xyzed Posted April 11, 2012 Share Posted April 11, 2012 Hi All, I've spent hours searching already but didn't really find a solution - so please don't shoot me if it's been done to death already :) During some dental work today the blood results came back that my 8 (nearly 9) yr old Border Collie is getting pretty close to chronic renal failure. Being near borderline diet just might save him, or at least get a few more years out of him had it not been noticed until it was too far gone. So my question is what dry food is out there that's low in Phosphorus, Calcium and Salt (salt levels were sky high). The only 1 I know off with minimal of the above is Hills k/d, however I'm not the biggest fan of Hills. I was tempted to switch to Artemis Weight Management (he was near 30kg when we got him 9 months ago, he's now around 20kg - so almost right) as salt, protein and fat I liked, but Phosphorus and Calcium are in the average range. He was on Nutro Lite to lose the weight and on Black Hawk of late. Any suggestions/advice would be highly appreciated. Cheers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nekhbet Posted April 12, 2012 Share Posted April 12, 2012 with dogs like yours you should follow your vets recommendations. Taking advice off a dog forum when we are not medical professionals or know what levels your dog actually needs may prove extremely detrimental or even fatal. If you want something apart from Hills I suggest you have your vet send your dogs medical results to Dr Bruce Syme and see what he recommends as a diet http://www.vanahc.com.au Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jumabaar Posted April 12, 2012 Share Posted April 12, 2012 I would go with the Hills Diet. I don't think its worth experimenting with other diets if you have a real chance of managing it with diet at this point. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yellowgirl Posted May 19, 2012 Share Posted May 19, 2012 (edited) Sorry to hear about your Border Collie, xyzed I can relate, my 11 year old Chinese Crested was diagnosed with kidney disease last year. I'm not a fan of Science Diet either. What works for my little girl is the Tucker Time roll and Nutro Lite dry. Both are low in fat, phosphorus and salt. She also has a sprinkling of calcium powder on her food twice a day. I can't say that this would be the right thing for your boy, but for my Pepper it's working beautifully. Also, we only use preservative-free food here, including treats. No Schmakos, Good-Os or anything like that. You're welcome to PM me if you like :) eta - you don't want a food low in phosphorus AND calcium, low phosphorus yes, but the ratio of calcium needs to be higher than the phosphorus Edited May 19, 2012 by yellowgirl Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
karly101 Posted May 19, 2012 Share Posted May 19, 2012 I know people aren't fans of hills but seriously their prescription diets work and are backed by research - in both cats and dogs it extended their life span, so much so for cats that they didn't finish the trial as it was cruel for the non prescription diet group to not get something that made such a big difference. I've seen it in my friends dog as well. He was on k/d and then u/d and I believe it did really help him. Other options are Royal canin as they also do a renal diet and I believe Eukunuba does too now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sheridan Posted May 20, 2012 Share Posted May 20, 2012 Do not mess with renal failure. Use a kidney failure specific diet. Do not send off results to anyone other than a canine kidney specialist. Your dog is likely to stop eating sooner rather than later. Do you really want to start experimenting? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jumabaar Posted May 20, 2012 Share Posted May 20, 2012 Do not mess with renal failure. Use a kidney failure specific diet. Do not send off results to anyone other than a canine kidney specialist. Your dog is likely to stop eating sooner rather than later. Do you really want to start experimenting? I really do agree with this. Diet early can make your dog much more comfortable- stuff up the diet and it all becomes much harder to control. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RubyBlue Posted May 20, 2012 Share Posted May 20, 2012 I've seen it in my friends dog as well. He was on k/d and then u/d and I believe it did really help him. Yep - we got 18months out of him. The thing about chronic renal failure is that you know how it is going to end and in my own opinion worrying about whether the food is corn, wheat, meatbased or whatever no longer matters as much as evidence of whether it works to slow down the progression of the disease or not. One of the things I read about was the benefits of fish oil in slowing down the disease, k/d had lots of added fish oil whereas u/d did not. Im not sure about the other kidney diet brands - but something worth thinking about when you are looking into them. I also remember reading something about blood tests and kidney disease and that a fairly large amount (2/3 to 3/4 is sticking in my mind but off hand Im not 100% sure what it is) of kidney function is lost before it can be picked up in a blood test. If it was my dog Id take "borderline" with a pinch of salt and start being proactive about taking the load of the kidneys asap. Good luck. Its not the nicest disease to manage but if your dog is like mine then he will still get a lot of quality time with you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sheridan Posted May 22, 2012 Share Posted May 22, 2012 Around 85% of kidney function is lost before symptoms show. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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