[Patricia A]

Hi M&C,
OH, the dreaded leptospirosis shot. My first dog was a tough little Doxie. Got him when my youngest was four. He would happily sit with my son riding his power wheels in the back yard. Had a pizza party for my daughter with friends. He had short little legs but managed to keep stretching out his neck and grabbed whole pie from picnic table. lol He was a character. My mom would make a lamb and we would give him the leg which had garlic all over it. Never mind the bone splinters from chewing. Now this is going back some 32 years ago. Didn’t know that garlic was toxic. Didn’t think about the splinters from the bone etc. Well the only health issue we ever had with him was that leptospirosis shot. Rushed him into emergency vet in evening after shot with his whole face swelling. We put him to rest past 17 years old after a brief time of kidney failure.
I never feed beef except when I buy 90% lean and even then after cooking and draining any fat I pat down well to get it as fat free as possible. Then just a little ontop of kibble. They never did well with red meat anything. So I stick to just one protein in the kibble which is chicken. The wild Red has several. I always choice turkey or turkey/sardine in the freeze dried. They all do well with that with no digestion upset for the one more prone. I have to research those copper levels in the Stella’s with the Wholesome grains in chicken. Yes, VERY concerned now about going down hill.
Just wanted to add M&C to be careful about plug ins with that oil of perfume. Heard it could trigger seizures. Also saw a ton of complaints regarding Hartz Oatmeal shampoo causing all kind of problems including seizures from a chemical they added??
I have my hands full with my mom . She’ll be 94 and had a bad night last night. So have to give a break with my hobbyturned obsession lol of the “perfect” dog food. Which I know now doesn’t exist. Heads up ..got an email that Dr. Mike has retired and handed over sight to two others who will continue what he started. So maybe will start to see more activity in the way of food rating. Take care M&C .

[Renee S]

My Pom/chic mix went into kidney failure twice while I was living in SoCal. The holistic vet there recommended raw. I made the switch to Halshans raw products. My dogs thrived on it- no issues with liver or kidneys, blood work was awesome. Stools always consisted. No itching, digging or rashes.

Since Ive moved to Portland- now Washington, I feed small batch. I was doing the raw chubs. Since they discounted the beef and bone(the main protein source)I switched to the gently cooked sliders.

Since being fed small batch of any kind.. .ive noticed they will eat dirt. Like hunt a certain area down, and go to work. All vets I have asked said “some dogs just like to eat dirt” and left it. I’m assuming they’re missing micronutrient, upset stomach?

Everyone seems to be doing worse on the gently cooked. We are talking 5k in vet bills the last six months worse. Not sure if all three dogs Medical issues are correlated to their food- I’m assuming it is.
I would go back to halshan if I could. They do not ship outside of California.

True raw(no hpp) food that comes from an honest company seems to be hard to find.

Any recommendations to raw foods similar t halshan? Should I make my own raw food? Go back to small batch raw chubs? Help!! I just want the absolute best for my dogs.

[Anna L]

I have a 15 year old golden doodle who’s practically healthy other than arthritis, recently we took him to the vet and his blood work showed kidney failure( first phase) my vet prescribed the hills K/d dog food. I was hesitant as my dog has been fed food cooked by me his whole life and he’s been very healthy until now. The first day I gave it to him he didn’t even want to try it (he’s very picky) so what I did was mix it with his other wet food but he would rather not eat at all. I kept doing it for over a week until he finally tried it. The first time he ate. I noticed his behavior changed he was acting anxious and just weird in my opinion. I also noticed he kept losing his balance. I paid no mine to it and fed him a few more days but he was just not eating all his food and I noticed he was losing some weight until I decided to go back to my cooked meals again and suddenly he went back to normal. Recently, I had a friend come by my house and she told me her dog had the same condition as my dog(kidney failure) and she feeds him the same food. I felt guilty and so I started my dog again on the k/d food again. This time I only mix the can of food with rice and he it all which I was surprised. I was happy for a moment until the symptoms started. The next day he woke up limping extremely and losing his balance to the point he falls. I’ve been carrying him outside to use the bathroom. I believe this food does something to dogs who suffer from arthritis. It may cause inflammation. I stopped immediately the use of the food. Today he’s a little better but still loses his balance. He is scheduled to see the vet on Friday. I don’t think I will be using this food anymore.

[Linda M]

I know this post is quite old, but I wanted to respond in case others find it while looking for a food for a dog who has both kidney failure and pancreatitis. Our dog, who is now 14 years old, has had kidney failure for more than three years. He was doing well on Hills K/D plus daily subcutaneous fluids but then all of a sudden was on death’s door with pancreatitis. He got through that, but I was left searching for a low-fat diet that would not result in pancreatitis again. The vet was no help. Through Internet research, I found Dr. Harvey’s, which is a base product you mix with water and then add your own protein and oil (for fat). This has been absolutely wonderful, and my dog is pretty much back to where he was a few years ago. It has also dramatically improved his symptoms of inflammatory bowel disease. The customer service from the company is incredible–they happily email with you to discuss their program and encourage you to call them on the phone to discuss your dog’s particular needs. I hope this helps someone else out there!

[Sharon W]

Our 12 year old Sheltie recently died of acute renal failure. She had a bladder stone 10 years ago and has been on Royal Canin Urinary SO for 10 years with no urinary problems. But a month ago, at her annual, our Vet did bloodwork and found her BUN and Creatine were extremely high and she had a urinary infection, which the Emergency Room Vet said may have exacerbated the problem. I saw in the web that Royal Canin changed their formula in 2020 and am wondering if this could have caused the urinary infection. Has anyone else had a problem with kidney failure while on the SO food?

[Stephanie P]

Thanks again! That’s really useful! I’m also worried about liver diseases. Yorkshire Terriers are an ornamental dog breed. That means that they can have a huge number of different diseases. And I’m a bit scared because my german shepherd dog passed away from kidney failure. And I realize that it’s gonna be ten times harder to keep a Yorkshire Terrier because they are even more vulnerable. I’ve read on this forum https://www.happyhealthydogblog.com/ that in order to prevent dog liver diseases I should avoid foods that contain copper. Is that true?

• This reply was modified 4 years, 10 months ago by Stephanie P.

[shalisa F]

As a mom of a multiple dog household, Ive looked to Dog food advisor for years for advice on the best, healthy foods to feed our babies. I have to say that upon reading your list today, Im a bit disappointed. What classifies your choices as “best”? ingredients alone? Over the years, Ive done alot of research on dog foods and what ingredients go into them…. some of your choices are full of cancer causing chemicals. Ethoxyquin, a rubber preservative, also used as a meat preservative in some dog foods. the company doesnt have to identify if the meat is treated before it reaches the rendering plant. BHA and BHT also found in our pet food….chemicals I wont eat so I wont feed to my furbabies. Dog Food Advisor, I ask of you to please research all things that go into our pet food. People need to know about these ingredients that are making our pets sick and die premature deaths. Ive fed one of the foods on your list, before i knew about these chemical additions, and lost two of our dogs at very young ages from acute kidney failure and a rare cancer….. please inform the consumer.

[Nicole S]

Has anyone here used either Grandma Lucy’s Artisian or Dr. Harvey’s Canine Health Miracle for a dog with kidney failure? The Grandma Lucy’s appears to have a phosphorus content of about .8%, but I can’t find anything saying the percentages for the Dr. Harvey’s.
I’m looking at rotating ground beef, beef tripe, and ground pork for proteins to rotate through. Is there other low phosphorus options not thinking of? Also looking at oils to add in, and salmon oil seems to be the best. Is that correct? Zesty Paws makes one that’s pure salmon oil so thinking that would be good.
Just trying to gather all the info I can to take to her next vet appointment tomorrow. Thanks for your help….Dahlila and I appreciate it 🙂

[aimee]

Hi Donna,

From you post it isn’t clear to me if you your boy is on K/d because he his kidney are not working well ( kidney insufficiency?failure) or that he was placed on KD to control stone formation or both?? Does he currently have stones in his kidneys? Was the surgery to remove stones that were in the bladder and urethra or were they really in the kidneys ?
What was the stone composition?

How much K/D is he currently fed compared to the label recommendations? K/D should not be used for weight loss.
If he needs a diet for weight loss and kidney insufficiency and stone formation that looks to be a tricky combination and appears that a home cooked diet tailored to his specific problems and formulated by a veterinary nutritionist would be the best plan.

I agree with anon that you need to work through your veterinarian or seek another veterinary opinion. Personally i wouldn’t be keen to return to a grain free diet until more is understood about diet related cardiomyopathy.

[Patrick Smith S]

Took Able my 14 year old Rat Terrier to the Vet to blood work to see if he could have his teeth cleaned. His Liver functions were a little high, but his kidneys functions were normal. So we decided to put him on Milk thistle for his liver, which work in the beginning . We decided to give Credelio thirty day pill. Gave him the pill on July 30th. He was find at first, but by Aug. 8th he went down hill. Got him to the vet. Blood work results said his liver functions had gone down but kidney functions had shot way up. Got those down, and he was eating. The evening Aug 31th he started going down hill very quickly, got him to the Vet on Spet. 3rd because of the holiday rapid kidney failure and nothing could be done. The best thing was to put him to sleep to stop his suffering…Able was my best friend. I can not say it was the pill…but guess it was.

