Food ideas for dog with early kidney disease

[wishnwell]

So I just got the blood work back from the vet for my 11 y.o. English Springer Spaniel named Cooper. Took him in for weight loss and hyper begging, dumpster diving, food stealing etc. I mean its through the roof. So I was thinking Hyper-thyroid issues…but no, beginning stages of kidney problems. So I still have a urine sample to drop off but he did say we will most likely be looking into prescription dog food like Hill’s K/D ( which my cat is on too ).
So doing a brief search it appears that I MAY be able to keep him off the Hill’s? It seems that I’m mostly looking for lower protein, lower phosphorus levels? Anyone have ideas on keeping him on a quality food that can help him out? I’d also like something that I can feed to my 3 y.o. Corgi.

Thanks!

[wendy]

you’ll probably have to home-cook or buy a raw diet. You need a restricted phosphorus diet with high-quality protein sources.
I know a number of people with dogs in renal failure who feed a raw “kidney diet” like the one below, and their dogs seem to thrive:

http://www.aplaceforpaws.com/shop/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=1_4&products_id=243

here is some info and recipes for home-prepared diets:

http://www.b-naturals.com/newsletter/kidney-diet/

[Aussie_Dog]

You should sign up to the yahoo group, K9Kidneys, as they have a plethora of information there.

Innova Senior is a good low-protein, low-phosphorus food. I ended up feeding Hills K/D kibble, and supplementing it with the canned Innova Senior (because, quite frankly, Hills is terrible food. It has the percentages you want, but not the quality ingredients). My Jake is now in the mid stages of Lymphoma, so we’ve ditched the Hills and just feed him the Innova Senior canned. It’s not longer important for him to have the absolute best food (for kidney function, anyway). 2nd best will do, especially canned (since cancer cells feed off of carbs, which kibble is something like 80% of). I tried a can of the Hills K/D, but never again. Seriously, that was the grossest thing I’ve ever seen. It was just jelly glob. Right now it’s just a matter of keeping him happy and comfortable. The lymphoma will kill him faster than his failing kidneys will (if we were to feed him all the bad stuff for his kidneys). So, yeah.

Seriously, check out K9Kidneys at yahoo. You have to fill out an application, and they like for you to post your dog’s bloodwork (so they can better help you with any questions you may have), but it did help me a fair amount when I was swimming in a sea of confusion after Jake’s diagnosis.

[wishnwell]

Thank you!
I’ve been considering a raw diet, but the work have always thrown me off. I did get some good info. but I will continue to do my homework through that site.
I like my vet but our only holistic vet has left the area so I’m looking at options other than K/D.
I have my cat on K/D and I tried the raw with him but he wanted nothing to do with it…
My dog would love it on the other hand!

[MunchingonHay]

Kidneys also need either a yin diet or a yang diet, one is hot and the other is cool. A holistic vet or someone more educated than me should be able to fill in the blanks.

the yin/yang hot/cool diets are protein based.