Homecooked for Kidney Disease/ Failure

[mummummum]

This recipe is from Dr. Pitcairn's Complete Guide to Natural Health for Dogs and Cats:

1/2 cup (1/4 lb.) regualr-fat hamburger
1 egg
2 tbl cold-pressed safflowetr, soy or corn oil
600 mg.'s calcium
1/8 tsp iodized salt
2 tbls parlsey, finely grated carrot or other veggie
1/2 -1 clove garlic minced

Dog Viatmins: (as recommended on label for a medium sized dog) 20 mg.-level B complex, 5,000 IU vitamins A, 1, 000 mg. Vitamin C (or 1/4 tsp sodium ascorbate)

Mix all ingredients and serve raw if dog will accept it. Otherwise, mix all but the vitamins and bakke in a moderate oven for 20 minutes and cool, then mix in vitamins. Be sure to provide plently of filtered water ayt all times.

Yield: Generally feed as much as your dog will eat but as a guideline this recipe should feed a 10 lb toy for 3 days or a 40 lb dog for a day. By tripling it you can feed a 60 lb dog for 3 days.
Note: If your dog isn't eating well, forcefeed vitamins separately.usinbg these daily levels: toys/ small dogs 10 mg Vit B complex & 250 mg C; medium sized dog per the recipe/ large and giant dogs 50 mg B complex and 2000 mg Vit C.

[CENTER]__________________________________________[/CENTER

This Kidney Healing recipe is from Rudy Edalati's Barker's Grub

1 cup (8 oz) ground beef
2 tbsp olive oil
2 cups cooked white rice
1/ cup beef broth (1 1/2cups cubed or ground beef , 2 1/2 cups water, boil ground for 30 minutes, cubed for 45 min's, strain meat and reserve for another receipe)

Brown beef in oil over low heat until cooked through,combine beef, broth and rice (should be soupy) and cool

You can substitute ground chicken or turkey for beef in same proportions just be certain to use chicken broth for chicken and turkey broth for turkey.

[Kelly C]

This site had good info on a kidney diet.
www.dogaware.com/kidney.html

Kelly

[Myka]

Why is it all based on ground beef?

[Kelly C]

I couldn't find a ready made recipe that I liked so I used the info off that dogaware site & made my own. Because my dog was loosing protien I went with their idea that reducing protien wasn't necessarily helpful. Sometimes this was the only thing my dog would eat.

1 1/2 cups cooked rice (I used jasmine)
1 cup cooked chicken leg meat & skin chopped
1/4 cup of chopped frozen veg (peas, carrot, broccoli, snow peas, cauliflower)
1 egg
2 omega 3,6 & 9 capsuls broken
1-2 Tbsp chicken fat & juice

Mix the egg into hot rice, & add fat/juice, veg, chicken & the omega capsuls.
Serve slightly warm. This lasted me 2-3 meals.

I supplemented with a couple of pieces of raw stew beef, a bit of active yogert, a few bits of regular dry dog food and occasionally a few dried cranberries throughout the day.

When he was really sick I was happy to get anything at all into him, & let him eat beef, chicken or turkey pie cooked from frozen. He especially like the turkey pie with the stuffing on top.

Kelly

[loopoo]

chicken turkey beef or leanpork can be used in those recipes... most are checking out phosphorus levels when they are feeding animals with crf

fish and dairy are some the higher level phosphorus foods that are best to stay away from, unless of course the animal isnt eating, then whatever they will eat is good, and many use phosphorus binders with those or other foods to help with the levels.

[MerlinsHope]

Originally Posted by Myka

Why is it all based on ground beef?

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.

[MerlinsHope]

1/4 cup of chopped frozen veg (peas, carrot, broccoli, snow peas, cauliflower)

Just so that you know, cells in all vegetable matter is covered by a think layer of cellulose. This cellulose must be crushed open during the eating process in order for the nutrients in the vegetables to be available for digestion. This is called bio-availablity. The nutrients in vegetable matter are not bio-available to our dogs because they don't have the flat molar teeth that plant eating animals do.

