# Chronic Kidney Disease - Any "real world" experience with any of these diet formulations?



## SoCalEngr (Apr 11, 2020)

Our Kona was diagnosed with renal dysplasia, and we recently had a consult to discuss both her current condition and changes we can make to her diet to help her live-her-best-life.

At this point, the veterinary consult diagnosed Kona with Chronic Kidney Disease - Stage 1 (CKD-1). However, they consider this a fairly mild case (i.e., Stage 1-of-4), determined in part by her blood work, and also by the fact that there are no proteins in her urine.

To ease-the-load on her kidneys, they are recommending a lower-phosphorus diet, but are not recommending we cut down on protein (what appears to have been a "go to" about 10+ years ago for dogs diagnosed with CKD). They are also not recommending a prescription-based diet, as their position is "Kona doesn't need it right now, may never need it, and this leaves prescription diets as an option in the event her CKD worsens". Overall, this seems like a reasonable approach.

While I intend to do my own Google-Fu on these foods, does anyone have any real-world experience with these formulations? It's always good to have some empirical data to back up all of the Internet blargh. - Grazi!

*Additional Note*: The "_Eukanuba Senior Large Breed_" is what we're currently feeding Kona, which is simply a transitional food we moved her onto once she'd been diagnosed with kidney dysplasia and until we could determine a longer-term solution. So, any of the listed formulations will have lower levels of phosphorus (which currently is the main consideration) than she's currently getting.


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## Ffcmm (May 4, 2016)

Bumping up!


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## bigblackdog (Jun 14, 2013)

Take a look at Wellness Chicken and Oatmeal. I found that food one of the lowest in phosphorus of all the commercial foods. My dog did well on it for the last couple of years when her kidneys were not working as well.


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## DblTrblGolden2 (Aug 22, 2018)

One of my Goldens had kidney disease and lived a long time on the Purina Pro Plan RX kidney food. I can’t remember the exact abbreviation for it. We repeated blood work every six months and she improved after going on the food. She didn’t have symptoms after going on the diet. She died of old age at almost 13. She was probably on it for 4-5 years. My info may be outdated a bit, this was about 12 years ago.


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## aesthetic (Apr 23, 2015)

My friend ended up going with home-cooked for her CKD dog - except he was stage 3-4/4 and a 13 year old shih tzu at time of diagnosis. He lived another 1.5-2 years and thrived (way past what he was expected to live).

I’ve heard that rx kidney diets are not very palatable and my friend had a hard time getting her dog to eat it (and he’s never been a picky dog!!), which is why she started home-cooking. 

Generally you’re looking for something specifically low in phosphorus and that can be hard to find in OTC diets.


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## MintChip (Feb 26, 2021)

SoCalEngr said:


> Our Kona was diagnosed with renal dysplasia, and we recently had a consult to discuss both her current condition and changes we can make to her diet to help her live-her-best-life.
> 
> At this point, the veterinary consult diagnosed Kona with Chronic Kidney Disease - Stage 1 (CKD-1). However, they consider this a fairly mild case (i.e., Stage 1-of-4), determined in part by her blood work, and also by the fact that there are no proteins in her urine.
> 
> ...


Praying your Kona pulls through! Do you mind me askinf what you fed her prior to prescription food? I have been reading up on kidney ailments and it seems cats also suffer from kidney disease more often. One user commented that the diet needs to be more fat-less protein. I don't know how valid this claim is.


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## SoCalEngr (Apr 11, 2020)

MintChip said:


> Praying your Kona pulls through! Do you mind me askinf what you fed her prior to prescription food? I have been reading up on kidney ailments and it seems cats also suffer from kidney disease more often. One user commented that the diet needs to be more fat-less protein. I don't know how valid this claim is.


Thank you. So far, she's doing fine.

Just to clarify, she is not on prescription food. We had a consult with a veterinary nutritionist (and, internist) from Ohio State, and the general agreement is that her condition is not severe enough to warrant prescription food.

Up 'till fairly recently, we fed Kona Eukanuba Large Breed Puppy (Chicken). We had switched to Eukanuba Large Breed (Chicken), but switched to a senior diet (less calories) when she was diagnosed.

There used to be an automatic "less protein" reaction to kidney disease, but that seems to have changed over the past decade. The first focus is "less phosphorus", and then "easier digestible protein". Based on my Google-Fu, the issue with protein is the by-products generated breaking that protein down so the body can use it. More readily digested proteins result in less waste/by-products. Apparently, one of the "best" pure proteins is egg whites (cooked, I believe).

Based on feedback from this thread, and on recommendations from the veterinary consult, we will be deciding on which over-the-counter (i.e., non-prescription) food we will be switching to. I'll post the results of my evaluation of possible foods, along with my rationale for the one we (I) choose.


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## Megora (Jun 7, 2010)

Just curious.... why not just keep her on the Eukanuba since she's doing good on the food? 

We fed our boy RC prescription kibble - but he was living on basically 1/2 a kidney by that point.


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## SoCalEngr (Apr 11, 2020)

Megora said:


> Just curious.... why not just keep her on the Eukanuba since she's doing good on the food?


The short version is that we're looking to lower Kona's SDMA levels, and both Kona's veterinarian and the veterinarians at Ohio State believe that lowering her intake of phosphorus is "Step #1". So, we're looking at some options that will accomplish that and, hopefully, "ease any load" on Kona's kidneys.


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## Ffcmm (May 4, 2016)

maybe you can try a raw diet or home cooked working alongside a holistic vet? My brother’s golden lowered his SDMA via raw food. Even when he was on prescription kidney kibbles, he still had alleviated SDMA levels. worth exploring. Chihuahuas are pretty prone to kidney disease and I have a few friends that controlled their dogs kidney issues with home cooked food. One dog went from needing weekly sub q fluid injections to being stable enough with the diet change to stop them! Fresh food, be it raw or cooked has the added benefit of all that moisture as well which is beneficial for dogs with kidney issues. There are a ton of Facebook groups and online resources that are very helpful.


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