Looking For A Dry Food

[whitka]

I have a friend who has dog with liver shunt so she's after a good quality dry food she can give to her dog. She's currently giving it some vet prescribed food but its really expensive.

[JulesP]

I have a dog with liver shunts and have not found a food that compares to the vet prescribed food. Which is a problem as my dog is refusing to eat it at the moment!!

[Guest hankodie]

Hey Whitka, Hills l/d is basically the only food in Australia available for dogs with liver shunts. I think you can feed k/d as well as it has basically the same ingredients/protein content.

One of my dogs also has liver shunts and I feed her homemade diet but I would highly advise against feeding any homemade diet without proper guidance from a vet/specialist who has lots of knowledge on the issue (as the dog can miss out on vital nutrients if not fed properly).

Good luck to your friend's dog :)

[whitka]

Thanks guys i'll let my friend know.

[White Shepherd mom]

If the vet food is very expensive, could your friend feed less but bulk up the meal with some brown rice and veggies (if okeyed with the vet of course)?

[whitka]

I just suggested for her to go back and speak with the vet about what the dog can eat

[Her Majesty Dogmad]

I imagine your friend's dog may have Inflammatory Bowel Disease and is on Ultra ZD?

My old Italian Greyhound had IBD for the 9 yrs I owned him, it was very difficult to feed him.

There was only one other brand of biscuits for this disease (with protein removed) and they stopped making it.

Occasionally I would try my Iggy on the odd bowl of another very expensive biscuit made with fish, can't remember the brand but I didn't do it very often as his health was very precarious.

Some foods can be bought online, maybe even Ultra ZD these days but it wouldn't be all that common.

[JulesP]

I just suggested for her to go back and speak with the vet about what the dog can eat

A lot depends on how bad the dog is. If the dog isn't showing really bad symptoms then a homemade diet may be possible.

[sandgrubber]

In my kennel management days, one of the Australian vets we worked with said cooked rice + small amounts of meat and supplements could be prepared as a substitute for Hills. If you do some vet shopping you should be able to come up with a vet who can provide recipes for an equivalent diet . . . maybe even one that the dog likes.

[twodoggies2001]

Can your friend consult with a holistic vet? It's certainly worth a try. I had a mini several years ago that had a shunt but he was operated on to fix the problem. Even though, he was still fed a low protein diet and it was homemade. I'm sorry, I can't recall exactly what he was actually fed, but I do remember chicken, low fat cottage cheese and egg. He also absolutely hated the Science Diet.