Unless you actually 'juice', these vegetables, they do absolutely, positively nothing for your dog. In fact, you are throwing your money out the window entirely.

Just so you know.
Best
Merlin

[dbg10]

I found a recipe online from Dr Donald Strombeck's book "Home-prepared Dog and Cat Diets, The Healthful Alternative" when I was looking for a recipe for my ESS who has kidney failure. This recipe was in the section on Chronic Renal Failure and is for dogs:

Chicken and Potato diet (low protein low phosphorus, high potassium, low sodium)

1/4 cup cooked chicken breast
3 cups potato, boiled with skin
2 tablespoons chicken fat
1 1/2 calcium carbonate tablets (600 milligrams calcium)
1/2 multiple vitamin-mineral tablet

Provides 689 kilocalories, 18.9 grams protein, 26.8 grams fat.
Supports caloric needs of a 21-22 pound dog
Provides phosphorus at 45 percent, potassium at 301 percent, sodium at 54
percent of a dog's daily needs. To feed this diet with a normal amount of
phosphorus, substitute 4 bonemeal tablets for the 1 1/2 calcium carbonate
tablets.

The important thing to remember when choosing a diet for your dog is to check with your Veterinarian to make sure the diet contains all ingredients needed to keep your dog healthy.

If you are trying to find a diet for a dog with kidney disease on the Internet, please remember that dogs are NOT people so recommendations for diets for HUMANS with Kidney Disease will not give you the correct information for ANIMALS with Kidney Disease. Yes it will give you basic information about what foods should be restricted in Kidney Disease and information about the different nutrient contents of specific food but diet recommendations will be for humans, NOT animals.

Dogs do NOT require carbohydrates in their diets, BUT you do NOT want to feed your dog a diet that is high in protein if the dog has Kidney Disease. If you feed a dog a diet that is primarily meat, or meat and vegetables, with little or no starch or carbohydrates, then the diet will be very high in both protein and phosphorus. Carbohydrates need to added to the dogs diet to reduce the total amount of protein and phosphorus they get in a day. Rice, potato, and pasta are all recommended to be included in a kidney diet for dogs to reduce the amount and concentration of protein in their daily diet.

They have found over the years that Protein does NOT need to be severely restricted in the EARLY STAGES of Kidney disease. However, a diet that is primarily Meat, is high in protein, too high for a dog with Kidney Disease. Dogs do need protein to keep them healthy, but adding starch (carbohydrates) will keep them healthy while helping treat their Kidney Disease.

Vitamins should also be added for a balanced Kidney Disease diet. However the fat soluble Vitamins A and D should not be supplemented because they can build up in the dog's body when the kidneys are not working correctly and cause health problems.

The following site has up-to-date excellent infomation on Kidney Disease in Dogs:

Diet & Supplements for Dogs with Kidney Disease

I hope this helps someone looking for information on Kidney Disease in Dogs

[sugarcatmom]

Originally Posted by dbg10

Rice, potato, and pasta are all recommended to be included in a kidney diet for a dog or cat to reduce the amount and concentration of protein in their daily diet.

Just need to correct this. Cats should not be eating rice or potato or pasta, whether they have kidney disease or not. Cats are obligate carnivores and need protein. If they don't get enough protein, they will catabolize their own muscle tissue.

[TokyoParrot]

Responding to a super old thread, but thought I would respond anyway.

Originally Posted by Myka

Why is it all based on ground beef?

The argument is that (1) beef has less phosphorous than chicken and (2) beef has more calories than chicken, and for most dogs in this condition, it's very difficult to get them to take in enough calories.

Useful link:
http://www.dogaware.com/health/kidneydiet.html

I myself am new to the world of renal failure (my 16-yr-old was DX'ed just yesterday) but this was an interesting tidbit I had found.

