I saw on one of the pet food rating sites that this is a poorly rated food. I would like to switch him to something similar that is a better quality food. (he's now a seinor) and his blood work came back with elevated things liver/kidney - so the vet reccomended Hills g/d.....

What would you all reccomend?
Thanks (and Kirby thanks you too!)
K

I saw on one of the pet food rating sites that this is a poorly rated food. I would like to switch him to something similar that is a better quality food. (he's now a seinor) and his blood work came back with elevated things liver/kidney - so the vet reccomended Hills g/d.....

What would you all reccomend?
Thanks (and Kirby thanks you too!)
KI'm sorry to read about Kirby's elevated kidney and liver numbers. Can you post the numbers?

The Hills prescription Veterinary formulas all have specific purposes, and are often best viewed as medication rather than food. g/d is low sodium and low protein (although many kidney patients can handle protein just fine, in some cases it does need to be reduced.) Most commercial foods are pretty high in sodium, so it's difficult to suggest an alternative. Are you willing to try a home-prepared diet?

The vet didn't tell me what the exact levels were. I can call and ask her.

I would happily move to the home-prepared diet, but my husband (who does all the actual feeding) has refused to do that. I have begged him to reconsider, but I think he's sticking to his guns.

Thanks,
K

Creatinine and BUN are the most important factors in blood work and KF. Phosphorous is also important.

Checking urine regularly for specific gravity is important too.

With KF a low phosphorous food is important.

I have been thru this. I fed Royal Canine Maxi Mature 26. It does have corn in it but it was the only decent quality food I could find with low enough phosphorous. I also added good quality cooked chop meat, 1/2 cup per meal, to the kibble. Low protein in KF is no longer recommended.

Supplemented with fish oil, Co-Q10, and stayed away from any high phosphorous treats.

Use to feed the water from steamed veggies - found out it was loaded with phosphorous when my dog was diagnosed so that came to a stop.

Milk thistle and SAMe are good natural supp. for liver problems.

There is good info at www.dogaware.com (http://www.dogaware.com/) on KF and liver for supplemention.

Do yourself a favor and get copies of blood work from the vet for your own file.

My girl lived comfortable for 1 1/2 years with KF till age 16 with no outward signs. She was monitored thru blood work every 3 months or so.

My angel, Sam, lived to be 16 1/2 and he had chronic kidney failure for over three years. I gave the supplements Patti mentioned on my vet's advice (pretty cool for a vet to recommend the Omega 3's, huh?) and after his BUN and Creatinine got higher we added a phosphorous binder, high blood pressure medicine (kidney failure usually goes hand in hand with high blood pressure) and Calcitriol (which can halt the progression of the disease). There are a lot of websites that have lots of good information about kidney failure:

http://courses.vetmed.wsu.edu/vm552/urogenital/crf.htm

http://www.dogaware.com/kidney.html

There is also a Yahoo group for dogs with kidney disease: k9kidneys
It is very helpful.

Good luck!!

My angel, Sam, lived to be 16 1/2 and he had chronic kidney failure for over three years. I gave the supplements Patti mentioned on my vet's advice (pretty cool for a vet to recommend the Omega 3's, huh?) and after his BUN and Creatinine got higher we added a phosphorous binder, high blood pressure medicine (kidney failure usually goes hand in hand with high blood pressure) and Calcitriol (which can halt the progression of the disease). There are a lot of websites that have lots of good information about kidney failure:

http://courses.vetmed.wsu.edu/vm552/urogenital/crf.htm

http://www.dogaware.com/kidney.html

There is also a Yahoo group for dogs with kidney disease: k9kidneys
It is very helpful.

Good luck!!

Forgot about that. Its been a while. Anyway I gave crushed egg shells as a binder in every meal as instructed by Mary Straus at dogaware.com

IMO Science Diet is a great food. Both my pets are Science Diet freaks! A vet would not recommend it if they thought it was junk. Never heard of a vet recommend Meow Mix or Kibbles and Bits have you? I would say trust your vet...that's why they have the DVM degree. But if you don't feel comfortable with it, I'm sure there are natural remedies. Good luck.

IMO Science Diet is a great food. Both my pets are Science Diet freaks! A vet would not recommend it if they thought it was junk. Never heard of a vet recommend Meow Mix or Kibbles and Bits have you? I would say trust your vet...that's why they have the DVM degree. But if you don't feel comfortable with it, I'm sure there are natural remedies. Good luck.

That's only because they don't sell Meow Mix or Kibbles and Bits out of their offices for profit.

Read the ingredients label on your bag of Science Diet - then look at some other foods like Wellness, Innova, Orijen... The difference is obvious, Science Diet has almost no meat in it - and many many fillers.

That's only because they don't sell Meow Mix or Kibbles and Bits out of their offices for profit.

