I have been supplementing Alex, my CRF kitty, with a prescription
malt-flavored potassium supplement gel from the veterinarian. The price for
one tube of the gel is $27.

My sister, who has also had a CRF kitty in the past, told me that her
veterinarian advised her to just sprinkle some LoSalt on her cat's food. For
anyone who doesn't know, LoSalt is a potassium-based salt substitute for
people who are supposed to be limiting their intake of sodium, usually
because of high blood pressure. It is very inexpensive and readily available
on the supermarket shelf.

I have in the back of my head that I once read (on this forum) that using
products like LoSalt is not a good idea for potassium supplementation for
cats, but I don't remember for sure, and if so, I can't remember what was
the reason. Anyone?
Thanks in advance.
Best regards,
---Cindy S.

"cindys" wrote in message
...
I have been supplementing Alex, my CRF kitty, with a prescription
malt-flavored potassium supplement gel from the veterinarian. The price for
one tube of the gel is $27.

My sister, who has also had a CRF kitty in the past, told me that her
veterinarian advised her to just sprinkle some LoSalt on her cat's food.
For anyone who doesn't know, LoSalt is a potassium-based salt substitute
for people who are supposed to be limiting their intake of sodium, usually
because of high blood pressure. It is very inexpensive and readily
available on the supermarket shelf.

I have in the back of my head that I once read (on this forum) that using
products like LoSalt is not a good idea for potassium supplementation for
cats, but I don't remember for sure, and if so, I can't remember what was
the reason. Anyone?
Thanks in advance.
Best regards,
---Cindy S.

I don't know about the effect on cats, but I have a salt-substitute handy
and can give you the ingredients:

Contains: Potassium chloride, fumaric acid, tricalcium phosphate and
monocalcium phosphate.

Off the top of my head, I would say that maybe that much phosphate wouldn't
be good for a cat (I know Phil is always telling us that we need to look for
cat food with a low phosphate content.

Hugs,

CatNipped

"CatNipped" wrote in message
...
"cindys" wrote in message
snip


I have in the back of my head that I once read (on this forum) that using
products like LoSalt is not a good idea for potassium supplementation for
cats, but I don't remember for sure, and if so, I can't remember what was
the reason. Anyone?
Thanks in advance.
Best regards,
---Cindy S.

I don't know about the effect on cats, but I have a salt-substitute handy
and can give you the ingredients:

Contains: Potassium chloride, fumaric acid, tricalcium phosphate and
monocalcium phosphate.

Off the top of my head, I would say that maybe that much phosphate
wouldn't be good for a cat (I know Phil is always telling us that we need
to look for cat food with a low phosphate content.
--------
And phosphorous is especially bad for a kitty with CRF (some CRF kitties
even need to take medicine to *bind* phosphorous to assist in eliminating
it). That answers my question. Thank you.
Best regards,
---Cindy S.

"cindys" wrote in message
...
I have been supplementing Alex, my CRF kitty, with a prescription
malt-flavored potassium supplement gel from the veterinarian. The price for
one tube of the gel is $27.

My sister, who has also had a CRF kitty in the past, told me that her
veterinarian advised her to just sprinkle some LoSalt on her cat's food.
For anyone who doesn't know, LoSalt is a potassium-based salt substitute
for people who are supposed to be limiting their intake of sodium, usually
because of high blood pressure. It is very inexpensive and readily
available on the supermarket shelf.

I have in the back of my head that I once read (on this forum) that using
products like LoSalt is not a good idea for potassium supplementation for
cats, but I don't remember for sure, and if so, I can't remember what was
the reason. Anyone?
Thanks in advance.
Best regards,
---Cindy S.

This article advises giving cats a salt substitute as a supplement when
feeding a home-made diet:
http://www.api4animals.org/articles?p=360&more=1 - in fact if you google
"cats salt substitute" you'll see pages of links to recipes using it, so I'm
guessing it's OK.

Hugs,

CatNipped

I used powder potassium supplement from medi-vet.com, they also have
gel. Very reasonable prices and fast shipping.

Nancy

cindys wrote:
I have been supplementing Alex, my CRF kitty, with a prescription
malt-flavored potassium supplement gel from the veterinarian. The price for
one tube of the gel is $27.

My sister, who has also had a CRF kitty in the past, told me that her
veterinarian advised her to just sprinkle some LoSalt on her cat's food. For
anyone who doesn't know, LoSalt is a potassium-based salt substitute for
people who are supposed to be limiting their intake of sodium, usually
because of high blood pressure. It is very inexpensive and readily available
on the supermarket shelf.

I have in the back of my head that I once read (on this forum) that using
products like LoSalt is not a good idea for potassium supplementation for
cats, but I don't remember for sure, and if so, I can't remember what was
the reason. Anyone?
Thanks in advance.
Best regards,
---Cindy S.