Ok, I just picked up my dog today who has been in the vet's since Monday, and was diagnosed with bad kidneys. I was told that he will have to be on this special diet for the rest of his life, so they sent me home with this Hill's Prescription Diet K/d food, that is only sold at the vet's office for a whopping $60 a bag (40lb). I used to feed him Authority which was only $24, so this is quite a major gap in pricing. Also, the cans of wet food are sold for $1.75 a can. OUCH! I was wondering if anyone knew of any other brand of dog food that had the same kind of special diet plan for kidneys.
Hill's Prescription Diet K/D substitute?
- Thread starter chewysmom
- Start date
- Status
NWpuppy
Boxer Pal
From what the K/D is made of it doesn't seem like it would be too hard to purchase a suppliment with those minerals and vitamins in it that you could add to your regular food. Did the vet say that the kidney problems were most likely stemming from your baby's diet? My neighbor just purchased the b/d and I noticed that all they added were well known antioxidants from fruits and veggies. I would just look up what foods are good for healing and keeping kidneys healthy and introduce more of them into the diet.
Cami
Boxer Insane
I spent 4 years with a cat that had chronic renal failure and have LOADS of information and experience in this department.
The K/D is a low protien food. With renal problems the protein in the food is one of the "bad" culprits. The best case scenerio is to locate a food (and there are many) that have GOOD proteins in them. I am not trying to worry you but this is a chronic illness that can and probably will lead to many other health issues. They are managable but require much diligence and yes it can be costly.
I started my girl out on the K/D, per the vets instructions. Being that cats differ in the protein deptarment and they require a much higher amount than dogs I don't know if this will factor in to your dog or not. She was on this for about 8 months. She sufferred from a severe amount of muscle wasting, due to the lowered amount of protein in her diet. She also never really liked the food and I decided to start doing some research and actually joined a group online for chronic renal failure in cats and I know that there is one reguarding dogs as well that you might look into.
I decided to start her on other brands of food that were healthier than what I had always feed her and it was also better quality than the K/D. One of the most important things is to make sure that they continue eating. With renal problems the waste of the body is not able to be filtered out correctly and it builds up in the system and causes acid reflux, ulcers, stomach upset and anorexia. This is helped by pepcid (speak to vet about doseages). This might be a good time to consider home cooking (barf) for your dog as it will be the best way for you to monitor what goes in. And it will be pure quality proteins.
There is so much that I would like to tell you and if you are interested you can PM me. I have notebooks full of information on tests that should be run and what the results mean. Granted they are for a different species but will help guide you all the same.
Getting this diagnosis is a scary thing. But there is SO much that you can do to help your dog live a full productive life.
Susi & Cami
The K/D is a low protien food. With renal problems the protein in the food is one of the "bad" culprits. The best case scenerio is to locate a food (and there are many) that have GOOD proteins in them. I am not trying to worry you but this is a chronic illness that can and probably will lead to many other health issues. They are managable but require much diligence and yes it can be costly.
I started my girl out on the K/D, per the vets instructions. Being that cats differ in the protein deptarment and they require a much higher amount than dogs I don't know if this will factor in to your dog or not. She was on this for about 8 months. She sufferred from a severe amount of muscle wasting, due to the lowered amount of protein in her diet. She also never really liked the food and I decided to start doing some research and actually joined a group online for chronic renal failure in cats and I know that there is one reguarding dogs as well that you might look into.
I decided to start her on other brands of food that were healthier than what I had always feed her and it was also better quality than the K/D. One of the most important things is to make sure that they continue eating. With renal problems the waste of the body is not able to be filtered out correctly and it builds up in the system and causes acid reflux, ulcers, stomach upset and anorexia. This is helped by pepcid (speak to vet about doseages). This might be a good time to consider home cooking (barf) for your dog as it will be the best way for you to monitor what goes in. And it will be pure quality proteins.
There is so much that I would like to tell you and if you are interested you can PM me. I have notebooks full of information on tests that should be run and what the results mean. Granted they are for a different species but will help guide you all the same.
Getting this diagnosis is a scary thing. But there is SO much that you can do to help your dog live a full productive life.
Susi & Cami
Poetic_thing
Boxer Insane
I found a lot of info on the net on both (raw and low protein). My vet who had a dog with CRF was on low protein and got a solid 2 years for her. My Dakota used to get sick when she ate meat, so she was on Hills K/D for a while but I then decided went to home cooking as she was not liking the K/D. I was making lots of carbs, veggies and fruit and protein. My girl got 16 months before she lost her battle. Good luck!
- Status