Read the ingredients label on your bag of Science Diet - then look at some other foods like Wellness, Innova, Orijen... The difference is obvious, Science Diet has almost no meat in it - and many many fillers.
While I am no fan of Science Diet foods, I grow weary of reading the oft-repeated claim that any vet who recomends it does so only for profit. While likely true in some cases, such a sweeping statement is certainly not accurate on the whole.

My vet, who is nothing short of extraordinary and who has significant nutritional education, also recomends SD and sells their prescription and speciality formulas. To suggest that she and everyone like her are simply profit whores risking the health of her patients for money is really quite ridiculous.

There are dog food ratings that rate SD and other such foods very low, but lists that also rate them very highly. The majority of lab breeders in my area, many of whom are highly regarded and who repeatdely produce champion dogs, recomend Eukanuba and SD large breed formulas over any other, and none recieve any compensation for their recomendations. Disagree with these people's opinions by all means, but, please, stop suggesting that anyone who disagrees with this site's conventional wisdom is simply a profit whore.

Kelly

The Hills prescription Veterinary formulas all have specific purposes, and are often best viewed as medication rather than food.

I think this is the best explanation I have heard for Science Diet. Honestly, I think the ingredients of the food is crap, but it DOES have it's merrit when given for an ailment as a "medication". And then again, we always have to preface any food statements with "all dogs do differently on different foods". If you have a dog that does well on it and it fits your budget, fine. If your vet recommends it for a health reason, fine. But be smart, read labels and be aware that there are MANY MANY MANY other foods out there that are nutrionally better and made of better ingredients.

I think this is the best explanation I have heard for Science Diet. Honestly, I think the ingredients of the food is crap, but it DOES have it's merrit when given for an ailment as a "medication". And then again, we always have to preface any food statements with "all dogs do differently on different foods". If you have a dog that does well on it and it fits your budget, fine. If your vet recommends it for a health reason, fine. But be smart, read labels and be aware that there are MANY MANY MANY other foods out there that are nutrionally better and made of better ingredients.

I agree wholeheartedly...

I was responding to the person that thought Science Diet was a great food not to the OP with a specific health problem. And I stand behind my statement - Science Diet has a great Marketing Scheme they market to vets, they pay for veterinary school's "nutrional education" and they charge far more money than their ingredients are worth. Sure not all vets are in it for the money - but they've had it drilled into their heads throughout vet school by science diet reps that it is what they should reccommend.

The ingredients speak for themselves...

Profit is not a dirty word (and very glad nobody said 'kickbacks').

My dog was diagnosed with early signs of kidney disease during her 1st annual checkup. (note to ALL - spend the money for the full blood pannel, otherwise we wouldn't have caught it). So we have been dealing with a special diet during the past 2 years and hope to keep managing the problem for the next 10 years. The Science Diet dry foods will help get the BUN and creatinine levels to better levels. There are plenty of alternatives that may be better, but the dry food will work.

We use a traditional vet, but I also have frequent conversations with a holistic vet. The short version of our diet is 2 cans Royal Canin Renal LP and 2 cans of no salt green beans per day. Also lots of other veggies depending on what we're cooking (green pepper, squash, zuchinni, broccoli) We also supplement with omegas. Both vets think this is a good approach, but we also spend about $120 per month on food. Longer description is based on an inflammation free diet and focus on foods to help promote kidney function. We have a book that lists almost every food. Lots of veggies and surprisingly, not many fruits. It also has many similarities to the diets that DogtorJ post about on the board.

Both my pugs have bad food allergies and they were put on Science Diet z/d and they have done a lot better. However, I do know the ingredients isn't the best. I'm actually going to try switching them to Canidae ALS and so how they do. Maybe it's not the best food, but it really has been helping my dogs.

I saw on one of the pet food rating sites that this is a poorly rated food. I would like to switch him to something similar that is a better quality food. (he's now a seinor) and his blood work came back with elevated things liver/kidney - so the vet reccomended Hills g/d.....

What would you all reccomend?
Thanks (and Kirby thanks you too!)
K


Innova Senior canned dog food looks good. Maybe it would be right for Kirby.

Protein 4.4 %

Calcium 0.14 %

Phosphorous 0.14

Sodium 0.08 %

Potassium 0.16 %

first 5 ingredients: Turkey (human-grade, free of hormones, antibiotics and pesticides) Turkey broth, chicken broth, chicken,brown rice

http://www.innovapet.com/products/default.asp?panel=na&id=501

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compare to Hill's g/d® Canine canned
Nutrient

Protein 4.0 min

Calcium 0.10 min
Phosphorus 0.11
Sodium 0.06
Potassium 0.21

ingredients:Water, Corn Flour, Pork Liver, Rice Flour, Beef By-Products,

http://www.prescriptiondiet.com/zSkin_2/products/product_details.jsp?PRODUCT%3C%3Eprd_id=8455244417 60530&FOLDER%3C%3Efolder_id=2534374302037389&bmUID=1187104928787