[Lisa B]

I want to share my experience with Ziwi Dog Food.
In December of last year, we took our 15 yo Pom, Bailey, in for a dental. Her bloodwork came back perfect. Her ALT was in the low
100’s. Our vet said anything below 200 was acceptable for her age.
Sometime in January, I made the switch from a frozen raw food
to Ziwi. Within a few weeks, I noticed Bailey’s appetite had
started to decline. Unfortunately, I attributed it to her age. Bailey had been in excellent health except for early dental disease as the result
of being in a puppy mill for her first two years. In the last few years, she began losing her hearing and then vision, but she was perfectly healthy other than these issues. Because I thought her picky eating was related to her age, I did NOT act quickly enough and take her to our vet. I mean, her bloodwork was perfect right? So for the next 2 months it was a daily struggle to find something that would appeal to Bailey’s taste. In March, I took her in for an examination. Initially,
Our vet thought kidney failure; however, after checking kidney function he checked her liver enzymes. Her ALT was 2664!!! How in the world? I had an extremely difficult time convincing
our vet it was not Lepto. We had absolutely no standing water anywhere on our property let alone our furkids’ fenced yard. Also, because of Bailey’s vision loss we stayed with her while she was outside. In fact, we never leave any of our 5 Poms or GSD outside without one of us. Believe me when I tell you that I tried absolutely everything to get her ALT within an acceptable range from giving her daily B12 injections to feeding through a syringe to adding Denamarin and even insisting on a prescription for prednisone to increase her appetite. She improved a little for about a month. Her next ALT was 1600 so I thought we were making some improvements, but she began declining again and this time she did not improve. She had lost about half her body weight and was so frail. I knew she was telling me it was time to let her go. That was May 1st. In June, our Bandit suddenly stopped eating. Never was there any other sign he was unwell – just a lack of appetite as with Bailey. No vomiting, diarrhea, etc. I immediately took him to our vet to have his enzymes checked and his ALT was 400!!! Our vet did an ultrasound and saw no evidence of a mass or something to explain the elevated ALT. Our vet prescribed the Hills KD which I was not in favor of so I purchased Dr Harvey’s Paradigm Superfood and went back to a low protein slightly-cooked diet. I immediately bought milk thistle and SAM-e for pets and gave him the maximum dose of milk thistle for his weight. Based on my research, the denamarin did not contain an adequate amount of milk thistle for pets whose liver was
damaged. Within a few weeks, our Poms, Cricket and Rumor , suddenly stopped eating. I knew if Cricket EVER refused a meal something was wrong. Sure enough, they both had elevated ALT – Cricket was 183 and Rumor was 150. After much debate with our vet, I immediately stopped feeding them the Ziwi and began the same protocol as Bandit. I also stopped the Half Moon organic dog
which are extremely high protein (as is Ziwi). Our vet added Ursodial which is bile acids. Bandit’s last liver panel was nearly perfect. His
ALT was 140 (he is 7 and this is high-normal, but within an acceptable range. Cricket and Rumor will be re-tested next week, but I already feel confident their ALT will be an acceptable number because their appetites have returned. Oh, one last thing! We had liver panels performed on our Piper (our super-size Pom at 17lbs) GSD Sadie, and their results were perfect! How could this be? The only differences were: they were not exclusively fed the Ziwi (I halved it with the Stella & Chewy and Open Farm freeze-dried raw) and size. Our 4 Poms who had elevated ALT’s were between 6 and 11lbs and fed exclusively the Ziwi air dried. Does anyone think this is merely a coincidence? I cannot accept it as coincidence. I am trying to get them back to a home-prepared raw (or slightly cooked) diet. I
had them all on a raw diet for about 7 months a few years ago, and
they loved it. My only concern at that time was my concern that I wasn’t adding the correct amount of necessary vitamins and minerals for each one of them, but I recently learned Dr Karen Becker (an holistic veterinarian) has formulated a meal mixer that contains everything necessary to ensure my home-prepared diet is nutritionally balanced. If anyone is interested, you can find the meal mix available at Mercola Healthy Pets website.

[anonymous]

Talk to your vet, all effective medications including flea/tick preventives have potential side effects.

I watched a dog die from Lyme disease caused by a tick bite. Not diagnosed in time, spent $$ trying to keep that dog comfortable for two years. The dog went into kidney failure (incompatible with life).

I’ll take the possibility of side effects from flea/tick preventives over that nightmare any day.

[Susan]

Hi Thein,

I don’t over vaccinate my pets, they are vaccinated first 2 yrs of their life then I do not vaccinate them no more….
Humans do not keep getting vaccinated every 1 or 3 yrs so why are our pets over vaccinated??
I’ve had a few outside cats over the years & they’ve lived till 14-15yrs old, we lived in the suburbs at the time, they weren’t vaccinated, what killed my boy was kidney failure & the girl cat had an accident when she was about 7yr old & she either poked her eye with a tree branch or was shot with a BB gun the vet at the time said do I want to remove her eye, then he said when the eye heals she still might have some sight in that eye, so I left her left eye, the eye healed then as she aged her eye turned to jelly then when she was 15yrs old she started walking in circle so we rushed her to vet & she was put to sleep.. both cats were very healthy cats.
I have a 2 yr old cat now she’ll be 3 in April, she was desexed & vaccinated thru the RSPCA when I bought her, she hasn’t been vaccinated again or had any need to see a vet she is brought back inside at night & sleeps indoors then goes back out in the morning after breakfast, then she comes back inside thru the day as soon as she hears Patch getting food she knocks on the door to come back inside, she opens cupboards, opens food packets, opens the linen cupboard, pulls out all the linen to make a bed, she has beds everywhere but prefers to make a mess, drinks her water with her front paw, she acts like a dog not a cat, doesn’t jump fences, she is the weirdest cat I’ve ever owned Patch picked her when we went to the RSPCA looking for a new cat after my boy cat died..

Dr John Robb is really good, he said vaccinations last for 7yrs or more..
are you on F/B follow Dr John Robb – “Protect the Pets”
https://www.facebook.com/DRRobbPTP/

[Susan]

Hi Robin,

Join Monica Segal f/b group called “K-9 Kitchen” group she often post recipes for Renal Failure, Post a Post once you join look in her “Files”
https://www.facebook.com/groups/K9Kitchen/

Also Follow “Judy Morgan DVM” f/b page
https://www.facebook.com/JudyMorganDVM/
Click on her “Videos she has a few Renal Failure videos, post a post or msg Judy on her f/b page about a diet & she will answer your msg or post..

Join “Dogs with renal / kidney failure and disease” F/B group
https://www.facebook.com/groups/582094775463298/
Click on their “Photos” heaps of things people have posted over the years that they have used, feed etc this is where I got these foods from..

Food you can buy without scripts.

“Daves Restricted Fat & Phosphorus wet can dog food”

“Dr Havey’s VEG-TO-BOWL”

But be careful as the fat is often very high in these Renal Failure dog/cat foods, Dogs often suffer from Acid Reflux & need an acid reducer or acid Blocker…
My vet said to add boiled potato to my cat meals, they can’t taste the potato & it adds carbs so they dont lose weight, sweet potato is nice & healthy & sweet also helps with acid reflux, I boil & freeze Sweet Potato pieces & take a few pieces out & thaw in micro wave when Patch isnt well & has his acid reflux & is mouth licking….

What I do when I want to convert fat% in wet can foods or raw diets to Dry Matter fat (Kibble)
I Multiply the fat % by 5 & you’ll get an ruff idea what the fat % is it wont be max fat %
but it gives you an idea how high the fat is, it all depends on the moisture, the lower the moisture the lower the fat% look for under 80% moisture in wet can foods.
or email pet food companies & ask can they convert their fat % into Dry matter..

Here’s a fat, protein, fiber moisture calculator link, click on the 1st link “CA Calculator” save it..

Dog Food Calculators

I wouldnt want to feed a vet diet especially after the high Vitamin D in Hills vet diets,
if later you do want to try a vet diet then look at “Farmina” or “Rayne Canada” vet diets, ingredients are healthier & better quality..

[Teresa K]

I lost my irish terrier to this food and am not happy about it at all! I called them and was on hold for over 30 minutes when they cut me off twice. Kati had a good physical and the vet said her kidneys were pretty good for her 11.5 yrs and said maybe I should go to hills dog food.
I did and she died 3 months later of severe kidney failure. I’d really like to sue them for killing my dog whom I still miss everyday!

[Mocha B]

I have a hard time believing these dog treats caused either of your dogs to go into kidney failure. There are about 5 whole food ingredients in these treats.

Please be honest with yourself about what really caused your dogs to have these issues. My dog is 12 and has been eating these for quite some time. She is healthy and in good shape.

[Patricia A]

They claim grain is safe (it’s not) and have neglected to mention the connection of processed inferior ingredients to heart disease in dogs. Why is that?

Dr. Lisa Freeman – a veterinary nutritionist professor from Tufts University – has been very outspoken about grain free dog food’s link to dilated cardiomyopathy. She’s told everyone from the New York Times to readers of the Tufts vet school blog that “boutique grain-free” dog foods were responsible for the dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) cases.

RelatedPosts
2018 was a Busy Year in Pet Food
DCM Study Misses the Big Picture
Diet associated heart disease in dogs, “what we know”

Unless Dr. Freeman considers Royal Canin, Purina and Diamond to be boutique pet foods – she’s wrong on her assessment of the problem. The truth is many different brands, mostly from medium to large manufacturers are linked to low taurine levels and the DCM diagnosis in dogs. Why would a veterinary professor attempt to sway pet owners away from small pet food brands?

Hold that thought.

In another statement, Dr. Lisa Freeman told the New York Times:

“Grains have not been linked to any health problems except in the very rare situation when a pet has an allergy to a specific grain.”

This one is simply unforgivable. Grains most certainly have been linked to serious health problems over many decades – the risk is mycotoxins. Mycotoxins – even at low levels – pose a serious risk to pets. Further, mycotoxins are an on-going problem. Earlier this year Biomin.net published the the 2018 Global Mycotoxin Threat stating grains in North American tested as “Extreme Risk“. Where do you think those ‘extreme risk’ grains end up? Hint: it’s not human food.

Telling pet owners to switch to a grain based pet food is just switching out one problem for another. So again, why would this veterinarian try to direct pet owners away from small pet food brands towards grain based pet foods when grains are a certain mycotoxin risk?

Again…hold that thought…there’s more…

Poor Digestibility of Ingredients
In 2003, the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine published “Taurine status in normal dogs fed a commercial diet associated with taurine deficiency and dilated cardiomyopathy”. This study found that processing and “poor digestibility” of ingredients played a role in canine heart disease. Why hasn’t any veterinary nutritionist investigating the DCM cases today discussed the risk of processing and inferior ingredient link to canine heart disease?

