# Organic foods for dogs with Acute Renal Failure??



## CoolCowgirl (Oct 29, 2008)

My baby Harley, she is a 5 year old rottweiler has recently had Acute Renal Failure. She spent 5 days at my vets and I brought her home on Monday. He has her on Hills Prescription k/d canine dog food. She is doing very well but I have been doing alot of research and I found that I can fix organic meals for her as well, and I was wondering if anyone is familiar with this? and if anyone would happen to have some recipes? I also found this site http://www.caninekidneyhealth.com/ and they have some products I can order for her that just may help her in the long run, of course I am going to discuss this with my vet tomorrow, but is anyone familiar with this site or their products? Any help or input would be greatly appreciated, I just want to do the best I can for her and help her in anyway I can. Thanks so much in advance..

Robin


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## Bearjing (Oct 24, 2008)

I don't have my recipes anymore, but generally, the basic approach to feeding a dog with renal failure is low phosphorus, low protein, but very high *quality* protein foods. Suppliment with omega 3 fatty acids. Keep the sodium content down. (Just FYI, when you drop the phosphorus in the diet, you need to be careful not to give them to much calcium, as the potential for hypercalcimia exists if the phosphorus doesn't balance it out). However, calcium can act as a phosphorus binder, so balancing the levels properly is really the goal.

Some nutricionists dispute the reduction of protein, and instead recommend a raw diet with additional protein, based on the claim that the problem with protein comes from difficulties digesting low quality proteins generally found in commercial foods. I am not qualified to ajudicate this one - perhaps someone will come along with more information and knowledge.

When I was doing this, it was for a dog with chronic renal problems. For the last 2 years of her life, I cooked all her meals. I suspect the goal in your case, for the acute failure, will be to provide the dog with a diet that doesn't tax his kidneys, which is the same goal for a fellow with more chronic issues. 

Make sure your fellow has water available ALWAYS, and tons of it. Generally, dogs with kidney issues will try to mitigate the problems their kidneys have by increasing their fluid intake. This reduces the stress on their kidney to an extent.

When I did this, I went out to the USDA site and got printouts of protein, phosphorus and calcuim levels in foods, then made up her meals based around that. It took some work... I remember using a lot of eggs, chicken and also sweet potatoes. If I were doing it today, I think I'd be looking into more raw diets, but I don't have the info to know if that is where I'd really end up.


Oh, One other thing.... This little tidbit may never matter for you, as your pups renal issues weren't chronic, but if you ever have the need to try and mitigate the kidney issues long term, there is a drug called Benazepril (spelling is wrong I'm sure) that is often given to people, but rarely to dogs. It is actually often used to treat high blood pressure, but the vet I used gave Bear Benazepril for her kidneys. Apparently, patients taking benazepril have better kidney function and a slower progression of kidney disease. I have a friend who is a "people" kidney doctor, and we discussed her kidney treatments in some detail. I remember his being very surprised to hear that a vet had ever even heard of treating kidney issues in this way, but was very positive on it's use and helpfulness in people. (There was a bar napkin and drawings of kidneys and glomerioli.) Anyway, If you should need to treat his issues longer term, you might consider discussing this medication with your vet, as it seems many may not know about it without your brining it up.


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## supernovrax (Oct 30, 2008)

check my site it's all listed there..

I have a lot of issues concerning orgnic products that are edible for dogs

I love dogs, and searching for different breds, could anyone give me some tips on selecting beautiful dogs?


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## Kathyy (Jun 15, 2008)

Go to dogaware.com and check the resources there. The email lists have lots of diets in the files. Sassy gets egg white, chicken, low phosphorus starches like rice, potato, wheat and high nutrient veggies like squash and sweet potato. I use nutritiondata.com to make sure I am giving her the protein and phosphorus I want for her. She loves her food, gets her water from it and her disease is progressing slowly with high quality of life.


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## supernovrax (Oct 30, 2008)

Kathyy said:


> Go to dogaware.com and check the resources there. The email lists have lots of diets in the files. Sassy gets egg white, chicken, low phosphorus starches like rice, potato, wheat and high nutrient veggies like squash and sweet potato. I use nutritiondata.com to make sure I am giving her the protein and phosphorus I want for her. She loves her food, gets her water from it and her disease is progressing slowly with high quality of life.


That's good news for your little dear doggy, i'm thankful to have found some tips from you, my sister just asked me bout her dog feeling the same way with yours now i can give her ideas to make her little puppy feeling better now.

That's good news for your little dear doggy, i'm thankful to have found some tips from you, my sister just asked me bout her dog feeling the same way with yours now i can give her ideas to make her little puppy feeling better now.

Can anyone help me find a particular dog site? I am collecting different breeds of dogs. I am looking forward of reading your suggestions here...


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## RawFedDogs (Jun 22, 2008)

Proteins from raw meat, bones, and organs are not detrimental to kidneys, healthy or otherwise. It is the best thing you can feed him. Plant based protein will harm damaged kidneys. The problem is that you can't make kibble without plant based protein so thats why you have these rediculous prescription kibbles for kidney problems.


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## Stelladog (Aug 18, 2008)

RawFedDogs said:


> Proteins from raw meat, bones, and organs are not detrimental to kidneys, healthy or otherwise. It is the best thing you can feed him. Plant based protein will harm damaged kidneys. The problem is that you can't make kibble without plant based protein so thats why you have these rediculous prescription kibbles for kidney problems.


I think raw diets are great, but do you have evidence (post 1990 and not a commentary on a site selling something) to back this up? There are solid studies that show that a higher-protein diet does accerate the decline of a weak kidney. I've just never seen the protein source being mentioned as a significant factor. Actually, I'm fairly sure some studies are done with meat. I would hope that meat protein does not cause problems, but it sounds like wishful thinking.

I'm not saying that high protein diet causes problems with healthly kidneys; just with failing kidneys. In both cases though, it increases the filteration work of the kidney and I had explained to be once (by a nephrologist) how this creates permanent damage in an over-stressed kidney. What kind of protein was causing the addition kidney work just didn't seem a possible factor.


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## RawFedDogs (Jun 22, 2008)

Stelladog said:


> I think raw diets are great, but do you have evidence (post 1990 and not a commentary on a site selling something) to back this up?


http://www.thepetcenter.com/gen/kf.html
http://www.thepetcenter.com/imtop/protein.html
http://www.dogaware.com/kidney.html#protein
http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/44940
http://ezinearticles.com/?Your-Dogs-Diet---Protein-and-Kidney-Failure&id=1089098

If you need more, I can provide them. 

It seems that early research that determined that protein was harmful to dog's kidneys wasn't done on dogs, rather on rats. Rat's main food source is plant material, not meat so the study was flawed. It has since been determined that a good quality protein is not harmful to dog's kidneys either healthy or otherwise.


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## Stelladog (Aug 18, 2008)

Well that's good see. I was extrapolating from mostly humans studies and I can certainly see that dogs could metabolise their proteins in a way that doesn't put them at renal risk.

But everyone should keep an open mind on such health topics. New studies may clear up such concerns. I've noticed that dog only studies often have a tiny data size (like 8 dogs). Mice and human comparisons are sometimes strong and sometimes not. 

Anway, the high quality of the proteins in a raw diet are a good thing regardless of the exact protein amount. Harley will probably enjoy it the most and just being a happy dog goes a long ways to staying healthy.


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