# Kidney Diet



## Locke (Nov 3, 2008)

Mitch has protein losing kidney disease and has to be on a low-phosphorus, easily digestible/low protein diet.
Of course our vet gave us two options: 1) Medi Cal Low-protein or 2) Hill's science diet k/d 
Both foods suck. They're just made of fillers and are more expensive than what he used to eat (Orijen/Acana). Is there any other food out there that I can use as an alternative?? I want what is best for Mitch of course, but does that mean I have to sacrifice good nutrition to keep his kidneys working as little as possible?


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## LazyGRanch713 (Jul 22, 2009)

Locke said:


> Mitch has protein losing kidney disease and has to be on a low-phosphorus, easily digestible/low protein diet.
> Of course our vet gave us two options: 1) Medi Cal Low-protein or 2) Hill's science diet k/d
> Both foods suck. They're just made of fillers and are more expensive than what he used to eat (Orijen/Acana). Is there any other food out there that I can use as an alternative?? I want what is best for Mitch of course, but does that mean I have to sacrifice good nutrition to keep his kidneys working as little as possible?


I don't have any suggestions on food, but have you looked into milk thistle? 
I hope you find what's best for Mitch...


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## lucidity (Nov 10, 2009)

I think your best bet would be to check out the ingredients and phosphorus/protein etc. levels stated in the two foods your vet recommended.. and maybe post it here. Then we can make a comparison to whatever food that we think should be good for Mitch. We'll be much more help if we knew what was in those two foods, aside from corn. =/


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## Kathyy (Jun 15, 2008)

Sassy has regular chronic kidney failure and eats a home made food. She is coming up on surviving 3 years with this condition. You can tailor it to his needs very easily AND use good quality ingredients. She gets mostly chicken, a special low phosphorus rice with small amounts of veggies and a bit of other meat just for a change. Egg whites are the best low phosphorus protein.

I learned a lot from http://www.dogaware.com/kidney.html and K9KidneyDiet, a yahoo group.

Good luck!


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## Locke (Nov 3, 2008)

Kathyy said:


> Sassy has regular chronic kidney failure and eats a home made food. She is coming up on surviving 3 years with this condition. You can tailor it to his needs very easily AND use good quality ingredients. She gets mostly chicken, a special low phosphorus rice with small amounts of veggies and a bit of other meat just for a change. Egg whites are the best low phosphorus protein.
> 
> I learned a lot from http://www.dogaware.com/kidney.html and K9KidneyDiet, a yahoo group.
> 
> Good luck!


Thank you so much!! This is great!!


the phosphorous level in the food we got is 0.1% where as his Acana was 1.1% or something. I'll calling the vet for an update and I'll talk to him then about the food. Thanks again.


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## Kathyy (Jun 15, 2008)

Wow, I thought I was being a big meanie. Sassy's food is only 50 mg of phosphorus per 100 calories. If I did it right, 213 dry matter grams [388 total grams-175 grams water] per day and 485 mg P [.485/213], I give her .23% P which is a bit lower than K/D calorie for calorie.

Wouldn't it be nice if there were high quality commercial foods lower in phosphorus?


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## Michiyo-Fir (Jul 25, 2009)

I recommend home cooked as well. This way they can still get good enough amounts of protein but have low phosphorus. I know 2 or 3 kidney dogs that are on home cooked and doing great.

By the way, may I ask how Mitch got kidney disease? Was it related to the Orijen/Acana at all? I've been trying to find people that have been feeding high protein for a few years to see if it has any negative impacts on the dogs but haven't been able to find any. Maybe because grain free is relatively new...but could the Orijen/Acana have caused the kidney problems?


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## Locke (Nov 3, 2008)

Kathyy said:


> Wow, I thought I was being a big meanie. Sassy's food is only 50 mg of phosphorus per 100 calories. If I did it right, 213 dry matter grams [388 total grams-175 grams water] per day and 485 mg P [.485/213], I give her .23% P which is a bit lower than K/D calorie for calorie.
> 
> Wouldn't it be nice if there were high quality commercial foods lower in phosphorus?


Yeah that would be great!! The website you posted listed *lower* phosphorous commercial foods, but none of them seemed to be low enough. 



Michiyo-Fir said:


> I recommend home cooked as well. This way they can still get good enough amounts of protein but have low phosphorus. I know 2 or 3 kidney dogs that are on home cooked and doing great.
> 
> By the way, may I ask how Mitch got kidney disease? Was it related to the Orijen/Acana at all? I've been trying to find people that have been feeding high protein for a few years to see if it has any negative impacts on the dogs but haven't been able to find any. Maybe because grain free is relatively new...but could the Orijen/Acana have caused the kidney problems?


I might be wrong on this, but talking to Mitch's previous owners, I believe he was diagnosed with kidney disease at an early age and they think it could've been caused by the tainted food disaster (he was on Royal Canin as a pup). So I do not believe Orijen or Acana had anything to do with it. The only problem he had on Orijen Regional Red was SUPER bad gas and then we switched to Acana Prairie and he was fine on it.

I think I will be going the home cooked route. Thanks again!


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## Michiyo-Fir (Jul 25, 2009)

Locke said:


> I might be wrong on this, but talking to Mitch's previous owners, I believe he was diagnosed with kidney disease at an early age and they think it could've been caused by the tainted food disaster (he was on Royal Canin as a pup). So I do not believe Orijen or Acana had anything to do with it. The only problem he had on Orijen Regional Red was SUPER bad gas and then we switched to Acana Prairie and he was fine on it.
> 
> I think I will be going the home cooked route. Thanks again!


Thanks for answering my question! It seems like grain free high protein food hasn't been on the market enough years for a dog to eat it all the life and to observe the results. 

Poor Mitch...a lot of dogs ended up with kidney failure during the recall. Good luck on the home cooked and let us know how he does!


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## knoxtnusa (Jun 20, 2013)

Hills, Royal Canin and Purina have kidney friendly kibble and canned food for dogs (and cats) with kidney disease. The formulation are scientifically designed and rigorously controlled to provide adequate nutrition and minimize stress on the kidneys. I suspect your critique of “full of fillers” means that you are having trouble accepting the low protein aspect of these diets. Do some more research and accept the fact the what your dog used to eat will never be optimum anymore,


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