Perhaps it is because no veterinary nutritionist wants to talk about law being violated in pet food. Even though it is a direct violation of US Federal Law, pet food is allowed by FDA to contain ingredients sourced from “diseased animals or animals which have died otherwise than by slaughter”. Isn’t it common sense that sick, decomposing dead animals would provide inferior nutrition in pet foods? Add numerous processing stages to these inferior ingredients – is it any wonder the necessary amino acids are destroyed?

There is one more significant issue…

Endotoxins and Heart Disease
Briefly mentioned in the New York Times article was a clue to a completely different group of DCM diagnosed dogs; “But taurine levels in other affected dogs, including mixed breeds, are normal, which puzzles researchers.” In other words, some sick dogs have low taurine levels linked to DCM – but other dogs diagnosed with nutrition related DCM have normal taurine levels. Why are these dogs with normal taurine sick with heart disease? It might be endotoxins.

Endotoxins are ‘toxins’ that are released on bacterial death. Gram-negative bacteria such as Salmonella and or E. coli killed through cooking or processing of pet food ingredients ‘get even’ with their killers – they release a toxin that can be more dangerous to dogs and cats than the live bacteria.

Waste pet food ingredients such as “diseased animals or animals which have died otherwise than by slaughter” are certainly sources of massive levels of Salmonella an other gram-negative bacteria. When cooked/processed into pet food ingredients – they become sources of massive levels of endotoxins.

From “Endotoxin Effects on Cardiac and Renal Functions and Cardiorenal Syndromes” –

“Endotoxin plays a pivotal role in the pathogenesis of multi-organ dysfunction in the setting of gram-negative sepsis. Indeed, heart and kidney impairments seem to be induced by the release of circulating pro-inflammatory and pro-apoptotic mediators triggered by endotoxin interaction with immune cells.”

From “Low level bacterial endotoxin activates two distinct signaling pathways in human peripheral blood mononuclear cells” –

“Bacterial endotoxin, long recognized as a potent pro-inflammatory mediator in acute infectious processes, has more recently been identified as a risk factor for atherosclerosis and other cardiovascular diseases.”

In 2016, myself and an educated pet owner whose dog died from endotoxemia had a meeting with FDA. For more than an hour scientific evidence was submitted to FDA regarding the dangers to pets of endotoxin levels in pet food. FDA openly dismissed the risk. (To learn more about the risk of endotoxins in pet foods, Click Here.) Will FDA admit the link of heart disease to endotoxins in the pet foods? Doubtful.

Why are veterinarian nutritionists telling pet owners false information?

Why is no scientist, veterinarian, or FDA representative discussing the multiple links between inferior ingredients and high processing of ingredients to canine heart disease?

The blinders need to come off – a biased investigation does not benefit pets. Will investigators intentionally ignore issues as not in the best interest of industry? And how many more dogs will die because of what they ignored?

It’s a concern.

Update to original post. Dr. Michael W. Fox sent the following statement adding several good points:

“I would urge Dr. Lisa Freeman – a veterinary nutritionist professor from Tufts University, to reflect on the instances of dogs with seizures and inflammatory bowel, skin, ear and anal gland problems who return to good health when their diets no longer contain corn, cereal glutens and byproducts, and soy, many being GMO and contaminated with glyphosate among other agrichemicals and aflaxoxins.
Glyphosate blocks manganese uptake, a nutrient essential for many organ functions.” See: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/274005953_Glyphosate_pathways_to_modern_diseases_III_Manganese_neurological_diseases_and_associated_pathologies

And “Aug 13, 2018 – Rachel Ray’s Dog Food, Nutrish, is marketed as being free of “[No] artificial flavors or artificial preservatives” and being a “Natural food for dogs” …
The current epidemic of DCM in dogs may have a multi-factor, pluricausal origin, genetics not withstanding. Lectins in GMO potatoes and in conventional pulses/legumes, when not properly processed are of concern. They may also play a role in the genesis of kidney failure especially when put in manufactured cat foods since cats are obligate carnivores, and in the development of autoimmune diseases.”(Editorials. Do dietary lectins cause disease? BMJ 1999;318:1023-1024 ( 17 April ).

[pitlove]

Hi Sandy-

Your post is confusing. Your dog was brought in for a hot spot but you ended up doing blood work and an SDMA test. Why? Because of the weight loss and the poor appetite? Was a diagnosis given? Kidney disease is common in a pet of your dogs age, but you didnt say that the vet was thinking she had kidney disease or was in kidney failure. RC is not the only company that makes kidney diets. Hill’s and Purina do as well. Perhaps she would prefer one of those. There is nothing wrong with the ingredients in the prescription diets. They do their job. It is far more important to find a diet that will support the kidneys vs one that fits your ideals for feeding a dog.

[Kerry M]

Hello all, I apologize in advance, this is going to be a long story. My boy Sam is a 12 year old beagle. He had been on Wellness Core for a couple of years when I decided to put him on a raw diet (not a commercial one – gave him chicken and turkey necks, pork necks, beef, etc, with the recommended ratio of organs, bones, and meat). I started that in June of last year. In March, he started coughing and had trouble breathing, so we rushed him to the pet ER where they diagnosed him with congestive heart failure. The day after we brought him home he was unable to urinate, and we took him back to the vet and he had a bladder stone blocking his urethra. They were able to flush it back into his bladder and put him on Royal Canin SO to dissolve it. At the time they said his white blood cells were elevated, and tested him for a bladder infection, which came up positive. For the last six months he has been on different antibiotics trying to clear up the infection, and we have been seeing an internal medicine specialist for about a month now. They did an ultrasound and he still had the bladder stone, and put him on Hill’s S/D, despite the high sodium content that would put a strain on his heart. He had a urine culture again last week that again came up positive. The specialist called me today and said the bacteria is now resistant to all medication and she feels that he needs surgery to remove the stone. Naturally I am terrified to let him go under anesthesia with his heart condition, but I know if the infection continues it can lead to kidney issues. If anyone can weigh in with experience with resistance to antibiotics and/or pets having surgery with CHF, I would appreciate it. Thanks!

[Susan]

Hi Alexandria,

So sorry what has happened with your baby Roxi, ask the new vet will Roxi pull thru or is it too late & is she suffering? if he says yes she is suffering, then say goodbye & put her to sleep, I know its hard but it’s the best thing you can do for her, then ask the vet what do you do now as you have 2 more dogs at home, do they get vacinated for Lepto or is it too late?.. & can you report this first vet to someone? as he sounds like he didnt have a clue, also was he the vet who cleaned her teeth? I wonder if his teeth equipment was dirty & not sterile properly?, I’ve read a few post on a different site where the dog is fine, he/she goes in gets their teeth cleaned then is very ill 1-2 weeks later??

Are you on facebook? here’s a public group called “Dogs with renal / kidney failure”
they might be able to help you more, I saw Puree foods..
https://www.facebook.com/groups/582094775463298/?ref=br_rs
can you puree some Sweet Potato with a few veggies?
I live Australia & we do not have Leptospirosis it’s sounds awful…
Roxi is in my prays…

I just found this Facebook group “Lepto Vaccines & Kidney Failure in Dogs” join
https://www.facebook.com/groups/360769831123715/
there will be someone who can help you….the lady of this group tells her story & leaves her email address aswell, you might get a quicker response while waiting to join the group good luck, here’s her email- [email protected]
she also wrote that your vet has to report it to the VMD?

[anonymous]

@ 2doodlemom

Another informative article. Hope this helps https://www.petmd.com/dog/conditions/digestive/c_multi_Weight_Loss_and_Cachexia?page=show (excerpt below)

When should your dog’s weight loss concern you? The standard is when the loss exceeds ten percent of normal body weight (and when it is not due to fluid loss). There are many things that can cause weight loss, including chronic disease. It is important to understand this because the dog’s entire body will probably be affected by the weight loss, and it ultimately depends on the cause and severity of the underlying medical condition.

Causes

Insufficient calorie intake
Poor quality of food
Taste (palatability) of food
Spoiled food/deterioration from prolonged storage
Reduced appetite (anorexia)
Inflammatory bowel disease
Chronic protein-losing intestinal disorder
Intestinal worms (parasites)
Chronic infections of the bowel
Tumors of the intestine
Blockages in stomach/gut (gastrointestinal obstructions)
Surgical removal (resection) of segments of bowel
Disease of the pancreas
Liver or gall bladder disease
Organ failure (heart, liver, kidney)
Addison’s disease
Diabetes
Hyperthyroidism
Chronic blood loss (hemorrhaging)
Skin lesions that ooze and cause loss of protein
Disorders of the central nervous system that interfere with eating or appetite
Paralysis of the esophagus
Neurologic disorders that make it difficult to pick up or swallow food
Increased physical activity
Prolonged exposure to cold
Pregnancy or nursing
Fever or inflammation
Cancer
Bacterial infections
Viral infections
Fungal infections

Diagnosis

Your veterinarian will begin with a variety of diagnostic tests to find the underlying cause for the weight loss. After an initial health assessment, the following are some tests that might be recommended for your pet:

Fecal studies to look for chronic intestinal parasites
Complete blood count (CBC) to look for infection, inflammation, leukemia, anemia, and other blood disorders
A biochemical profile that will evaluate kidney, liver, and pancreas function, and the status of blood proteins, blood sugar, and electrolytes
Urinalysis to determine kidney function, to look for infections/protein loss from the kidneys, and to determine hydration status
Chest and abdominal x-rays to observe heart, lungs, and abdominal organs
Tests to evaluate the condition of the pancreas
Ultrasound of the abdomen
Bile acids test to evaluate liver function
Hormone assays to look for endocrine disorders
Using a scope to view the intestines (endoscopy) and biopsy
Exploratory surgery (laparotomy)

Treatment

At times your veterinarian may recommend treating your pet’s symptoms, especially if they are severe. This is not a substitute, however, for treating the underlying cause of the weight loss.

Once the appropriate treatment has been assigned, make sure a high-quality diet for your pet is provided. It may be necessary to force-feed, with nutrients given intravenously as necessary. The diet must be supplemented with vitamins and minerals. Appetite stimulants are also used occasionally to get the animal to start eating again.

