Hills K/D Prescription Food

Ashbx

Hi everyone,

My 10 year old collie recently had a trip to the vet and we discovered her kidneys are not doing too great at the moment.

The vet has recommended Hills Prescription K/D food. I know that this is not supposed to be a good quality food. If I am paying such a high price for food, I at least want it to be good quality. I bought 2kg just to tide us over for the meantime.

Has anyone been advised to be put on this food? Would anyone have any alternatives for the Hills K/D? Preferably dry food!

Thanks in advance!

tk123

Sorry to hear about your poor girl Do not - I repeat - DO NOT buy that food in bulk as she's likely to reject it pretty soon if she's even eating it now. The same would apply to anything now - they'll become very picky as they feel nauseous. My friend's girl had her heart broken not eating or just going off stuff It's very much trial and error as their appetite changes. If you fancy raw feeding Nutriment do a low purine mix for kidney/pancreas dogs (raw food is not "high protein" btw!).

DBB

Sorry to hear that op... Very worrying when our older pets start to show their age
I think too that most people are agreed that the Hill's and RC prescription foods are good particularly when you have to prioritise health concerns over whether the basic nutrition supplied by the food is the best you can get.
However, if you're very keen to investigate safe alternatives, I think I'd be inclined to get yourself an email or phone consultation with a holistic vet like Tom Farrington... He can design a fresh, raw, or combined diet for you dog that will address the kidney problems whilst also addressing her nutritional needs.

Springwell

There is a RAW kidney safe diet available: Nutriment Low purine and phosphorous formula. I did a bit of a trial and fed the Nutriment for 3 months (supplemented with taurine) to my cat who is in early renal failure and then switched to K/D (which is generally more palatable than the Royal Canin version). I much prefer feeding raw but his bloods improved massively on K/D vs the Nutriment (I take the them myself at home and pop them to the clinic to run so he had monthly draws to keep a good handle on the picture).

To me, his kidney health is more important than my thoughts on cheap fillers and grain in food. He also gained 500g on the K/D (weighed monthly).

tk123

The cat one must be tastier! Even mixed with treats Poppy would spit the Hills out lol!

Ashbx

Thanks for the replies. I have had her on this food for a week and so far she has been fine. She seems to love it actually. I will continue with it for the month until her next check up and see where we are then.

Obviously my dogs health is most important and if it helps her then no doubt i will continue to use it. I just heard awful stories about this brand so wanted to see if there was other alternatives.

boomerang

Depending on the stage of kidney disease, your dog could have Burns Fish and Brown Rice as this is low phosphorus.

I homecooked for my doglet with kidney disease, using the guidelines at http://www.dogaware.com/health/kidney.html.

Sushi rice was a great staple!

Ashbx

Well TK123 you were right.....3 weeks in and nearly just finished the small bag of food I got and we have had vomiting and diarrhoea the last two days! I have been sure to introduce this food very slowly....she's still having 3/4 new food and 1/4 old food three weeks on. I do think its down to the food because in the 3 years I have had her, I think she's only ever had an upset stomach once.

Have a vet appointment this evening (with her kidneys' being a bit dodgy at the moment, last thing I want is for her to be dehydrated). I still would be keen to keep her on this food until her blood test is due (which is in 2 weeks) so we can really see where we are.

But I am going to speak to the vet about other alternatives. I have been really looking into home cooking as boomerang suggested and think this may be the route I will take going forward. Trial and error I suppose!