High grade commercial dog food low in phosphorous?

[Raellen]

My dog (stage 3) is a finicky eater and I had to mix the KD diet (wet or dry) with some of the regular dog food diet to entice her to eat. Has anybody recently researched and identified higher grade commercial dog food that are relatively low in phosphorous. A lot of information I find online tended to either have lower level brand or not recent enough. I am avoiding cooking for her right now because I tried that for a while but then she became disinterested at all in her KD-diet and would "wait for something better". Thanks in advance!

[tonyb286]

Hi. Probiotics and the good bacteria in them can be beneficial, although they have to be the right type to have any chance of surviving through the intestines. Calcium is quite a different matter ... there is a biological relationship between calcium and phosphorus, which means calcium can either be a good or very bad supplement, depending entirely on current blood test results. I would not advise using any kind of calcium unless the blood results suggest it is safe to do so.

Tony

[tonyb286]

Hi. The standard high-grade canned dog foods are Royal Canin Veterinary Diet Renal and Hills kd. There is also a Purina variety, but I can't recommend Purina as a company.

Dry renal dog food products should not be used, particularly for kidney failure dogs. Here's why (this is my own article about it):

http://www.infobarrel.com/Why_Dry_Dog_Food_Is_Bad_For_Dogs

If your dog starts to refuse the food, it may be indicative of several possible things:

Nausea. A dog suffering from toxin build-up will feel nauseous and needs medication to help ease this discomfort. There are several possible remedies, but I have found Mirtazipine is the best to try first (needs a vet to prescribe it).

Psychological Inappetence. This occurs because when a dog feels nauseous, they then associate foods with the nausea (even though it isn't the food that's causing it). To offset this, owners can try duping their dogs with a topping on the food that is tasty and appetising. This might include a teaspoon of organic natural honey, organic unflavoured yoghurt, pure coconut oil or even a very small amount of cottage cheese.

Toxin Build-Up Cycle. When dogs are fed a large amount of food all at once, even though they may eat it heartilly, they will often feel nauseous the next day and refuse food again. The remedy to this is to feed smaller meals more often. So, this may mean little more than a tablespoon of food for a small dog, but this can be fed every 2 hours (if practical to do so). Feeding smaller amounts more often relieves stress on the kidneys and causes less toxin build-up - and it usually helps dogs feel happy to eat the next day.

Finally, the kidney disease causes many blood values to become abnormal. One of the most important is phosphorus, as high levels cause a rapid deterioration of the illness and it also makes dogs feel lousy. So, dealing with high phosphorus (and controlling it in the diet) is a priority. I advise starting a phosphate binder early - and as soon as phosphorus levels in the blood test results are at the upper end of normal or into the start of the abnormal range. My recommendation is aluminium hydroxide gel powder, which can be sprinkled on food. Most phosphate binders need to be given with food so they can act on the phosphorus content of food being given.

Hope some of this helps.

Tony

[Raellen]

Thanks Tony! How about probiotics? Is that recommended? Also I heard calcium is good and can act as a phosphate binder, but not sure if you recommend a specific brand or just do eggshells. I will ask my vet about the phosphate level at her next blood test (next week).