[Maggies Mom]

Our Maggie Moo recently had gone into kidney failure and the poor thing suffered for several weeks before it was diagnosed. It just wasn't on the vet radar because her kidney values had been checked not too long ago. Fortunately, she responded very well to three days of fluids in the hospital and is getting S/Q daily at home until her next recheck Friday.

We already practically cooked for her because she was so fussy that we always had to doctor up her previous prescription kibble so that she would eat. We learned the things that she loves and the things that she likes. I have found the dogaware.com site one of the most valuable out of the hundreds I have been to searching for information on what she needs now.

Maggie is not any where near hunger strike mode now, but what I made her tonight she absolutely loved. Since she is eating, my big concern is to keep her phosphorous in check. She is approximately 60 pounds so based on keeping her phosphorous intake at 15 to possibly 20 mg per pound, I made the following today and it has been her absolute favorite. I figured she could have about the equivalent of 3/8 cup of cooked ground beef per day as long as the rest of the food didn't go overboard on phosphorous.

Ground beef cooked with parsley
pureed carrot and a bit of broccoli
cut fideo (she always loved pasta)

I put a little bit of butter on the fideo before mixing it in and added some of the pasta water to the ground beef pan and then mixed everything together. She absolutely loved this meal, which is a good thing because I prepared enough to feed her for the next 3 days. Prior to this recipe I was having to put concentrated chicken broth into anything she ate, which was concerning because of the sodium.

[MingsMom]

I have noticed several mentions on her about dogs with nausea and poor appetite as an effect of kidney disease. My Doberman was experiencing this shortly after her diagnosis of protein losing nephropathy. Her doctor at Texas A&M School Of Veterinary Medicine told me to give her one 10mg famotidine (Pepcid AC) with each of her meals. In the days after she came home from A&M after her kidney biopsy, she would not eat a thing, regardless of what I offered or cooked for her. Within 30 minutes of my giving her the 10mg tablet, her ravenous appetite returned and she has not refused a meal in more than two years. I still give her one with her morning meal and one with her evening meal. She started out with a UPC of 30.6! It is now down to 1.7 and maybe will be even lower at her next check-up. She also takes 1 20mg Enalapril, 1/4 of a baby aspirin, 1 omega/fatty acid Snip Tip capsule, and the 10mg famotidine in the morning, and 1/2 20mg Enalapril and another 10mg famotidine in the evening. She has been on Royal Canin Renal MP, but I am now making her food, working from various recipes. She has incredible energy; swims, does agility and obedience, and retrieves duck decoys (she watched the retrievers doing this at the dog park and decided this was for her, too).

[Barkingdog]

Originally Posted by MerlinsHope

Just so that you know, cells in all vegetable matter is covered by a think layer of cellulose. This cellulose must be crushed open during the eating process in order for the nutrients in the vegetables to be available for digestion. This is called bio-availablity. The nutrients in vegetable matter are not bio-available to our dogs because they don't have the flat molar teeth that plant eating animals do.

Unless you actually 'juice', these vegetables, they do absolutely, positively nothing for your dog. In fact, you are throwing your money out the window entirely.

Just so you know.
Best
Merlin

Dogs have small small digestive system too and will poop the veggies right out unless they're juiced or cut into to very tiny pieces . The carrots could steamed until very soft that mash up .

[im_nomad]

My dog's on a low protein diet right now, has been for years but now even more so. The older she gets, the more trouble I have keeping weight on her, and also with age, I've had to put her on a mostly dry food diet because the wet food has been messing with her stomach, and coincidentally more messes for me to clean. I'm a vegetarian, so I don't keep meat in the house, therefore go the canned or dry route with supplements.

But I do wish there was a high-calorie, low protein "senior" food available ready made. They all seem to be geared towards roly poly older dogs. Mines a bony-butt, always has been. She's 12 pounds and poops like a labrador retriever though

I supplement her food though with pureed pumpkin (of late, made from organic local pumpkin from my CSA), home made peanut butter for pills, fish oil and some cranberry powder from time to time. I find treats to be more of an issue than food, and ESPECIALLY chewies.