My dog is on VetriScience Renal Essentials, why is he urinating more?

I wouldn’t have concerns about giving the Vetri-Science supplement along with enalapril and pimobendan, but it would be a good idea to check in with your vet first, particularly to see if a potassium has been checked recently. I am not familiar with the other supplement but do recommend the Vetri-Science. There is some evidence that a restricted protein diet can help with proteinuria so this may be worth discussing with your vet as well.

The prescription diets are formulated to treat for specific disease processes or conditions in pets. They are prescription only because they are not indicated for healthy pets with no issues and therefore need to be regulated, hence the prescription requirement. There isn’t just one specific ingredient in the food that makes it a prescription food per-say. The urinary diets are formulated with added salt, so this is what is causing the increase drinking and urination that your are seeing. This is done on purpose to help dilute the urine so that crystals don’t form. Most pets have to stay on this food lifelong because they are more susceptible to forming crystals and stones. I hope this information was helpful to you. Take care.

More information would be required in order to help assess Max's case such as his signs and symptoms (including any blood in stool), any change in thirst/appetite and body weight as well whether the bloods were taken fasting more than 12 hours or after feeding. Ipakitine is a phosphate binder and is used to protect the kidney from high blood phosphate levels and monitoring of this would be important.

Thank you for submitting your question regarding Buddy. Cosequin and Duralactin are typically safe supplements. It is unusual though for a male dog to have recurrent urinary tract infections. He should have a sterile urine sample submitted for a urine culture after finishing his most recent round of antibiotics. This will ensure the infection has actually resolved. X-rays of his belly are useful to look for bladder stones as these can predispose a dog to infections. I hope this information helps!

I do not know much about Kidney Support Gold but what I typically use in my renal failure cases is the following: 1. Prescription renal support food such as Hills K/D 2. Azodyl capsules 3. Rehmannia 8 liquid supplement 4. Renal K+ if potassium is low 5. ACE inhibitor such as the Benazecare that you are giving 6. Standard Process Renal Support for dogs 7. Subcutaneous fluids several times per week to help with hydration 8. Hyperbaric chamber therapy My last case of renal failure (also had cancer) lived 20 months past the expected prognosis of 6 months. This dog also was undergoing chemotherapy but I do believe all of the above helped improve his prognosis significantly. I would discuss these options with your veterinarian as well. I hope this helps! Please let me know if you have any other questions or concerns and I would be more than happy to help you further.

I recommend to call the makers of the renal support. They will be able to give you the best information about any potential overdose issues. Depending on the amount of potassium potentially in the supplement, this could create too much potassium in your dog’s system and this could be detrimental to his heart (and even fatal). The pet poison control hotline may also be another good resource. Start making your phone calls quickly so that vomiting can be induced if needed. I hope this helps and that your pup does well.

Walking often will help Luna urinate more frequently. Increase water intake by using wet food or water added to dry food, using a pet fountain, playing outside in a sprinkler, etc. Urinary diets are good for increasing urination as well. If you think Luna is uncomfortable urinating, talk to your vet about a prescription anti-inflammatory to help with discomfort. Unfortunately, human supplements like cranberry juice don't seem to help much in dogs.