jaybeece

Oh god no, bring it on Rappie! The more info the better :) I'm definitely of the mind that it's better to know why something is done a certain way than to just follow it blindly. Sags Sunbury is a bit of a hike for me I think, but I'll see what my schedule is looking like closer to the date and see if I can squeeze a trip in :)

Could be worth checking out! I have to concentrate on study for the next couple of months but after that I'll be doing a lot more research into the requirements of bung kidneys :)

Thanks for the info Yonjuro, much appreciated :) might need to start printing out some of this and sticking it on the fridge so I remember to discuss it with the vet

Fair point, I apologise. It frustrates me that vets don't push for a better quality food to cater for such issues. All good mate, I've done my fair share of ranting on the topic :laugh: Under normal circumstances I'd steer clear of anything with this ingredient list, but the evidence for its efficacy is there and all that matters is that my brown doggy stays happy and healthy for as long as possible :)

That's so cute :laugh: I had a flick through last night and a fair bit was really useful, so thanks heaps! I'll have to chat to the vet about where his kidneys are actually at based on his results as the stage of the disease seems to matter a fair bit when it comes to managing it. The vet hasn't made that terribly clear yet and I've based the assumption that it's early still on the only slightly elevated enzyme levels and his predominantly normal behaviour. Might be a convo we have after the next round of tests.

Dave-o while I can't argue with your criticism, your input is not terribly useful because my dog still needs to eat and scientific evidence does suggest that prescription food is the way to go. If I fed him on wishes that commercial food contained less crap he'd be dead within a week and I'm not really keen on that outcome because I've grown somewhat fond of him over the years and would like him around for a few more. There is a time and a place for stating arguments about the content of commercially available pet foods, this is not it. If, on the other hand, you have some advice regarding managing kidney disease I'm all ears.

Hahaha they did an excellent job of sending it off in triplicate :laugh:

Ah great thanks Sheridan, I've been planning to suss out the availability of prescription food outside of the vet and I have a Best Friends really close by. There's another place a suburb over which tends to be much cheaper too so I'll have a look there too. I'm definitely happy to have him on prescription food, but it'd be nice to give him some level of variety along with it if it's for the rest of his life. Will likely be exclusively prescription food though until his next blood & urine test.

Thanks so much Rappie, if you can remember the title or authors of that paper I'll have a look around for it, my uni should have access :)

Cool, I'll keep an eye out for it, thanks again Snook :)

Oh wow, that's super helpful! Thanks so much! I've found some info online, but nothing that comprehensive :) At the moment I'm trawling scientific journals for info about fish oil and beneficial dosages, so very much to learn. I'm sad that whole eggs are out (vet mentioned it too) as they're pretty much his most favourite food ever, but he loves rice, yoghurt and ricotta cheese so at least some of his favourites are still ok.

Hi all, My brown doggy had a blood test before a GA earlier this year and the vet found that he had slightly elevated urea and creatinine so he had to be retested to be sure. He had the follow up blood test on Thursday which showed urea normal, creatinine slightly high. Then the urine test contained normal levels of both, but it was too dilute although not alarmingly so. He's not showing many symptoms, but may be drinking a little more than before and has had some epic licking sessions as well as some pee leaking once. The vet said he'll need to be ok a prescription diet for the next 3 months and be retested to find out if it's helped at all, which I'm fine with, but the ongoing expense of feeding a 36kg dog the prescription food is going to financially destroy me on my tiny student budget! Which leads me to ask, are there alternatives? I've asked the vet and she's adamant that the prescription food is the only way and the only thing he can eat, full stop. I'm dubious, although she may only mean for the 3 months leading up to the next test (I'm going to ask her to clarify this evening). Can anyone who's had experience with this provide some insight? If he needs to be on prescription food for the rest of his life I'll find the money somehow, but I'd really rather try to avoid it as well as find a solution that involves a little more dietary variety! Thanks :)

So sorry for your loss RIP Maisie

I like long names only for the fact that getting the vet receptionist to call it out in the waiting room is kind of hilarious Also, having to talk to the council about animal registration is fun. I've been a bit lazy lately though and only gave them my cat's first name this time around :laugh: There's always next time...

One of my old cats was named "Mr Twinkletoes", I renamed him Basil Fru Fru after adopting him from the shelter :laugh: Mostly an improvement, it definitely suited him better! Same here, but my dog came with a tough dog name and I was too lazy to change it so most people are probably under the impression that he's actually called "Caesar-butIdidn'tnamehimthat" :laugh: Mum calls him Scooby Doo, mostly it's shortened to Cees or Scumbag which is still less embarrassing to yell out. I get a bit bored by generic pet names and am always looking for something a little different, in the past family pets have had themes so we had guinea pigs called Harpo, Chico and Groucho as well as 2 dogs named Basil and Sybil :D I also had fish with names from Monty Python and Red Dwarf (Tarquin Fin Tim Lim Tim Bus Stop Fatang Fatang Ole Biscuit Barrel and Ramses Niblick the Third Whoops Where's My Thribble). Naming pets has to be one of the funnest parts of owning them :laugh: