[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?

[Susan]

Hi Jason,
best to email the pet food companies to get the Phosphorus max % & any other information you need….
Did you look at Hills I/d Low Fat, Rice, Veggetable & Chicken Stew
5.5 oz (156 g) can

Nutrient
Dry Matter
%
Protein
23.7
Fat
9.5
Crude Fiber
3.3
Carbohydrate / NFE
57.7
Calcium
0.89
Phosphorous
0.61
Sodium
0.42
Potassium
1.06
Magnesium
0.091
Total Omega-3 FA
1.32

Or there’s the Hills I/d Low Fat Loaf Style bigger
13 oz (370 g) can
Nutrient
Dry Matter
%
Protein
24.5
Fat
8.3
Crude Fiber
2.7
Carbohydrate / NFE
58.9
Calcium
0.76
Phosphorous
0.53
Sodium
0.44
Potassium
0.90
Magnesium
0.081
Vitamin C
133 ppm
Vitamin E
722 IU/kg
Total Omega-3 FA
0.66

There’s the Hills K/d Chicken & Vegetable stew but the fat is higher at 24%,
the Hills I/d Low Fat Stew fat is heaps lower at 9.5%max & with your dog having gastro problems she might need a lower fat diet?

Go onto the Hills Prescription Diet site & look thru all their wet can stews or Loaf style meals, my dog & cat love the Hills I/d Chicken & Vegetable Stew small can the fat is higher at 14.9% Phosphorous -0.81%

Or contact a Dog Nutritionist & have a cooked diet made up, go on Facebook look for Monica Segals f/b group called “K-9 Kitchen” join then post a post asking for a low Phosphorous diet for early stages Kidney & Gastro problems, Monica might post one of her homemade diets… also there’s “Dr Judy Morgan DVM” f/b page she answers msg.

[anonymous]

@ Jason O

I hope that you will consider continuing to work closely with your vet regarding your dog’s diet.

Kidney disease is a serious illness and requires the expertise of a veterinary health professional for treatment and management.

You can presoak the kibble in water overnight in the fridg, ask your vet about adding a spoonful of plain chicken broth to meals?

Nausea is a common symptom of kidney disease.

PS: Be careful. Don’t fall down the homeopathic rabbit hole.
Science based veterinary medicine is best.
Hope this helps http://skeptvet.com/Blog/?s=kidney+disease

[Bobby dog]

Hi Jason:
I recently went through the same situation you are going through. I tried all the Rx kibble and canned k/d foods. At first he would eat them, then after a few meals would stop. Adding additional toppings is something you must be careful with because you can quickly unbalance a diet which can be detrimental to his health.

I also tried homemade with the guidance of a Vet nutritionist, he didn’t care for my cooking…

What I ended up doing was working with my Vet to find OTC recipes of canned and kibble that were a close match to the Rx food phosphorous %’s as I could get. If we couldn’t get the info we requested from a company, we did not consider them for a second. I recommend contacting any company you consider feeding for accurate numbers rather than trusting the info they have posted on their sites are up to date.

There were also times throughout his illness when he needed anti nausea meds, another thing to keep in mind.

The OTC foods worked beautifully, he ate like a champ and was comfortable until his final days. What I found are the larger pet food companies made recipes that were more suitable for his condition; some were even a pretty close match. I gladly fed recipes that I wouldn’t have normally fed because he was finally eating on a regular basis!

Another option is to try other Rx k/d diets such as Purina or Royal Canin.

If homemade is an option the Vet nutritionists at BalanceIT will formulate a diet for the specific needs of your dog with your Vet. There is a fee for the consultation, after that you have a recipe and what is needed to balance it. The foods used to make their recipes are easily found at your local grocery store. I currently use a product from their OTC line to make a few homemade meals for my dog throughout the week. He loves my cooking! Check them out:
https://secure.balanceit.com/

[Jason O]

Thank you all for your replies. Our dog doesn’t have full blown kidney disease, her numbers are just elevated a bit. We had an ultrasound taken of her a few years ago and the tech said her intestines have difficulty pushing food through. That combined with her elevated numbers led the vet to suggest a K/D diet.

She just won’t eat any of the Hills K/D anymore, although we haven’t tried ALL of the different flavors. She likes the K/D kibble, but she has a tough time digesting it. When we water it down, she has no interest in it. She’s really finicky and we may end up having to cycle foods every two days or something.

She really likes nabbing our bigger dogs food, which is Natural Balance Sweet Potato Venison. I tried feeding her the wet version and she took a few bites and that was it. The numbers looked okay, although protein was a bit down.
Crude Protein 20.0% Min.
Crude Fat 10.0% Min.
Crude Fiber 5.0% Max.
Moisture 10.0% Max.
Calcium 0.8% Min.
Phosphorus 0.6% Min.
Omega-6 Fatty Acids* 1.5% Min.
Omega-3 Fatty Acids* 0.5% Min

My second attempt was Hill’s Adult Light With Liver. She ate a larger portion of that last night, and this morning she chowed it and wanted more.
Protein 23.9
Fat 9.0
Crude Fiber 13.0
Carbohydrate / NFE 48.4
Calcium 0.74
Phosphorous 0.61
Sodium 0.32
Potassium 0.96
Magnesium 0.141
Vitamin C 105 ppm
Vitamin E 903 IU/kg
Total Omega-3 FA 0.39
Total Omega-6 FA 3.67

We have a vet appointment either tonight or tomorrow to re-up her prescriptions and discuss the diet issues. I have a feeling the vet will say “if she’s eating, pooping, and drinking just roll with it”.

[Bobby dog]

That’s great you caught it early, sounds like your on top of it!

If your Vet recommends it, and you are able to, maybe give the other Science Diet Rx k/d recipes a try. You never know what will appeal to our finicky eaters.

Science Diet OTC recipes were the ones I had the most luck feeding. I found quite a few that were close to the protein, fat, P, and Na %’s recommended for his condition.

Hill’s Adult Light w/liver is one of the toppers I regularly feed my dog now, he loves it.

SD’s site is also very easy to navigate, they appear to keep it up to date, and they respond to inquiries in a timely manner. It’s also handy that they have the %’s converted to DMB already.

Good luck with your pup! 🙂

[CJ B]

I am going through the same thing and reached out to several dog food manufacturers to get details on their phosphorous levels. I opted to go with Weruva canned food. David Forman, david@weruva.com, head of Weruva was very helpful. I learned that keeping phosphorous in check means ensuring no bone matter in food. I was also using the Weruva dry kibble, but have now changed over to Honest Kitchen and add Weruva canned at nite time. Good luck.

[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.

[Robert R]

My toy poodle has developed incipient kidney disease. As a retired physicist I have the time and the ability to do research. I’ve found that My Perfect Pet low phosphorus frozen food is the best food available commercially. You should also check the web site DogAware.com for some good information about low phosphorus foods.

Hills k/d dry food and Royal Canin Veterinary Diet renal support dry food are both poor foods judging from the ingredients list. My vet prescribed Royal Canin for my dog and I refused to feed it to my dog. Hills k/d canned food appears much better from the list of ingredients and is much lower in phosphorus than Royal Canin Veterinary Diet Renal Support canned food.

Mixing Hills k/d dry food soaked in sodium-free chicken broth and letting it sit overnight in the fridge might help make the food more compatible and easier to digest.

Good luck.

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