Kidney disease dog food

Corine

I have a nine year old springer who is currently in the latter stages of kidney disease. He has been on Hills K/D dry and wet food for the last 8 weeks approx. Over the weekend he vomited and lost his appetite and blood tests showed his urea and creatinine were very high. He's just back from the vet where he was on fluids for 24 hours in an effort to flush out his kidneys but his blood levels didn't show a great reduction. He was also given something to boost his appetite. He's also just started some tablets for the kidney disease, it was being controlled with diet previously. He's in good form otherwise, keen to go for walks etc.

He currently eating and looking for food. He was never overly keen on the K/D diet though. Vet says if he wont eat the special diet the decline will be quicker.

Does anyone have suggestions as to how to encourage him to keep his appetite up and eat the K/D food? Or how to keep him comfortable for the moment?

tk123

My friend's dog had kidney disease and was the same with loss of appetite. She'd take something for a few days then go off and she's have to try something else. One thing she did eat a few times was 'turkey cake' I made for her - so like a liver cake recipe but with turkey mince instead of liver. I didn't use exact measurements but it's usually

1 tray of turkey mince
1 egg
1 grated apple
Few of spoons of peanut butter
Some coconut flour to bind it

Spread it out on some parchment and bake at 180 until it sets

Statesbound

Maybe try the same food in a different brand? "Royal canin renal" would be used for the same disease and is a high quality food like the hills brand. Just remember to feed small amounts at first to avoid an upset tummy.

tk123

My friend's dog wouldn't eat the renal food of a sudden and would spit it out of you managed to trick her by mixing it with treats. You're kind of stuck between a rock and a hard place because if you stick with the renal food trying to slow the decline and he's not eating it he'll get weak and have muscle wastage and will decline anyways. There's lots of recipes for home cooked meals online tailored for kidney patients that he might find more appealing?

aonb

My elderly dog had liver and kidney issues OP, and hated any of the renal tinned foods (tried Hills and RC) so we did lots of research and found bits and pieces online to tempt him with. My attitude was if hes going to die from the kidney disease anyway, he might as well have food that will give him a bit of pleasure (he was food obsessed!) and if it shortens his life a bit, then whattheheck - it helped me to have something to give him that he would eat, and he enjoyed his meals more...

This was one of the low protein recipes my old guy used to eat:

1/4 pound ground beef (do not use lean)
2 cups cooked white rice (no salt)
1 hard cooked egg, peeled and chopped.
3 slices white bread, crumbled.
1 teaspoon calcium carbonate (blend a bottle of calcium carbonate in the blender until it's a powder then keep in a resealable plastic bag)

From: Homemade Dog Food Recipes (Low Protein) | Restless Chipotle
https://www.restlesschipotle.com/homemade-dog-food-recipes-for-senior-dogs-low-prot..

some interesting reading here:

http://dogaware.com/health/kidneysamplediet.html

and on supplements on here:

http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/kristina-johansen/diet-for-dogs-with-kidney-disease_b_9186728.html