Living and Management

A proper medical follow-up is vital, especially if the animal does not show improvement quickly. Monitoring during this period is also critical. The underlying cause of the weight loss will determine the appropriate course for home care. This includes frequent weigh-ins for the animal. Follow your veterinarian’s recommendations for treatment. And if your pet does not respond to the treatment, contact your vet right away.

[Susan]

Hi again
if you have a script for a vet diet food, then why not google American online Pet Stores, then email them & ask do they post outside of the US to Venezuela ??

Here’s Chewy online US store link
https://www.chewy.com/s?query=dog+Royal+Canine+vet+diets&nav-submit-button=

scroll down & send them an email ask do they send to Venezuela??
tell them in your email that you have a script for the vet diet.

Here’s more online US pet stores look to right they have their links..
http://www.petbusiness.com/January-2017/Exponential-Growth/

I thought you lived in Europe but you live northern coast of South America.
http://www.petbusiness.com/January-2017/Exponential-Growth/

You’d be better off finding a vet nutritionist who’s online & pay for them to prepare you a home made cooked diet for a dog who has Chronic Renal Disease…

Royal Canine & Hills vet diet sound great but a lot of the times some dogs wont eat these vet diets, so you’re probably better off cooking your own balanced cooked meals…

Google home cook diet for “Dog with Chronic Renal Disease”
Here’s some home cooked recipes

Recipe for Low-Phosphorus Dog Food ~ Caring for a Dog with Chronic Renal Failure

http://dogaware.com/health/kidneysamplediet.html

https://www.animalwised.com/a-homemade-diet-for-dogs-with-kidney-failure-221.html

[judy w]

hello everyone, i have been following recent posts from email notifications after signing up on this thread in July. i got confused because i think there are two Melissa T’s? or maybe it’s just more symptoms of the ways my brain has been not fully functioning right from stress levels.

i am sad to hear about dogs and owners going through health conditions, trying to help, and sometimes, the help, the medicine, causes its own serious medical problems.

the thing that is most frustrating for me about this is the way that many vets, not all, are kind of in denial of the risks related to adverse effects. There should be informed consent when giving a medication even when risk is believed to be small. The risks should be discussed with the owner so that they can know the risks they are choosing to take in advance, not to overreact if risk is small but just to be aware because their individual pet is not a statistic but someone they know well. The owner is the one who is at home with the dog 24/7 and knows that dog individually, and in that way, even though the vet has the training and education and clinical experience, the owner has experience with their individual dog and can be in a better position to know when something just isn’t right.

i deal with this with my own doctors too. i always search for doctors that are openly cautious about medications, and when they recommend them, they also address the risks and say something like “if you see anything that concerns you, call me right away.” i have mostly had the opposite experience with doctors, because that is their training and they believe it is the best judgement and want to reassure patients that they know what they are doing. Some are better than others at being collaborative with patients and pet owners.

in the case of Galliprant, it’s so new, there isn’t a lot of clinical experience with it, so no vet should assure a patient when side effects come up after being on the treatment for weeks, that it can’t be the medication that’s causing it, especially a new medication, but all medications are always being learned about and while there are statistical generalizations from pharmaceutical company research required by FDA for approval, those are still generalizations, not absolute universal outcomes, there are a percentages of dogs that have had adverse effects, or effects that are not understood, serious enough to be mentioned. when 10% of those they studied get diarrhea and vomiting, my dog could be one of those, because they don’t know what the risk factors of that are or how to predict that in each case.

When my dog’s vet really pressured me to give him Galliprant in mid July when i posted here before, we didn’t know what was wrong with him or what was causing his sudden stiffness and difficulty moving. i read over one of the posts and i had written that she, the vet, had said that in addition to having a painful spine, he also had a distended abdomen. We talked about her doing an ultrasound, a technician came in twice a week, and i was planning on having it done the following week.

As it turned out, i took him for his second acupuncture treatment with the new holistic vet, for his back pain, and she examined him and said “no acupuncture today.” She commented on his distended abdomen and said she would like to do abdominal x-rays. she did and she showed me that his abdomen looked abnormal, there was detail you can usually see that was not clear on his xray. she went over some different possibilities of what might cause that, there were about 4, one was heart related but as she said, he had just had chest x rays and exam at the cardiologist a couple of weeks before and that cause didn’t show up. We all three, me, regular vet and holistic vet, thought the heart would be the most likely cause because he has advanced mitral valve disease. She said the only other possibility that wasn’t ruled out yet was cancer of the abdominal wall. 🙁 so, that seemed to be the most likely theory, and she said get him in to see an internal medicine doctor ASAP to find out what is going on.

i got an appointment for the next day at the specialty clinic with an internal medicine doctor and she did an abdominal x ray, she said it looked like the fluid in his abdomen was related to heart dysfunction. His cardiologist was there and took over and did full cardio eval and said Zack had right side congestive heart failure and pulmonary hypertension, severe, and he said he could remove the fluid from the abdomen which would make him feel better, so he did that and said they removed 800 ml of fluid. wow, that’s a lot. poor baby. no wonder he was having trouble moving around and eating his food. After the fluid was removed, he began to gradually get more normal, he was put on a diuretic, furosemide (Lasix), and also pimobendan (vetmedin) which is a dog medication for the heart (no human version). my memory is confused, think there were just those two. Either that week or the following week he started sildenafil which is better known as Viagra, which can be used for pulmonary hypertension to lower it.

Zack gradually became more normal and is pretty normal now. for me, there was so much stress about giving him the medications, they definitely have potential adverse effects , the diuretic can damage his kidneys, etc, so i had to give it to him but not unambivalently, and my own stress level about everything probably played a part in me having a lot of trouble remembering which medication to give when, and also, i found sometimes i would give him a pill and later find it on the floor, and he would then not have that dose since i didn’t know which dose he didn’t swallow.

i got an app called Medisafe that someone told me about that helps me remember what time to give which pills. Gradually the level of crisis went down but for a long time, i was thrashed by it, and at the beginning of when Zack first got his symptoms, i went to a specialist doctor appointment for a spreading skin rash i had for many years, other dermatologists had not diagnosed what it was, and that day, right at the beginning of Zack’s crisis i was told i have a cancer, a cutaneous T cell lymphoma, and i was reassured that most people don’t die from it, and the treatments aren’t bad, and that day, i started having whole body light treatments three days a week, so that was going on while i was trying to find out what was wrong with Zack, seeing three vets, two of them multiple times, and also trying to research the cancer thing on the internet and not feeling very good about what i was finding, scary treatments. then i got my biopsy results, he had taken three biopsies and sent them to two top labs in other parts of the country and when they came back finally after two weeks, he said it didn’t show results that confirmed the cancer, and now they were calling it some unusual kind of psoriasis, and the treatment is the same so the light therapy continues, but that was a load off my shoulders, to help with trying to find out what was making my dog deteriorate with some mystery cause. it doesn’t mean i don’t have the lymphoma thing, but at least i don’t have to know that i have it for now. One of the lab reports said it was eczema and not the cancer, the other one just listed off a bunch of possibilities of what it was and did not include the cancer, or eczema either.

i only gave Zack the Galliprant one time. He had increased panting and it lasted all night when normally he would sleep throughout the night. Heart failure has panting as a symptom, but he had never not slept all night before, or since. i will never give him Galliprant again, partly because i don’t like any medication that is long lasting, Galliprant is 24 hours. i would rather give it more frequently, like 3X a day, i just feel safer that way, though not convenient.
If he gets osteoarthritis or other pain from the musculo skeletal system, that’s different, i’d have to consider it, but if i did give him an NSAID, it would probably not be a 24 hour one, and one bloody vomit, it would be back to the drawing board.

i don’t fault my vet for wanting to try Galliprant because Zack seemed to be sore and stiff, she gave me her best advice and she did not invalidate my concerns and i will continue to go to her if needed. But if i had it to do over, i wouldn’t have given Zack that one 24 hour dose, he didn’t even have back pain, it turned out. What he had, as far as i know, just guessing, could be made worse by Galliprant. So it’s good that i was so scared of it all along.

As some other people have mentioned, when a pet is sick seriously enough to need a vet, part of the stress for many of us isn’t just these helpless babies dependent on us to find solutions and get them better, but also it’s expensive, and that just adds to the stress. I have dog pet insurance for Zack, i pay $145 a month, and i paid a similar amount his whole life, even though he was healthy and rarely went to the vet, but i knew he had that mitral valve disease bred into him, his breed, almost 100% will get mitral valve disease and 50% die from it by the age of 5 ! 🙁 We have been so lucky, his wasn’t symptomatic until he was 11-12, and pretty mildly, until June of this year, he’s going to be 13 in a couple of weeks, i thought he wasnt’ going to make it that far when that vet said it might be cancer of the abdominal wall.

So, his vet bills for the month of July came to $2700 paid upfront as i filed a claim. they pay 80%, but it took a month and a half for them to pay it, yay, they paid the whole 80% but i didn’t know until then how much they would pay. So stressful. now i can pay off the Care Credit balance , relief.

it’s so good that there is a discussion site for this subject, because for the many who need meds like Galliprant in their efforts to help their dogs have good quality of life, it’s important to be aware of potential adverse effects and to know what’s going on, even when some vets insist it can’t be the medications. It’s discussions like this one that are informative in a way that isn’t learned in medical school, to help both doctors and owners work together even when at odds to have the best result.

[CottonCandy]

Observe his urine volume and frequency. If both reduce and release painfully, you should take him to the vet immediately in case of kidney failure and worse situations. Promise the low-salt food and enough water, but do not supply too much water if he can’t urinate normally.

[Laura R]

I have an 18 month old Australian Shepherd male who is reluctant to pee. Someone is home with him all day, so he goes out often enough. The vet has not prescribed any antibiotics as he sees no evidence of infection. He is convinced it is the food and recommended regular Science Diet or Iams food (not an rx formula). When I asked why he thought it was the food, he just seemed to think it was a function of his metabolism.

The best I can figure out he recommended these foods because they are low in phosphorus. My dog had previously been on Canidae All Life Stage and when that didn’t work I tried Health Extension GF venison, which still didn’t work. Most dog foods do not list their phosphorous content or do so in a vague “min” quantity when
I need a max quantity… I did find one website which listed low phosphorus commercial foods, but it was very out of date and inaccurate.

