Kidney Problems In Greyhound (HELP)

Hi folks need your help please. A friend of mine with a 5-6year old
greyhound was just told that his dog has early stage kidney disease
and must start using low-protein food. It appears that most
commercial foods have a protein content of, at minimum, 15% I need
recommendations from the readership.

Thanks much in advance

Don't know which country you live in.... but in the US, there are
several companies that make a low protein kidney diet. Most vets carry
one prescription brand in stock. If the vet says the dog may have a
food higher in protein than a prescription diet, the upper limit of
protein content should be specified. If the vet does not stock one of
these prescription foods, and other nearby vets may, s/he can write your
friend a prescription to buy them at the other clinics.

There is at least one veterinary nutritionist on the web who will design
a homemade diet, for a fee. These specialists.... who have a veterinary
medicine degree AND a PhD in animal nutrition, are also at most vet
schools, and your friend's vet can give a referal to one of these. Most
vet clinics also keep a book/notebook of proven recipes for medically
indicated homemade diets.

There is much more to a renal/kidney diet than just a lowered protein
level. Potassium and phosphorus need to be controlled, as well, for
instance.

Jo

"George" wrote in message
0.224...
Hi folks need your help please. A friend of mine with a 5-6year old
greyhound was just told that his dog has early stage kidney disease
and must start using low-protein food. It appears that most
commercial foods have a protein content of, at minimum, 15% I need
recommendations from the readership.


............what tests did they do to determine this? Should have been 12
hour fasting bloodwork plus 1st catch AM urine at the very least. You
cannot diagnose kidney disease without blood work AND urinalysis. What were
the numbers and normal ranges on the test results? What does the dog
normally eat? And if your friend is in a tick area, was the dog tested for
tick bourne diseases?

Two of the very best groups WRT kidney issues. Have your friend sign up and
FIRST do some reading.
http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/K9KIDNEYS/
http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/K9KidneyDiet/

buglady
take out the dog before replying

On 8/19/2011 5:37 PM, buglady wrote:
wrote in message
0.224...
Hi folks need your help please. A friend of mine with a 5-6year old
greyhound was just told that his dog has early stage kidney disease
and must start using low-protein food. It appears that most
commercial foods have a protein content of, at minimum, 15% I need
recommendations from the readership.

...........what tests did they do to determine this? Should have been 12
hour fasting bloodwork plus 1st catch AM urine at the very least. You
cannot diagnose kidney disease without blood work AND urinalysis. What were
the numbers and normal ranges on the test results? What does the dog
normally eat? And if your friend is in a tick area, was the dog tested for
tick bourne diseases?

Good questions.


Two of the very best groups WRT kidney issues. Have your friend sign up and
FIRST do some reading.
http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/K9KIDNEYS/
http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/K9KidneyDiet/

buglady
take out the dog before replying

I don't know if those groups are raw friendly but many dogs with this
problem do well switching to a species appropriate raw diet. Many feel
that kibble in general cause kidney problems and there are valid reasons
to back that up.

Char

On 19 Aug 2011 00:07:24 GMT, George wrote:

Hi folks need your help please. A friend of mine with a 5-6year old
greyhound was just told that his dog has early stage kidney disease
and must start using low-protein food. It appears that most
commercial foods have a protein content of, at minimum, 15% I need
recommendations from the readership.

Thanks much in advance

I haven't dealt with kidney disease in any of my greyhounds (and there
have been many, as we do greyhound rescue), but one of my Siberian
huskies had renal failure. I would suggest that your friend do some
online research and join the yahoo group K9Kidneys - the people on
that group can be a little overbearing in that they want to see the
dog's lab values, etc., but there is a lot of information in their
files about diets, both commercial and homemade. Phosphorus content
is actually more important than strict protein percentage, if I
remember correctly. I can't offer any advice on commercial foods
because I used homemade diets for my Siberian and currently we feed
all raw food.

"sighthounds & siberians" wrote in message
...
I would suggest that your friend do some
online research and join the yahoo group K9Kidneys - the people on
that group can be a little overbearing in that they want to see the
dog's lab values, etc.,

...........I'm not on that list, but the numbers are important! Especially
if they're (BUN and creatinine) are only slightly elevated and the dog was
NOT on a fast!

buglady
take out the dog before replying

To all. First let me apologize for this delayed response. Have been
out of town. To help with some questions, yes I live in the Southeast
US, specifics of my friends dog kidney diagnosis are unavailable as I
did not speak with the Vet. Her challenge has been to find a
commercial low-protein food other than the costly prescription
options offered by the Vet (Science Diet, Royal Canin, etc.) Any
alternative recommendations would be helpful.

Just trying to help a friend

George

"George" wrote in message
0.224...
To all. First let me apologize for this delayed response. Have been
out of town. To help with some questions, yes I live in the Southeast
US, specifics of my friends dog kidney diagnosis are unavailable as I
did not speak with the Vet. Her challenge has been to find a
commercial low-protein food other than the costly prescription
options offered by the Vet (Science Diet, Royal Canin, etc.) Any
alternative recommendations would be helpful.


..................George, in your first post you said the dog has early stage
kidney disease. Depending on the numbers (yes, they're important!),
DECREASED PROTEIN may not be necessary. It is imperative for you to forward
the kidney Yahoo group sites to your friend. It is essential to know how
they reached the diagnosis. Lowering protein at the drop of a hat is a bad
idea, it's the phosphorus that's important. Your friend must educate
him-herself to help the dog. Period.

buglady
take out the dog before replying

On Sun, 21 Aug 2011 07:51:14 -0400, "buglady"
wrote:


"sighthounds & siberians" wrote in message
.. .
I would suggest that your friend do some
online research and join the yahoo group K9Kidneys - the people on
that group can be a little overbearing in that they want to see the
dog's lab values, etc.,

..........I'm not on that list, but the numbers are important! Especially
if they're (BUN and creatinine) are only slightly elevated and the dog was
NOT on a fast!

I'm not saying the numbers aren't important; I know they are.
However, when I was on the list I was looking for dietary advice and
ideas, or more accurately for sample diets. I didn't need someone to
tell me what the lab results meant or what my vet should be doing. I
understand that some people are looking for that type of advice, and
that's fine. What I objected to was that they were reluctant to give
access to the diet files until you'd posted your dog's lab results and
they'd opined on them.

buglady
take out the dog before replying

Originally Posted by Jo Wolf

Don't know which country you live in.... but in the US, there are
several companies that make a low protein kidney diet. Most vets carry
one prescription brand in stock. If the vet says the dog may have a
food higher in protein than a prescription diet, the upper limit of
protein content should be specified. If the vet does not stock one of
these prescription foods, and other nearby vets may, s/he can write your
friend a prescription to buy them at the other clinics.

There is at least one veterinary nutritionist on the web who will design
a homemade diet, for a fee. These specialists.... who have a veterinary
medicine degree AND a PhD in animal nutrition, are also at most vet
schools, and your friend's vet can give a referal to one of these. Most
vet clinics also keep a book/notebook of proven recipes for medically
indicated homemade diets.

There is much more to a renal/kidney diet than just a lowered protein
level. Potassium and phosphorus need to be controlled, as well, for
instance.

Jo

I think they're food for dogs with low protein content. What did your vet say about it? Your dog needs lots of water with its condition.