[Sandy C]

Our 13 year old female standard poodle has always been thin between 37-39 lbs. we brought her to the vet for a hot spot this week and when we weighed her she went from 37 lbs in May to 34 lbs mid October and we were shocked. I told my hubby she looked like she was getting thinner. The vet ran blood tests and her creatine was elevated at 1.6 which is slightly over the range and her SDMA was 24 (normal range is 0-14) her BUN is OK and her first morning urine is OK.

She has eaten raw food all her life except for a short period of time where she ate canned. We feed her Stella and Chewys at the present time. She was on Primal but stopped eating it. She has never been a great eater even with the Stella’s and sometime will go a day without eating or only eat 3/4 of her dish. In the last three months it is getting worse.

So, we have two problems- one is getting her numbers down and two putting weight on her. Our vet said to try the Hills KD, Royal Canin. We bought some cans but the ingredients are horrible and I am not even sure if that will put any weight on her if she even eats it. We gave her the Royal Canin T and she barely ate one can and we had to add cooked chicken for her to eat it. That kind of defeats the purpose since chicken is a high source protein.

We are so worried about her!

We cannot cook foods for her as we work so we need a commercial dog food/topper that is low in protein, phosphorus and hopefully high in fat to put some weight on her. She will not eat kibble, because she has had some teeth extracted. I am at the point where we would be willing to try a kibble and maybe soaked it overnight with some low sodium chicken broth?

Any help would be greatly appreciated for our fur baby! We were even wondering if we should get a chest X-ray or abdominal ultrasound to see if anything else is going on?

Thank you!

[Susan]

Hi Sandy,

Sorry about your girl,
I cant really help, have a look at “Just For Dogs” they have Hepatic Support Low Fat: Copper Restricted is formulated to support dogs with liver disease or kidney disease
pre made cooked meals, Wild Caught Cod, Sweet Potato, Long Grain White Rice, Broccoili, Zucchini, Coconut Oil, Sunflower Oil, Icelandic Premium EPA/DHA, Multi-Vitamin & Mineral Blend
https://www.justfoodfordogs.com/vet-support-diet,

One thing that happened with my 13yr old cat who had Kidney Disease, he needed to gain weight BUT the high fat diet was causing vomiting & acid reflux, so vet put him on a acid reducer medication Zantac & a lower fat diet, I had to fed more smaller meals thru the day & vet said add boiled potato or boiled sweet potato to his wet can food to help keep on his weight..
Boiled Sweet Potato pieces freezes really good, I keep in freezer & thaw a few sweet potato pieces some days to add with Patches lunch..
On your days off work, I would make small meals & freeze them & take them out the day before put in fridge…
Have you looked at “Answer Fermantable Raw” instead of Stella & Chewy raw food, you have to make sure foods aren’t high in Toxins Heavy metals..
Answers have a Fermentable Goats milk & REWARDS Raw Goat Cheese Treats, for sick dogs, she might like the goats milk or goats cheese & organic blueberries treats…

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[anonymous]

“Any help would be greatly appreciated for our fur baby! We were even wondering if we should get a chest X-ray or abdominal ultrasound to see if anything else is going on?”

Please direct your question to the veterinarian that is treating her.
Lot’s of misinformation on the internet.
I would stick with the prescription food. Nothing wrong with the ingredients.

More Nonsense from Holistic Vets about Commercial Therapeutic Diets

[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.

[Robert R]

My 14 year old toy poodle has kidney problems and I’ve been feeding her My Perfect Pet low phosphorus frozen dog food and Rayne CKD low phosphorus canned dog food. These are helping because her test numbers are much better now.

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