So after going through chronic kidney failure and a raw/homemade diet with a previous dog, I decided to try a balanced raw diet (see Dr. Karen Becker’s diets on YouTube). But for a 40# dog it is not cheap or easy and I have only been doing it as half his diet along with the Science Diet (because I think this is crappy food). I also added Nutramax Crananidin, additional ascorbic acid, and calcium in order to boost the calcium:phosphorus ratio closer to what other sources recommend to be 2:1. Since this dog does not drink water at all (despite having bought a purifier and all), I also put a cup of water/broth on his food both am and pm.

I just feel like I am at my wits end. In the afternoons/evenings, his urine pH runs around 7.5. This morning, I tested it and it was a lovely 5.5! Additionally, we have taken samples to the vet for analysis and we get different results on different days/times with crystals and no crystals present.

All this leaves me feeling like I don’t understand what is working and why, and a dog that is miserable! We are going to add a little broth to his water today to see if that will get him to drink during the day, but if anyone else has suggestions or insight, I would be greatly appreciative.

[Patmae B]

Try feeding Answers or Primal raw goats milk. It is a natural probiotic and chocked full of vitamins it can help cure IBD, allergies and help with many health issues in dogs. I swear by it my dogs love it and it even took a sick dog I had that was literally in renal failure to complete recovery and normal kidney values. Please read up on it and its not expensive.

[HoundMusic]

“Dogs should have one gram of protein per pound of “ideal” body weight per day. Cats need two grams per pound per day. Some medical conditions, especially liver or kidney failure, call for reduced-protein diets, although this has become a somewhat controversial topic.”

This is inaccurate advice. According to AAFCO, the minimum protein requirement for adult maintenance is 18%, regardless of weight. So, if you go up a few percentage points higher than that, a normally active dog should have more than enough of its protein requirements met.

Protein content can affect behavior in some dogs, but this mostly pertains to fear aggression; I honestly don’t know if it would help alleviate such issues from a brain injury, however, since most dog foods are overloaded with meat protein anyway, it probably couldn’t hurt to lower it down to somewhere around 21% or less.

Also, just FYI to the OP, but I am dealing with a brain damaged dog who had violent seizures for 3 years, caused by an acquired liver shunt. He’d stopped responding to his name and was really becoming a walking vegetable. Protein content, lower or higher, had really no effect on his brain functionality, but going with a brand that added sweeteners made a dramatic difference in cognition.

[Lori H]

Hi Linda,

My dog Buddy has been through a lot, much like your dog. He is now 11 and during his life he has had surgery on his spleen, surgery for bladder stones, been diagnosed with Diabetes and I was told by my vet that he was suffering from liver failure and was preparing me for the fact that Buddy was going to die. The liver failure diagnosis was over two years and today, he is healthy, happy, looks amazing and has so much energy. I just had him into the vet for blood work and his numbers are almost perfect (350 is perfect, he is sitting at 351)! It has been an amazing turnaround so I know how you feel. I basically had to get him healthy myself. My vet did not support my decision to do what I did, but he is healthy and that is all that matters!

I now believe wholeheartedly that most vets know nothing about nutrition. They are told to carry a line of food in their offices by one of the large pharma/dog food companies because most of these companies go out and recruit at the vet universities across the United States when vets are in school and provide them with a kickback when the sell either Science Diet or Royal Canin in their clinics, up to 40%. Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE my vet, I just don’t believe he knows much of anything about nutrition. He has been great to me, my dog Buddy and my three cats. He is good at what he does, diagnose and perform much needed surgeries and procedures. He did Buddy’s bladder stone surgery which has complications.

I was at my wits end as well and thought that I was going to lose Buddy, but I was not willing to give up so I did a Google search and found an amazing person who brought Buddy back to the healthy dog he is.

Buddy is on a very special diet and he has made huge strides in the last 10+ months. He is a very healthy dog to what he was 6 months ago.

I worked with a man named Rick Scheyer. He has an amazing website http://www.doglivershunt.com He has helped many dogs with liver shunt, kidney disease, bladder stone problems and much, much more become healthy dogs again. I would suggest reaching out to him for a free consultation. It might be the answer you need.

If you choose to go with his program, it is not cheap, but I believe that over time, I will save money by not taking Buddy to the vet time and time again because I don’t know what is wrong and having a battery of tests run and racking up bills in the thousands, I have been there!

He was slowly weened off of his processed food Science Diet U/D and placed on a diet of fresh veggies and meat based on a very slow transition to follow with Rick’s help.

Buddy’s diet is a balance of ¾ veggies to ¼ meats. Dogs with liver issues do not need as much protein as you would expect. He gets lots of yellow veggies (squash, tomatoes, peppers, cucumber, celery, carrots, Brussel sprouts, snap peas, etc.) along with hemp oil and nori blended with goat yogurt into almost a smoothie consistency. I then add meats, liver is great as it helps to detoxify the liver (funny that you feed liver to a dog with liver issuesJ) and then he gets a variety of supplements. He receives three gut supplements in the morning (Acidophilus, Bifudus and a Spectrabiotic) along with an Enzyme and something called Whole Body. In the evenings he gets the Enzyme, Whole Body and a Mushroom supplement. The process to make his food is not that time consuming and if you are at your wits end like I was, I was ready to do anything.

He also gets to have as much goat yogurt as he wants with coconut oil. He also gets sweet potato chews and coconut slices.

He is also allowed to eat fruits, not during his morning and evening meals since they digest differently than veggies, but he has not yet warmed up to them yet. I don’t know if he ever will.

He is doing great! He has so much energy and the numbers don’t lie! I got a glucose meter and I am going to start checking his levels daily. I would really like to get him off the insulin if I can. I believe the medicine is what causes the blindness, not the actual diabetes, my vet believes otherwise.

My vet has not said much of anything. I explained I was taking him off the prescription food and putting him on this program and he never responded. When I took him in the last time for blood work, I think he was surprised Buddy was doing so well, but did not ask me further about what I was doing. He is a pretty straight and narrow vet and I don’t think he looks outside the box. If Buddy’s glucose numbers continue to decline, I will take him back and back off on the number of units he is given. Now it is just maintenance and keeping a spreadsheet and monitoring how he is doing.

I suggest reaching out. I think Rick saved Buddy’s life. I took him to the vet in October to have blood work done and he is perfectly healthy!

Let me know if I can be of anymore help.

Good luck on your search and reach out if you have further questions or concerns. It was hard to take the jump and trust someone other than my vet with my dogs nutritional health, but I am so glad that I did.

Lori

[Tom M]

Dogs should have one gram of protein per pound of “ideal” body weight per day. Cats need two grams per pound per day. Some medical conditions, especially liver or kidney failure, call for reduced-protein diets, although this has become a somewhat controversial topic.

[Jason O]

Thanks for all the recommendations and support. We went into urgent care today because she regressed and is back to lethargy, vomiting bile, and loss of appetite. Her kidney numbers are really high, indicating kidney failure. We’re giving her one more great day, then saying good bye tomorrow.

Good luck to everyone, this has been a tough year.

[Lori H]

Hi Marjorie,

My dog Buddy has been through a lot, much like your dog. He just turned 10 and during his life he has had surgery on his spleen, surgery for bladder stones, been diagnosed with Diabetes and I was told by my vet that he was suffering from liver failure and was preparing me for the fact that Buddy was going to die. The liver failure diagnosis was over a year ago and today, he is healthy, happy, looks amazing and has so much energy. I just had him into the vet for blood work Friday and his numbers are almost perfect! It has been am amazing turnaround so I know how you feel. I basically had to get him healthy myself. My vet did not support my decision to do what I did, but it does not matter, he is healthy and that is all that matters!

I now believe wholeheartedly that most vets know nothing about nutrition. They are told to carry a line of food in their offices by one of the large pharma/dog food companies because most of these companies go out and recruit at the vet universities across the United States when vets are in school and provide them with a kickback when the sell either Science Diet or Royal Canin in their clinics, up to 40%. Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE my vet, I just don’t believe he knows much of anything about nutrition. He has been great to me, my dog Buddy and my three cats. He is good at what he does, diagnose and perform much needed surgeries and procedures. He did Buddy’s bladder stone surgery which has complications.

I was at my wits end as well and thought that I was going to lose Buddy, but I was not willing to give up so I did a Google search and found an amazing person who brought Buddy back to the healthy dog he is.

Buddy is on a very special diet and he has made huge strides in the last 10+ months. He is a very healthy dog to what he was 6 months ago.

I worked with a man named Rick Scheyer. He has an amazing website http://www.doglivershunt.com He has helped many dogs with liver shunt, kidney disease, bladder stone problems and much, much more become healthy dogs again. I would suggest reaching out to him for a free consultation. It might be the answer you need.

If you choose to go with his program, it is not cheap, but I believe that over time, I will save money by not taking Buddy to the vet time and time again because I don’t know what is wrong and having a battery of tests run and racking up bills in the thousands, I have been there!

He was slowly weened off of his processed food Science Diet U/D and placed on a diet of fresh veggies and meat based on a very slow transition to follow with Rick’s help.

Buddy’s diet is a balance of ¾ veggies to ¼ meats. Dogs with liver issues do not need as much protein as you would expect. He gets lots of yellow veggies (squash, tomatoes, peppers, cucumber, celery, carrots, Brussel sprouts, snap peas, etc.) along with hemp oil and nori blended with goat yogurt into almost a smoothie consistency. I then add meats, liver is great as it helps to detoxify the liver (funny that you feed liver to a dog with liver issuesJ) and then he gets a variety of supplements. He receives three gut supplements in the morning (Acidophilus, Bifudus and a Spectrabiotic) along with an Enzyme and something called Whole Body. In the evenings he gets the Enzyme, Whole Body and a Mushroom supplement. The process to make his food is not that time consuming and if you are at your wits end like I was, I was ready to do anything.

He also gets to have as much goat yogurt as he wants with coconut oil. He also gets sweet potato chews and coconut slices.

He is also allowed to eat fruits, not during his morning and evening meals since they digest differently than veggies, but he has not yet warmed up to them yet. I don’t know if he ever will.

