Dog with kidney disease won't eat. Is chicken broth too high in protein?

Aghh Poor Chico, sorry to hear about his kidney disease. Homemade diets are notoriously difficult to get right as it is never as simple as just working out calories etc. My general advice would be persevere with different renal brands as these will ultimately have a better balance. However, having said that, if you are sure about going down the root of a homemade diet, you sound like you are taking the right approach. For your dog's stage I would worry you are giving too much protein. The essential pointing this diet is to reduce protein and phosphorus whilst maintaining vitamin and mineral balance. Renal foods typically has a dry protein of about 14% so with you feeding wet meat I would reduce it to around a third of the diet then make up the rest with pasta, rice and range of vegetables. The supplements you are adding will be helpful and the phosphorus binder will help greatly.

Renal diets are very effective for cats with kidney disease -by reducing the amount of toxins the kidneys are required to excrete many of the symptoms can be reduced; they are also naturally antiinflammatory and enriched with vitamins etc and are proven both to extend life expectancy and quality of life. The larger proportion of the diet that is made of of kidney food, the more effective it is however calorie intake is very important and tempting or supplementing the diet with easy to digest protein sources such as egg, boiled chicken or fish is ok (for some clinical diets this is not appropriate but for kidney patients it is better than not eating the special diet)

Hello and welcome to Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach. I am sorry about your little girl. Any food is better than no food, so if you can get any food into her, keep going. Low protein diets are best, so see if you can increase the rice portion, and also try to get some fibre (pumpkin/squash) into her. You can talk to your vet about prescription diets, as these are often designed to be yummy, so trial that out. Best of luck with your little girl, I hope she feels better soon!

Hello. With kidney disease, it is important to try to increase fluid intake. If he is not on a canned diet, I would try to transition him to one. Even better, would be a canned kidney diet such as Hill's k/d. Once he is eating the canned food, adding a little water will help, but you do not want to add so much water as to decrease the nutritional density of the food. Rather than broth, you can also try Pedialyte. Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach.

Hello. With a creatinine of 1.7, Chica is classified in early Stage 2 chronic kidney disease according to the International Renal Interest Society ( https://www.iris.com ). We really need more information to proceed with any treatment recommendations. Your veterinarian needs to obtain an SDMA value, a urine protein creatinine (UPC ) ratio & obtain a good blood pressure measurement. If the SDMA, UPC ratio are in the normal range & blood pressures are fine, then I would not recommend making changes to her diet. It would not hurt to start a kidney diet, like one made by Hill's, Royal Canin or Purina, but do not worry about fat levels ( unless Chica is obese ) & low protein ( especially if there is no protein in the urine ). We do not want to restrict protein too early in the disease because we do not want these patients to start losing weight from loss of protein. Once you have all the information, it will be much easier to follow Chica's condition & recommend dietary & other therapeutic remedies. Thanks for using PetCoach.

Thank you for posting this question. Increasing protein won’t necessarily increase weight , increasing calories in general is the goal. If she will eat more of her food you could increase the amount you are feeding. You could try feeding more times a day. You could also visit www.balanceit.com This website can help you design a home cooked diet safe for kidney disease. This could be given in addition to the commercial food you are feeding. Best of luck and thank you for using Pet Coach.

The problem with bouillon cubes is that they are VERY high in sodium. 1 cube has almost the recommended amount of sodium for a human for an entire day! So, I think you are going to have to find another option long term. There are a number of companies that are making "gravies" to put over dog foods. There are also companies that are making "toppers" to add to food. I would recommend going to your local pet food store to see what they carry and trying a couple of options to see what Epic prefers. You may also consider changing foods or adding something like a dehydrated dog food to his diet (like The Honest Kitchen) in case he needs a little variety. Good luck! I hope that was helpful. Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach.