Quote:
Originally Posted by Myka
Why is it all based on ground beef?
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Unfortunately many of the diets for kidney dogs are. I don't know why either, and really there is no foundation for a beef only diet. Most of the information gatered is rather antiquated and most of them certainly can be improved upon. Years ago of course, it was all we knew, but that was some time ago.
Often you have to understand that kidney dogs are often very nauseated from the high levels of creatine in the blood system, so just getting kidney dogs to eat anything is already a challenge, then, once you get them to eat, you've got to keep it down. No easy task!.
The big deal with kd dogs is phorphorous, salts and sugars or any ingested food that will alter or effect blood density and fluid density which ultimately ask the kidneys to work harder. Many foods contain these un-wanted minerals, (for kidney dogs anyways),. This includes many dairy products and vegetables high in salts or sugars.
Salts increase blood pressure and direly effect the fluid balance in the body and only serve to heighten the kidney problem. Sugars of course push the situation into high blood sugar and there is speculation that many dogs who ingested high amounts of sugars found in the cheapers kibbles were more likely to develop diabetes and renal issues.
You can certainly feed all kinds of meats, braised or raw, organs should be avoided as they are high in phosphorous, and so should fatty fish. These should be given in small or very minimal amounts during the week. (Kidney dogs need 'some" phosphorous after all)... also if the dog is on a phosphate binder, (and it should be), then the ramifications are considerably lessened.
A good rule of thumb is to follow the Kidney foundation guide to foods.
http://www.kidney.org/atoz/atozTopic.cfm?topic=4
General Kidney Nutrition
http://www.kidney.org/atoz/atozItem.cfm?id=95
You'll see that a lot of foods on Pitcarin's recipe are no longer considered very valuable to a canine diet, let alone kidney disease. The dogaware site is excellent, but it to, is very outdated in the diet department. Dogs don't need carbs, so you can toss away the rice if you want to also if you want to. Carbs are very high in sugar and most kidney patients are generally put on a carb counting diet. Carbs should be avoided if at all possible.
I know with kidney dogs it takes a lot of creativity to keep them well fed. It's not easy at all.
PS - we have had tremendous success with aluminium based phosphate binders over the other types.