He is doing great! He has so much energy and the numbers don’t lie! I got a glucose meter and I am going to start checking his levels daily. I would really like to get him off the insulin if I can. I believe the medicine is what causes the blindness, not the actual diabetes, my vet believes otherwise.

My vet has not said much of anything. I explained I was taking him off the prescription food and putting him on this program and he never responded. When I took him in the last time for blood work, I think he was surprised Buddy was doing so well, but did not ask me further about what I was doing. He is a pretty straight and narrow vet and I don’t think he looks outside the box. If Buddy’s glucose numbers continue to decline, I will take him back and back off on the number of units he is given. Now it is just maintenance and keeping a spreadsheet and monitoring how he is doing.

I suggest reaching out. I think Rick saved Buddy’s life. I took him to the vet in October to have blood work done and he is perfectly healthy!

Let me know if I can be of anymore help.

Good luck on your search and reach out if you have further questions or concerns. It was hard to take the jump and trust someone other than my vet with my dogs nutritional health, but I am so glad that I did.

Lori

[Bethann C]

Sounds like a kidney issue to me, quite possibly kidney failure. Take them to an emergency animal hospital immediately. They are more than likely dehydrated as well. And get rid of that food, all of it.

[Lori H]

Hi Jenny,

My dog Buddy has been through a lot, much like your dog. He just turned 10 and during his life he has had surgery on his spleen, surgery for bladder stones, been diagnosed with Diabetes and I was told by my vet that he was suffering from liver failure and was preparing me for the fact that Buddy was going to die. The liver failure diagnosis was over a year ago and today, he is healthy, happy, looks amazing and has so much energy. I just had him into the vet for blood work Friday and his numbers are almost perfect! It has been am amazing turnaround so I know how you feel. I basically had to get him healthy myself. My vet did not support my decision to do what I did, but it does not matter, he is healthy and that is all that matters!

I now believe wholeheartedly that most vets know nothing about nutrition. They are told to carry a line of food in their offices by one of the large pharma/dog food companies because most of these companies go out and recruit at the vet universities across the United States when vets are in school and provide them with a kickback when the sell either Science Diet or Royal Canin in their clinics, up to 40%. Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE my vet, I just don’t believe he knows much of anything about nutrition. He has been great to me, my dog Buddy and my three cats. He is good at what he does, diagnose and perform much needed surgeries and procedures. He did Buddy’s bladder stone surgery which has complications.

I was at my wits end as well and thought that I was going to lose Buddy, but I was not willing to give up so I did a Google search and found an amazing person who brought Buddy back to the healthy dog he is.

Buddy is on a very special diet and he has made huge strides in the last 10+ months. He is a very healthy dog to what he was 6 months ago.

I worked with a man named Rick Scheyer. He has an amazing website http://www.doglivershunt.com He has helped many dogs with liver shunt, kidney disease, bladder stone problems and much, much more become healthy dogs again. I would suggest reaching out to him for a free consultation. It might be the answer you need.

If you choose to go with his program, it is not cheap, but I believe that over time, I will save money by not taking Buddy to the vet time and time again because I don’t know what is wrong and having a battery of tests run and racking up bills in the thousands, I have been there!

He was slowly weened off of his processed food Science Diet U/D and placed on a diet of fresh veggies and meat based on a very slow transition to follow with Rick’s help.

Buddy’s diet is a balance of ¾ veggies to ¼ meats. Dogs with liver issues do not need as much protein as you would expect. He gets lots of yellow veggies (squash, tomatoes, peppers, cucumber, celery, carrots, Brussel sprouts, snap peas, etc.) along with hemp oil and nori blended with goat yogurt into almost a smoothie consistency. I then add meats, liver is great as it helps to detoxify the liver (funny that you feed liver to a dog with liver issuesJ) and then he gets a variety of supplements. He receives three gut supplements in the morning (Acidophilus, Bifudus and a Spectrabiotic) along with an Enzyme and something called Whole Body. In the evenings he gets the Enzyme, Whole Body and a Mushroom supplement. The process to make his food is not that time consuming and if you are at your wits end like I was, I was ready to do anything.

He also gets to have as much goat yogurt as he wants with coconut oil. He also gets sweet potato chews and coconut slices.

He is also allowed to eat fruits, not during his morning and evening meals since they digest differently than veggies, but he has not yet warmed up to them yet. I don’t know if he ever will.

He is doing great! He has so much energy and the numbers don’t lie! I got a glucose meter and I am going to start checking his levels daily. I would really like to get him off the insulin if I can. I believe the medicine is what causes the blindness, not the actual diabetes, my vet believes otherwise.

My vet has not said much of anything. I explained I was taking him off the prescription food and putting him on this program and he never responded. When I took him in the last time for blood work, I think he was surprised Buddy was doing so well, but did not ask me further about what I was doing. He is a pretty straight and narrow vet and I don’t think he looks outside the box. If Buddy’s glucose numbers continue to decline, I will take him back and back off on the number of units he is given. Now it is just maintenance and keeping a spreadsheet and monitoring how he is doing.

I suggest reaching out. I think Rick saved Buddy’s life. I took him to the vet in October to have blood work done and he is perfectly healthy!

Let me know if I can be of anymore help.

Good luck on your search and reach out if you have further questions or concerns. It was hard to take the jump and trust someone other than my vet with my dogs nutritional health, but I am so glad that I did.

Lori

[Jason O]

I have a Cairn terrier mix that has both a gastro problem and early stages of kidney failure. We went with our vets recommendation and put her on the Hills K/D foods. She no longer wants to eat any of those foods. She likes the dry food, but she can’t digest it.

I’m having a difficult time finding a good replacement. Wysong looks promising, but I can’t find official numbers on phosphorus count. MyPerfectPet also looks like an option, but it’s extremely expensive and would cost $120 a month to feed my dog.

Any suggestions?

[Lori H]

Hi Simone,

My dog Buddy has been through a lot, much like your dog. He just turned 10 and during his life he has had surgery on his spleen, surgery for bladder stones, been diagnosed with Diabetes and I was told by my vet that he was suffering from liver failure and was preparing me for the fact that Buddy was going to die. The liver failure diagnosis was over a year ago and today, he is healthy, happy, looks amazing and has so much energy. I just had him into the vet for blood work Friday and his numbers are almost perfect! It has been am amazing turnaround so I know how you feel. I basically had to get him healthy myself. My vet did not support my decision to do what I did, but it does not matter, he is healthy and that is all that matters!

I now believe wholeheartedly that most vets know nothing about nutrition. They are told to carry a line of food in their offices by one of the large pharma/dog food companies because most of these companies go out and recruit at the vet universities across the United States when vets are in school and provide them with a kickback when the sell either Science Diet or Royal Canin in their clinics, up to 40%. Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE my vet, I just don’t believe he knows much of anything about nutrition. He has been great to me, my dog Buddy and my three cats. He is good at what he does, diagnose and perform much needed surgeries and procedures. He did Buddy’s bladder stone surgery which has complications.

I was at my wits end as well and thought that I was going to lose Buddy, but I was not willing to give up so I did a Google search and found an amazing person who brought Buddy back to the healthy dog he is.

Buddy is on a very special diet and he has made huge strides in the last 10+ months. He is a very healthy dog to what he was 6 months ago.

I worked with a man named Rick Scheyer. He has an amazing website http://www.doglivershunt.com He has helped many dogs with liver shunt, kidney disease, bladder stone problems and much, much more become healthy dogs again. I would suggest reaching out to him for a free consultation. It might be the answer you need.

If you choose to go with his program, it is not cheap, but I believe that over time, I will save money by not taking Buddy to the vet time and time again because I don’t know what is wrong and having a battery of tests run and racking up bills in the thousands, I have been there!

He was slowly weened off of his processed food Science Diet U/D and placed on a diet of fresh veggies and meat based on a very slow transition to follow with Rick’s help.

Buddy’s diet is a balance of ¾ veggies to ¼ meats. Dogs with liver issues do not need as much protein as you would expect. He gets lots of yellow veggies (squash, tomatoes, peppers, cucumber, celery, carrots, Brussel sprouts, snap peas, etc.) along with hemp oil and nori blended with goat yogurt into almost a smoothie consistency. I then add meats, liver is great as it helps to detoxify the liver (funny that you feed liver to a dog with liver issuesJ) and then he gets a variety of supplements. He receives three gut supplements in the morning (Acidophilus, Bifudus and a Spectrabiotic) along with an Enzyme and something called Whole Body. In the evenings he gets the Enzyme, Whole Body and a Mushroom supplement. The process to make his food is not that time consuming and if you are at your wits end like I was, I was ready to do anything.

He also gets to have as much goat yogurt as he wants with coconut oil. He also gets sweet potato chews and coconut slices.

He is also allowed to eat fruits, not during his morning and evening meals since they digest differently than veggies, but he has not yet warmed up to them yet. I don’t know if he ever will.

He is doing great! He has so much energy and the numbers don’t lie! I got a glucose meter and I am going to start checking his levels daily. I would really like to get him off the insulin if I can. I believe the medicine is what causes the blindness, not the actual diabetes, my vet believes otherwise.

My vet has not said much of anything. I explained I was taking him off the prescription food and putting him on this program and he never responded. When I took him in the last time for blood work, I think he was surprised Buddy was doing so well, but did not ask me further about what I was doing. He is a pretty straight and narrow vet and I don’t think he looks outside the box. If Buddy’s glucose numbers continue to decline, I will take him back and back off on the number of units he is given. Now it is just maintenance and keeping a spreadsheet and monitoring how he is doing.

I suggest reaching out. I think Rick saved Buddy’s life. I took him to the vet in October to have blood work done and he is perfectly healthy!

Let me know if I can be of anymore help.

Good luck on your search and reach out if you have further questions or concerns. It was hard to take the jump and trust someone other than my vet with my dogs nutritional health, but I am so glad that I did.

Lori

[Airseabattle]

Noted. I will stop feeding canned sardines. Have you ever owned a purebred chihuahua, fed exclusively on a kibble diet. If so, how long did it live and what did it eventually die of? Mine lived to be 16 and died of chronic renal failure. She had horrible dental health throughout her life. Despite brushing and having her teeth cleaned by vet every other year. this is partly because i could not on my own access her under the gums issues.

