Special Diet for CKF

[TinasGrandma]

We were just told our 4 1/2 year old shih Tzu grandpuppy has CRF.  We are looking for help with her diet. She is still in the hospital and we are hoping to bring her home either today or tomorrow.  The vet has prescribed Royal Canin (my daughter has the paperwork so I don't know the rest of this food's name) but this morning she refused to eat.  Please, if anyone has suggestions of what type of things she can eat I would really be thankful  We were told she have to keep her protein intake to under 11.  Thanks in advance.  

[TinasGrandma]

I found a store about 12 miles from my home that sells All Natural Frozen Green Tripe. They are a specialty grooming shop and I called just on the chance they might have some. They are holding a 2 lb. package for me. I'm getting on way home from work tonight. Hope she wants to eat some.  Can this be cut into smaller sections so I don't have to thaw it all at once?

I hope it isn't to late. She's only ate a little on Saturday and Sunday. Just has no interest. She likes her water, but I have to force anything else into her and I just hate that.  She's done this before but since she has lost weight it really worries me.

You mentioned an egg, would that be the whole egg or just white? yolk?  

[tonyb286]

Hi. The blood in her stool is almost certainly down to gulping the alternative food from Sam's weight-loss bowl ... because it would have given her some serious stomach upset and potentially excessive protein issues for the gut and kidneys. Hopefully, nothing too serious ... but a lesson learned there I think. BUN is still the biggest problem in her bloods. Fluid therapy remains the most essential part of her treatment, as this will help bring the BUN down. Smaller portions of food more frequently will also help, and it remains crucial to limit the amount of calcium, sodium (salt), phosphorus and poor quality protein. You could also maybe give one egg (cooked or raw) every 3rd day, mixed in with the food. While the egg has protein, the kidneys don't need to work at all to deal with it because of the type of protein it contains. I would also urge you to get/try-to-get all natural frozen blocks of green tripe from a good quality pet store, as this will help her put some weight on without affecting the kidneys.

Tony

[TinasGrandma]

Well Tina's counts are still coming down, little at a time. BUN only dropped from 173 to 172, phosphorus dropped .6 to 15.9, Creatinine dropped .7 to 8.3.  Her weight also dropped 1.5 lbs.  Had a bad week with eating, Someone left Sam's food down which is a weight loss food because he is over weight and she ate all of it. Throw it up the next day (Wednesday) and hasn't wanted much since then. I gotten a little broth down her everyday but I know she needs more. Also she is drinking okay.

Today I noticed there is blood in her stool, I'm sure not a good sign. Daughter will be calling the vet for advice.

[tonyb286]

Great stuff. Yes, it's always worth rotating the foods, because dogs are great at forgetting what they didn't like (purely due to psychological association with feeling sickly). And they can sometimes suddenly woof down things they earlier refused to eat. So, it's trial and error much of the time. Human grade chicken with the fat on is good, but like all things, in moderation because there is still some phosphorus in chicken - and just so you know, dark meat chicken is better than white meat parts.

Tony

[TinasGrandma]

After I posted this yesterday, I went out and looked up peas to make sure they were okay to feed to dogs, especially since Tina seems to love them. I read about the phosphorus in them.  I'm going to hold back on the amount she was getting. I was giving equal parts chicken and peas. Now it will be chicken and green beans (today I'm going to try sweet potatoes also) and if I offer peas, it will be in a very small dose.  Since she seems to be wanting to eat more often, I'm going to try some of the things she refused at the beginning of this roller coaster ride with her.

[tonyb286]

Hi Pat. I would use the frozen peas in small quantities, perhaps only as an encouragement to eat the other k/d foods. Green peas have an amount of phosphorus content, but not as high as some other peas and beans. There is a balance to be made here between eating anything and eating nothing ... the peas may be getting some very useful nutritional content in her, but they are not the ideal food for a CKF dog because of the smaller phosphorus content AND sodium (particularly high in frozen peas), which puts more stress on the kidneys.

Phosphorus comes into the body via the diet and leaves the body via the kidney, only in renal failure phosphorus is not well removed as it is supposed to. Obviously using less phosphorus in the diet may be adequate to keep the blood phosphorus levels normal, thus balancing the intake with the output, but sometimes addition of medication (i.e. a phosphate binder) is needed to further reduce intake. Restricting dietary phosphate has been shown to slow the progression of renal disease.

So, be cautious with the peas - don't make them a major part of the meal or feed too much all at once.

Tony