By Dr. Kris Chandroo, DVM, MSc, HBSc
When your cat is first diagnosed with chronic kidney disease, there is often a moment where everything seems to shrink down to a single number. “Stage 2.” “Stage 3.” And just like that, it can feel like the future has already been decided.
Especially if words like “renal failure” or “can’t be cured” were floating around in the same conversation.
Take a deep breath.
Because one of the most important things to understand early on is this: Staging is not a treatment plan.
It’s not a stage. It’s staging.
You will often hear people say, “My cat is Stage 2” or “My cat is Stage 3.” I prefer to say “staging.” Because staging is something we do, not something your cat is. It’s a way of organizing information. A snapshot in time. A helpful tool. But it is not a label that defines your cat’s future.
Think of IRIS staging like a weather report
IRIS (International Renal Interest Society) was created to advance the scientific understanding of kidney disease in small animals. They developed the standardized system to classify the severity of kidney disease to help veterinarians better diagnose, understand and treat renal disease in cats and dogs.
IRIS staging tells us how the kidneys are performing at a specific moment. Think of it like a weather report. It tells you what’s happening in the sky: Cloudy. Rainy. Maybe a storm rolling in. But a weather report does not tell you how your entire week will unfold. And it certainly does not tell you what you must wear, how to plan your day, or whether you can still step outside and enjoy it.
The problem: IRIS stage anxiety
This is where many well-intentioned cat people get stuck. That number starts to carry more weight than it should. I call this IRIS Stage anxiety. It shows up quietly, but powerfully:
- You feel overwhelmed by all the “extra” tests needed to complete staging, and wonder if your cat should go through them.
- You start focusing on lab numbers instead of how your cat is actually doing.
- Every decision begins to feel urgent.
- You lose confidence, even when your cat is stable and comfortable.
- The future starts to feel fixed, instead of flexible But CKD is not a straight line.
Numbers move. Cats stabilize. Some even improve in meaningful ways.
The stage is a snapshot, not a sentence.
What actually matters: the care environment
Two cats can be in the exact same IRIS stage… and have completely different outcomes. Why? Because what truly shapes the trajectory is not just the stage. It’s the care environment.
- Are they maintaining or increasing body weight?
- Are they eating comfortably what they enjoy?
- Is nausea controlled?
- Are we supporting the gut to help carry some of the workload once handled by the kidneys?
- Is phosphorus optimized?
- Where is potassium sitting? Are you sure it’s ok?
- What are we adjusting as their needs change?
These are the variables that move the needle, especially early on. And here is something quietly important:
None of these are described in your cat’s stage.
Stage gives us planning information, often for the future – but it cannot be at the cost of right now. Because your cat may be asking for something else entirely.
Introducing BITE: Your weather response system
If IRIS staging is the weather report, then we need a way to respond to the weather.
That’s where I use something called the BITE strategy.
Think of BITE as your weather response system – like Dorothy in the 1996 movie Twister. Look it up. It’s a classic. The storm is already there. You don’t stop the tornado. But Dorothy is what gets deployed into it, helping you understand what’s happening inside the storm so you can respond intelligently. In CKD, IRIS tells you the storm is forming… but BITE is what you release into it, fuelling the body, supporting the gut, and guiding your next move so you’re not just watching the storm, you’re navigating it.
Not something abstract. Not something complicated. Just a grounded system you can send into the storm—helping you read what’s happening inside it, so you can protect your cat’s spark and keep it burning.
And BITE keeps it simple:
B — Body weight: protect it, monitor it, restore it if it’s slipping. It’s the key foundation not described on any staging list that impacts the kidney.
ITE — Intestinal health for toxin elimination: support the gut so it can help carry some of the load the kidneys no longer can.
That’s where we start.
A final thought
IRIS gives us a forecast. But it does not write the story. Your cat is not a number.
They are a living system, adapting day by day. And when you shift from chasing the stage to managing the weather, you take your power back.
We don’t treat the stage. We respond to the weather.
And when you do that well, you can change the trajectory in ways that truly matter.
From overwhelm to action
If you feel overwhelmed, it’s because you don’t yet have a clear system. CKD doesn’t need more guesswork. It needs direction. Because CKD punishes hesitation. Weight drops. Toxins build. The window narrows.
You need to know what to do next.
That’s why I created the CKD Master Guide, built around the BITE strategy.
It shows you, step by step, how to act in the moments that matter, so you can stop second-guessing, protect your cat’s spark, and take back control of the trajectory.
For more information about the course and to purchase, please visit https://www.iwillhelpyourcat.com/dr-kriss-ckd-master-guide
Exclusive 15% discount for Purrs of Wisdom family members
I’m delighted to be able to offer you a 15% discount on Dr. Kris’s CKD Master Guide. Use code INGRID15 at checkout.
Click here to read Ingrid’s review of the CKD Master Guide.
FTC Disclosure: Purrs of Wisdom is an affiliate partner of Dr. Kris. This means that if you use our discount code, we get a small commission. We only spread the word about products and services we’ve either used or would use ourselves.
Dr. Kris Chandroo (DVM, MSc, HBSc) has spent years in the trenches of real-life feline medicine, traveling from living rooms to laundry rooms to help cats live longer, happier lives. He’s turned his clinical know-how into vet-approved, lifesaving playbooks, videos, courses and blogs. He is the founder of 100x Mobile Vet, a mobile veterinary service with several locations in Ontario, Canada.He is the author of Nine Lives, One Mission: Vet-Approved Home Treatments for Cats with Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD).a comprehensive guide to this common disease in cats. Every page of this book is infused with Dr. Kris’ compassion and determination to give cat parents the tools and the confidence to make the right decisions, always in partnership with their veterinarian.
Image by Slava Maslov from Pixabay
Thank you. My cat has diabetes, not CKD, but I appreciate this info very much. She’s not keeping weight on very well, so I will look more into BITE.
Thanks for this info. I hope I never need it, but it’s good to know what to look for and how to handle a diagnoses like this.