I don’t want to have to keep putting my dog down for dental cleanings to have to remove the under the gum build up that results from eating kibble. That puts severe strain on the kidneys, as you already know. Like I did with my last dog who died of kidney disease. issues from periodontal disease is a major reason how dogs end up with heart, kidney , etc diseases. Even traditional vets admit that. I’m hoping to avoid that with a raw diet. Everyone I know who feeds raw have dogs with beautiful teeth and gums. I haven’t met an older dog raised on raw but do any of you with one have any testaments to the dog’s oral health?

My current vet is a traditional vet but hasn’t oppossed home cooked foods. We haven’t discussed raw but so far I am very pleased with the results. Anyone who has every watched a beloved family member die of renal failure should be scarred for life and not want a repeat.

[Airseabattle]

I’m not sure of the temp. It was meat I had in the freezer for a month which I then defrosted in the fridge. Same with liver. No, I’m not solely feeding her just ground meat and liver. She also had a raw chicken wing and hard boiled egg with shell and shredded cooked chicken breast. Not all at once but spread out. Been eating that for days. Ground meat I introduced today and Only the ground meat made her vomit first time around. I tried again in smaller quantities and this she held down.

I personally do not trust aafco and flat out refuse to feed kibble as a main source to my dog. My last chihuahua lived to be 16. Most of her life ( I adopted her at six years old) she ate 4 star and up rated kibble. She STILL died of chronic renal failure due to diet. My vet is a wonderful woman but she’s so pro science diet/ Hill.

after two months of putting my baby on that hill renal diet she slightly went down in value then out of nowhere escalated to stage 4 and died a miserable , slow death. I spent thousands trying to fight the inevitable death. I even tried to get her a 20k kidney transplant from UC Davis just to be told there was nothing that could’ve been done and had a fed her a better diet things may have been different ( less kibble, carbs, grains, etc, more good quality protein) Never again.

Ps. My vet knows of my hatred of kibble and supports a home cooked diet but I’m not sure about the raw diet. I’m only doing raw while I wait for the supplements. Why are you against adding supplements? You say you like her recipes but Dr Olsen said in the book that the vitamins are depleted after cooking so supplements are a must…

• This reply was modified 7 years, 8 months ago by Airseabattle.
• This reply was modified 7 years, 8 months ago by Airseabattle.

[Connie S]

I’ve fed my dog Acana since a pup..she’s now 7. In January she was diagnosed with stage 4 kidney failure. She doesn’t have the typical symptoms of kidney failure but her blood results and many other tests indicates this diagnosis. I am so upset to think that in making the choice to feed her a high quality food that it could have potentially resulted in this.

I’ve taken her off kibble and now feed a modified raw diet that fits with her needs. So far it seems to be working and her interest in food high.

[Angela P]

I paid the year’s subscription TRUSTING this website. I have been feeding ACANA Regionals for last several years because of its 5 STAR Rating under Editor’s Choice. WHY HAD IT NOT BEEN REMOVED? WHY WAS THERE NO ALERT SENT ABOUT HOW THIS DOG FOOD IS DANGEROUS? My beagle died of sudden kidney failure two years ago after I spent nearly $9,000 trying to save him. We could not determine what caused it. NOW I KNOW IT WAS THE ACANA DOG FOOD. I am joining the class action lawsuit. I am also CANCELLING my membership here because I was totally mislead by the recommendations of this website. It cost my dog his life.

Important: Click here to view admin reply below.

• This reply was modified 7 years, 8 months ago by Mike Sagman.
• This reply was modified 7 years, 8 months ago by Mike Sagman.

[Lori H]

Hi Wendy,

I worked with a man named Rick Scheyer. He has an amazing website http://www.doglivershunt.com He has helped many dogs with liver shunt, kidney disease, bladder stone problems and much, much more become healthy dogs again. I would suggest reaching out to him for a free consultation. My dog was diagnosed with multiple problems (liver failure, bladder stones, Diabetes, and possible Cushing’s Disease) last May and as of today, he is a healthy, happy, 10 year old dog who is no longer in liver failure. He was placed on a real food diet along with supplements and he is completely healthy.

Cancer is a whole different issue, but I trust that Rick will point you in a direction where he can help or he will let you know who might.

Good luck on your journey with your fur child.

Lori

[Lori H]

Hi Simone,

My dog Buddy has been through a lot, much like your dog. He just turned 10 and during his life he has had surgery on his spleen, surgery for bladder stones, been diagnosed with Diabetes and I was told by my vet that he was suffering from liver failure and was preparing me for the fact that Buddy was going to die. The liver failure diagnosis was 10 months ago and today, he is healthy, happy, looks amazing and has so much energy.

I now believe wholeheartedly that most vets know nothing about nutrition. They are told to carry a line of food in their offices by one of the large pharma/dog food companies because most of these companies go out and recruit at the vet universities across the United States when vets are in school and provide them with a kickback when the sell either Science Diet or Royal Canin in their clinics, up to 40%. Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE my vet, I just don’t believe he knows much of anything about nutrition. He has been great to me, my dog Buddy and my three cats. He is good at what he does, diagnose and perform much needed surgeries and procedures. He did Buddy’s bladder stone surgery which has complications.

I was at my wits end as well and thought that I was going to lose Buddy, but I was not willing to give up so I did a Google search and found an amazing person who brought Buddy back to the healthy dog he is.

Buddy is on a very special diet and he has made huge strides in the last 6+ months. He is a very healthy dog to what he was 6 months ago.

I worked with a man named Rick Scheyer. He has an amazing website http://www.doglivershunt.com He has helped many dogs with liver shunt, kidney disease, bladder stone problems and much, much more become healthy dogs again. I would suggest reaching out to him for a free consultation.

If you choose to go with his program, it is not cheap, but I believe that over time, I will save money by not taking Buddy to the vet time and time again because I don’t know what is wrong and having a battery of tests run and racking up bills in the thousands, I have been there!

He was slowly weened off of his processed food Science Diet U/D and placed on a diet of fresh veggies and meat based on a very slow transition to follow with Rick’s help.

Buddy’s diet is a balance of ¾ veggies to ¼ meats. Dogs with liver issues do not need as much protein as you would expect. He gets lots of yellow veggies (squash, tomatoes, peppers, cucumber, celery, carrots, Brussel sprouts, snap peas, etc.) along with hemp oil and nori blended with goat yogurt into almost a smoothie consistency. I then add meats, liver is great as it helps to detoxify the liver (funny that you feed liver to a dog with liver issuesJ) and then he gets a variety of supplements. He receives three gut supplements in the morning (Acidophilus, Bifudus and a Spectrabiotic) along with an Enzyme and something called Whole Body. In the evenings he gets the Enzyme, Whole Body and a Mushroom supplement. The process to make his food is not that time consuming and if you are at your wits end like I was, I was ready to do anything.

He also gets to have as much goat yogurt as he wants with coconut oil. He also gets sweet potato chews and coconut slices.

He is also allowed to eat fruits, not during his morning and evening meals since they digest differently than veggies, but he has not yet warmed up to them yet. I don’t know if he ever will.

He is doing great! He has so much energy and the numbers don’t lie! I got a glucose meter and I am going to start checking his levels daily. I would really like to get him off the insulin if I can. I believe the medicine is what causes the blindness, not the actual diabetes, my vet believes otherwise.

My vet has not said much of anything. I explained I was taking him off the prescription food and putting him on this program and he never responded. When I took him in the last time for blood work, I think he was surprised Buddy was doing so well, but did not ask me further about what I was doing. He is a pretty straight and narrow vet and I don’t think he looks outside the box. If Buddy’s glucose numbers continue to decline, I will take him back and back off on the number of units he is given. Now it is just maintenance and keeping a spreadsheet and monitoring how he is doing.

I suggest reaching out. I think Rick saved Buddy’s life. I took him to the vet in October to have blood work done and he is perfectly healthy!

Let me know if I can be of anymore help.

Good luck on your search and reach out if you have further questions or concerns. It was hard to take the jump and trust someone other than my vet with my dogs nutritional health, but I am so glad that I did.

Lori

[Pam H]

I am New to Editors choice. Has anyone member found information on FARMLAND TRADITION brand chicken jerky as a safe treat for dogs ? I buy mine from Costco and just watched an alarming show production from ‘MarketPlace’. They did not mention this particular brand, majority warning to stay away from Made in China brands. Attempting to find out more and did call the company who distributes ‘HILLSIDE FARMS’. They said they have never been under a recall. All the chickens raised in U.S.A.. That theirs bought though Costco are manufactured here in the U.S.A. They do have a manufacturing plant in China. Only two ingredients as their package states. Chicken, & Vegetable Glycerin. Company person stated that as long as feeding guideline is followed these are safe. She said the problem would be overfeeding that would result in too much protein for dog. Asking if anyone else has additional information or cautions with this product. Needing reassurance Please. The wrong type of Glycerin such as Probel (sp?) Ester used by the Chinese causes kidney failure. At this time I have not researched more about the types of Glycerin. I will, and possibly submit another post later to what I find out.

[shadi N]

PLEASE BE AWARE OF THE FRUITABLES DOG TREATS!!!! I purchased these treats from Whole Foods, I gave my 3yr pitbull/Lab 3 or 4 of these treats, she is like our baby, the sweet Potato & Duck and she got Acute Kidney failure! She started with upset stomach, vomiting, not eating, etc. She is currently in the hospital because they are trying to save her life by flushing her kidneys 24hrs a day. Please DO NOT feed your dog these treats. They’ll get sick.

