Cricket powder for CKD cat to counteract muscle wasting?

Hello! I would like to know if cricket powder is a safe supplement for a 14-year-old neutered male cat with CKD (diagnosed 3 years ago) that is well controlled by diet (Royal Canin Renal Support dry and wet food). I am considering using it to counteract substantial muscle wasting, as the Royal Canin food is at the low end of the recommended protein content for CKD kitties and the cricket powder seems to be high protein with acceptable phosphorous and sodium levels. But I can't find any advice on this, and the nutritional info is presented differently among products - very confusing!  The math on the cricket powder: 65 g protein/100 g, 285 mg sodium/100 g, 595% nutritional reference value (FOR HUMANS)/100 g. Thank you!

Hello - I suspect that the concern would be the higher protein levels of insect diets, because excess protein is broken down into ammonia, which has to be processed by the kidneys and can damage them on the way out.  This is the reason that most commercial renal diets take care to keep protein levels relatively low, although it has to be balanced against the need to maintain and ideally to build muscle.  To my understanding, the companies try to counter this with their choice of proteins.  The main reason that cats lose muscle mass in these cases might not be nutritional scarcity of protein, but dehydration, sickness and lack of movement - however, this is worth checking for your individual cat with your vet.  The really cool thing about prescription diets is that they are generally attached to a customer service system and your vets can call their vets with any questions about the nutritional information that may be outstanding, so it's worth getting in touch.

However, we would recommend keeping clear of the protein powder unless your vet recommends it.