Great info Karla! Thanks so much for looking it up and posting.
The terrible thing about any kind of kidney failure is that once kidney cells are damaged and die, they're gone forever. Other parts of the body like skin, blood, and the liver can regenerate new cells, but not the kidneys. That is why early detection of kidney failure is so important. If you catch it early early enough and are able to stop continuing cell damage, you can manage the condition with dietary changes for years.
Karla is so right about the need to avoid phosphorus in these cases. Calcium supplements can bind to phosphorus and sweep it out of the body. I used plain Tums for my dog who died of kidney failure and it really helped. The downside is that calcium usually runs high in these dogs so adding more may cause more trouble. Talk to your vet about it and about other phosphorus binders that you can you try.
It's very true that the KD diet doesn't provide all the nutrients a dog needs. The same is true for homemade diets. I put on my cheater glasses and spent an hour in front of the vitamin display at the pet store. Managed to find one vitamin supplement for senior dogs that contained no phosphorus. See what you can find and definitely add a daily vitamin to your dog's diet.
Kidney failure isn't particularly painful, but it is extremely miserable due to the nausea and vomiting. I take phenergan for a chronic nausea/ vomiting problem and discovered that dogs can take it as well. It worked wonders in my dog. Initially we used the vet-prescribed Reglan (metoclopromide) and it helped. As her kidneys got worse, she started have very strange reactions to the Reglan. She was noticeably jittery, couldn't sit still, lost her coordination and her eyes were spinning in her head. It took some serious Google tweaking to find a study about Reglan that described these exact symptoms as a result of overdose. It is metabolized in the kidneys, and since her kidneys weren't working, the Reglan built up to toxic levels in her blood. We tried Reglan injections next, and found that bypassing the GI tract allowed it to stop the nausea without causing the extrapyramidal reaction. Weird huh? When the injections stopped working, I tried the phenergan and was amazed at how well it worked, and wished I'd looked it up sooner.
Hang in there. Kidney failure can go either way in a heartbeat. Take your time and read through all the information at this web page about kidney disease in dogs:
http://www.dogaware.com/health/kidney.html
This site turned into my bible when my dog was sick. Please stay in touch and let us know how Chloe does. :-)
Hi Karla
Thank you so much for your recipes. I am so grateful. Chloe and her sister Mercedes are well. But they are sick of the k/d can food.
I will be taking Chloe for a follow up visit in a few weeks.
Sincerely,
Mildred Cox
Kidney Diet Recipes:
Serve food twice daily, and feed at approximately 2% to3% of the dog’s body weight daily in food. For example, a 100 pound dog would get two to three pounds of food (one cup is approximately 8 ounces, or pound). A 50 pound dog would get one to one and a half pounds of food daily. A 25 pound dog would get eight to twelve ounces daily. A ten pound dog would get three to seven ounces daily. Dogs can vary on these amounts, depending on their metabolism and activity levels.
Recipe #1
Mix 1/2 cooked sticky rice (sushi rice) cooked in unsalted butter with 1/2 HIGH fat hamburger or dark meat chicken (lower in phosphorus than white meat). Add two cooked egg whites (no yolk) per cup. You can make as large a batch as needed and freeze for daily portions. Save the egg shells, and add back one teaspoon of egg shell (dry overnight, grind in a coffee bean grinder) per two pounds of food. The egg shell is good for calcium and also acts as a phosphorus binder.
Recipe #2
Cook Malt o Meal and add one tablespoon of unsalted butter per cup. Cool, and add two tablespoons of heavy whipping cream (don’t need to whip it!). You may add a bit of meat (hamburger, ground chicken) and some gravy for flavor. I have also added chicken skin or beef fat for variety.
Recipe #3
Cook sticky rice (sushi rice) and add unsalted butter. Mix at 1/3 sticky rice, to 1/3 boiled sweet potatoes, and add 1/3 either ground pork, lamb or fatty hamburger. Add one egg white per cup. (You can substitute boiled potatoes for sweet potatoes).
Green tripe is also a pretty good food lower in phosphorus than other foods. You can buy this frozen at outlets that sell frozen raw diets for dogs, or buy it in cans called Tripett.
It is also good to occasionally add beef kidney, a bit of liver and egg yolks. While these are high in phosphorus, they do provide needed nutrients. . You can also mix either the rice or the vegetable mix with drained mackerel or salmon for variety and the fish already has bone steamed with it, so it is balanced properly for calcium. Because of the bone, fish is high in phosphorus and so should be used in very limited amounts. Do not feed tuna, as it is high in mercury.
Again, save your eggshells, and dry them overnight. Then grind them in a coffee bean grinder and add to the food served at 1/2 teaspoon per pound.
It is important to select fatty meat. So pork and lamb are also good choices to mix with the rice and they add a nice variety. Fat offers calories for energy and weight gain, and fattier cuts of meat are lower in phosphorus. Do offer a variety to keep your dogÕs interest and appetite hearty. More severe kidney problems can lend to loss of appetite and at these times, offering almost any type of food may be necessary.
Fish or salmon oil (NOT COD LIVER OIL!) needs to be 1,000 mg per ten pounds of body weight to be renal protective. I would also give one milligram of COQ10 daily per pound of body weight. There is good research behind this that shows it can help bring down the creatinine levels.
. I would also include a B vitamin in the dog’s diet, as well as vitamin E. Both of these are helpful for support of the kidneys.
I copied this from one of many kidney diet recipe pages.......I liked this one.....Hope some of this helps......Karla
Hi Karla
Chloe ate grapes that was left on the coffee table last Friday. She was not acting herself and had a fever. She also slept all day Sunday. On Labor Day at 1am I took her to ER. I was told about the grapes being toxic.
I had to leave the hospital without Chloe. Her BUN was double amount and her creatine was 2.4. She was given IV fluids within 3 shifts.
I picked her up at 6am Tues. I took her to her Vet Dr. Her BUN and Creatine came down by 2 points. I was given strict instructions to only give her k/d diet can food and plenty of water.
Vet Dr. wanted to keep her to continue the IV fluids but funds were not available for that.
This morning Chloe is 85% herself. She is eating,drinking and play fighting with her sister, Mercedes, also a chihuahua.
I am suppose to go back on Tuesday for additional bloodwork but I will not be able to go.
The ER was costly and I used all of the carecredit loan.
I wanted to know what other food I can give her?
Sincerely Mildred,
Thank you so much for responding
Hi Mildred & welcome.....Acute Kidney Disease Comes on suddenly and can be reversed with proper teatment...What did your Vet say? What does he think is causing it? There's not enough information here.....
Yes, canned food is the best because of moisture content, but KD does not have the proper nutrition for life....I'm a little confused here.....
Do you know what happened? Usually Antifreeze poisoning is at the top of the list...Actually, it can come from any toxin such as: Food, Chemicals, Medications, Kidney or bladder stones, infections, Grapes, Raisens, Dehydration, etc.
Do any of these things ring a bell? Once you identify the source and take it away, the kidney problem should resolve......
Did your Vet do any further testing to see what might be causing it? Are you feeding a food that has toxins in it? Such as coloring agents, or Chemical preservatives like Ethoxyquin, BHT or BHA? Check the bag of your previous food and look for these chemicals....There HAS to be something causing this...
Chemicals in the yard? Rat Poison? Please, think about this and see if you can think of anything so you can take it out of the picture......Please, let us know....Karla