[anonymous]

Copied from a response to a similar topic/,question

I lost a dog to kidney disease many years ago. This is a very serious condition. You should be working closely with a veterinarian.
My dog needed sub-q fluids almost every day the last 2 years, prescription dog food (canned) and plenty of water, nothing else. No supplements. Just prescription meds. Discuss with your vet.
He doesn’t want to eat because he is probably nauseous, in pain, hence the vomiting. I would not try to force him to eat.
The next thing that will occur after kidney failure, if it hasn’t already, is uremia. The dog smells like urine 24/7. It emanates from his pores.
Difficult decisions ahead
Your dog needs the expertise of a veterinarian, not the internet.
Good luck

[Lori H]

Hi Paul,

My dog Buddy has been through a lot, much like your dog. He just turned 10 and during his life he has had surgery on his spleen, surgery for bladder stones, been diagnosed with Diabetes and I was told by my vet that he was suffering from liver failure and was preparing me for the fact that Buddy was going to die. The liver failure diagnosis was 6 months ago and today, he is healthy, happy, looks amazing and has so much energy.

I now believe wholeheartedly that most vets know nothing about nutrition. They are told to carry a line of food in their offices by one of the large pharma/dog food companies because most of these companies go out and recruit at the vet universities across the United States when vets are in school and provide them with a kickback when the sell either Science Diet or Royal Canin in their clinics, up to 40%. Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE my vet, I just don’t believe he knows much of anything about nutrition. He has been great to me, my dog Buddy and my three cats. He is good at what he does, diagnose and perform much needed surgeries and procedures. He did Buddy’s bladder stone surgery which has complications.

I was at my wits end as well and thought that I was going to lose Buddy, but I was not willing to give up so I did a Google search and found an amazing person who brought Buddy back to the healthy dog he is.

Buddy is on a very special diet and he has made huge strides in the last 6+ months. He is a very healthy dog to what he was 6 months ago.

I worked with a man named Rick Scheyer. He has an amazing website http://www.doglivershunt.com He has helped many dogs with liver shunt, kidney disease, bladder stone problems and much, much more become healthy dogs again. I would suggest reaching out to him for a free consultation.

If you choose to go with his program, it is not cheap, but I believe that over time, I will save money by not taking Buddy to the vet time and time again because I don’t know what is wrong and having a battery of tests run and racking up bills in the thousands, I have been there!

He was slowly weened off of his processed food Science Diet U/D and placed on a diet of fresh veggies and meat based on a very slow transition to follow with Rick’s help.

Buddy’s diet is a balance of ¾ veggies to ¼ meats. Dogs with liver issues do not need as much protein as you would expect. He gets lots of yellow veggies (squash, tomatoes, peppers, cucumber, celery, carrots, Brussel sprouts, snap peas, etc.) along with hemp oil and nori blended with goat yogurt into almost a smoothie consistency. I then add meats, liver is great as it helps to detoxify the liver (funny that you feed liver to a dog with liver issuesJ) and then he gets a variety of supplements. He receives three gut supplements in the morning (Acidophilus, Bifudus and a Spectrabiotic) along with an Enzyme and something called Whole Body. In the evenings he gets the Enzyme, Whole Body and a Mushroom supplement. The process to make his food is not that time consuming and if you are at your wits end like I was, I was ready to do anything.

He also gets to have as much goat yogurt as he wants with coconut oil. He also gets sweet potato chews and coconut slices.

He is also allowed to eat fruits, not during his morning and evening meals since they digest differently than veggies, but he has not yet warmed up to them yet. I don’t know if he ever will.

He is doing great! He has so much energy and the numbers don’t lie! I got a glucose meter and I am going to start checking his levels daily. I would really like to get him off the insulin if I can. I believe the medicine is what causes the blindness, not the actual diabetes, my vet believes otherwise.

My vet has not said much of anything. I explained I was taking him off the prescription food and putting him on this program and he never responded. When I took him in the last time for blood work, I think he was surprised Buddy was doing so well, but did not ask me further about what I was doing. He is a pretty straight and narrow vet and I don’t think he looks outside the box. If Buddy’s glucose numbers continue to decline, I will take him back and back off on the number of units he is given. Now it is just maintenance and keeping a spreadsheet and monitoring how he is doing.

I suggest reaching out. I think Rick saved Buddy’s life. I took him to the vet in October to have blood work done and he is perfectly healthy!

Let me know if I can be of anymore help.

Good luck on your search and reach out if you have further questions or concerns. It was hard to take the jump and trust someone other than my vet with my dogs nutritional health, but I am so glad that I did.

Lori

[anonymous]

Prescription food/therapeutic diet.

Unless you can afford a veterinary nutritionist and have the time to cook and prepare meals for an hour or two a day.

Add water to all meals.

Honestly, I would go strictly by your veterinarian’s recommendations, I imagine the dog will need frequent lab work. Work closely with your vet.
Best of luck.

PS: re: coconut oil. http://skeptvet.com/Blog/?s=Coconut+oil

Per the search engine here /forums/search/Kidney+failure/

[Paul M]

My dog was recently diagnosed with kidney failure. She is looking great but I am wondering what diet?

I have read lots and gave her chicken and rice today. I also gave her coconut oil as it’s good for kidneys.

Any other advice would be amazing! Shes only 6 and a half so losing her so young would be awful.

The vet said by her levels she should be dead.

[pitlove]

haleycookie-

I’m sure you’ve figured out by now that we are going to ask for links to credible research (published papers, studies, peer reviewed articles etc) when such statements are presented like “kidney disease is on the rise in cats..” “cats dying from kidney failure more than any other illness” “that is because of garbage kibble people are told to buy”. Whats interesting is, you likely can’t produce any of this information because studies done in cats are few and far between. Why do you think we can’t easily diagnose and treat heartworm disease in cats even though some 50% or more of the cat population (indoor and outdoor) are HW+? So I’ll ask you then, where do you get your information from? It doesn’t seem to have any basis besides someones opinion you’ve likely read on facebook etc.

[haleycookie]

Gonna have to argue with you on that anon. Dogs may contribute from some of the heathier more bioavailability grains but cats do not. Cats are obligate carnivores and only need a balanced diet in meat , bones, and organs to live a healthy life. Grains and any plant matter is completely useless for them. I’m tired of brands like science diet saying corn is a healthy source of protein to cats and dogs. Especially cats when it is not. Kidney disease is on the rise in cats by an astronomical amount. With more cats dying from kidney failure then any other type of illness. That is because of this garbage kibble people are told to buy. Science diet does nothing but mask problems and create more problems down the road.
I do however second a dental exam. If he just prefers softer foods though canned or rolls (Freshpet) would be good options as well. Most grain free foods will have a smaller more dense shape so you might have a hard time finding something suitable.

[Lori H]

Hi Deborah,

My dog Buddy has been through a lot, much like your dog. He just turned 10 and during his life he has had surgery on his spleen, surgery for bladder stones, been diagnosed with Diabetes and I was told by my vet that he was suffering from liver failure and was preparing me for the fact that Buddy was going to die. The liver failure diagnosis was 6 months ago and today, he is healthy, happy, looks amazing and has so much energy.

I now believe wholeheartedly that most vets know nothing about nutrition. They are told to carry a line of food in their offices by one of the large pharma/dog food companies because most of these companies go out and recruit at the vet universities across the United States when vets are in school and provide them with a kickback when the sell either Science Diet or Royal Canin in their clinics, up to 40%. Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE my vet, I just don’t believe he knows much of anything about nutrition. He has been great to me, my dog Buddy and my three cats. He is good at what he does, diagnose and perform much needed surgeries and procedures. He did Buddy’s bladder stone surgery which has complications.

I was at my wits end as well and thought that I was going to lose Buddy, but I was not willing to give up so I did a Google search and found an amazing person who brought Buddy back to the healthy dog he is.

Buddy is on a very special diet and he has made huge strides in the last 6+ months. He is a very healthy dog to what he was 6 months ago.

I worked with a man named Rick Scheyer. He has an amazing website http://www.doglivershunt.com He has helped many dogs with liver shunt, kidney disease, bladder stone problems and much, much more become healthy dogs again. I would suggest reaching out to him for a free consultation.

If you choose to go with his program, it is not cheap, but I believe that over time, I will save money by not taking Buddy to the vet time and time again because I don’t know what is wrong and having a battery of tests run and racking up bills in the thousands, I have been there!

He was slowly weened off of his processed food Science Diet U/D and placed on a diet of fresh veggies and meat based on a very slow transition to follow with Rick’s help.

Buddy’s diet is a balance of ¾ veggies to ¼ meats. Dogs with liver issues do not need as much protein as you would expect. He gets lots of yellow veggies (squash, tomatoes, peppers, cucumber, celery, carrots, Brussel sprouts, snap peas, etc.) along with hemp oil and nori blended with goat yogurt into almost a smoothie consistency. I then add meats, liver is great as it helps to detoxify the liver (funny that you feed liver to a dog with liver issuesJ) and then he gets a variety of supplements. He receives three gut supplements in the morning (Acidophilus, Bifudus and a Spectrabiotic) along with an Enzyme and something called Whole Body. In the evenings he gets the Enzyme, Whole Body and a Mushroom supplement. The process to make his food is not that time consuming and if you are at your wits end like I was, I was ready to do anything.

He also gets to have as much goat yogurt as he wants with coconut oil. He also gets sweet potato chews and coconut slices.

He is also allowed to eat fruits, not during his morning and evening meals since they digest differently than veggies, but he has not yet warmed up to them yet. I don’t know if he ever will.

He is doing great! He has so much energy and the numbers don’t lie! I got a glucose meter and I am going to start checking his levels daily. I would really like to get him off the insulin if I can. I believe the medicine is what causes the blindness, not the actual diabetes, my vet believes otherwise.

My vet has not said much of anything. I explained I was taking him off the prescription food and putting him on this program and he never responded. When I took him in the last time for blood work, I think he was surprised Buddy was doing so well, but did not ask me further about what I was doing. He is a pretty straight and narrow vet and I don’t think he looks outside the box. If Buddy’s glucose numbers continue to decline, I will take him back and back off on the number of units he is given. Now it is just maintenance and keeping a spreadsheet and monitoring how he is doing.

I suggest reaching out. I think Rick saved Buddy’s life. I took him to the vet in October to have blood work done and he is perfectly healthy!

Let me know if I can be of anymore help.

Good luck on your search and reach out if you have further questions or concerns. It was hard to take the jump and trust someone other than my vet with my dogs nutritional health, but I am so glad that I did.

Lori