Diet

Dog Kidney Diet Information and Recipes

Diet is your number one priority. You will need to feed your dog a high-quality protein, low phosphorus, highly nutritious whole food diet that avoids processed ingredients and any hard-to-accept, synthetic vitamins and minerals.

Diet is by far one of the most important factors in your dog’s health. At Five Leaf Pet Botanicals in the course of over 21 years, we have had thousands of dogs on our canine kidney health program and we have noticed the best improvements with the following diets.

PLEASE NOTE. WE DO NOT RECOMMEND ANY COMMERCIALLY PREPARED FOOD EVEN IF IT’S FORMULATED FOR KIDNEY SUPPORT. These foods are processed and refined and generally made from poor-quality ingredients. They do not contain the nutrition your dog’s body requires.

We do not sell dog food either, we recommend preparing your dog’s meals yourself from fresh whole foods at home. For convenience, all recipes can be made in large batches and frozen in meal-sized portions to avoid having to cook or prepare meals from scratch each day. Try to use Organic ingredients whenever possible.

We start off by ensuring the recipes include a source of high-quality protein. Dogs are omnivores by nature but lean more toward the carnivore side. All dogs require a reasonable amount of protein along with other nutrients for tissue, cells, muscles, and organs to function and repair.

Not all proteins are created equally. There are high-quality proteins and lower-quality proteins. This means some are digested and broken down more efficiently within the body than others. The waste product from protein digestion is Nitrogen waste. In a healthy animal, the kidneys are responsible for removing this waste product of digestion. When kidney function is reduced, the ability to remove this waste product efficiently diminishes and it builds up in the bloodstream. It is measured as the Blood Urea Nitrogen or BUN.

The higher the quality of protein the less nitrogen is left behind when it is digested. Eggs and Raw Meat are the two highest-quality proteins for dogs. This means a dog with reduced kidney function can eat a larger quantity of high-quality protein than it can of a lower-quality protein without as much waste being left behind for the kidneys to eliminate. It’s similar to gasoline for your car’s engine. If you use high-grade gasoline it burns more efficiently, gives you more mileage and it leaves less gunk and build-up in your car’s engine and filters than regular gas would.

Many neglect this and stick with the usual prescribed low-protein diets and end up watching their dog’s condition continue to deteriorate.

Research done by Kenneth C. Bovee, DVM, MMedSc, “Mythology of Protein Restriction for Dogs with Reduced Renal Function”, and Delmar R. Finco, DVM, Ph.D., “Effects of Dietary Protein Intake on Renal Functions”, show that low protein diets do not extend the life of dogs with renal disease. The predominant effect of the low protein diet is to minimize the production of uremic toxins so that the patient feels better. This means that if you choose a high-quality protein that leaves less waste you can actually feed your dog more protein.

Now don’t worry about feeding raw right away, we know some people are afraid at first but we have a way to get you started, and remember a home-cooked meal is still many times better than any commercially available processed pet food. In addition to the raw recipe we have included two cooked recipes that many dogs have done very well with. If your dog will accept the raw meat recipe this is definitely our first choice. It is excellent for diabetic dogs too. Remember that dogs’ bodies are designed to utilize raw food. If they were left to their own devices they would not be lighting a campfire and cooking their prey before eating it. Dogs have very acidic saliva and stomach acid and are not susceptible to infection from the same types of bacteria found in raw meat that can make humans sick. Dogs are exposed to E-Coli with their daily grooming habits alone (licking their anus). As unpleasant as it is, many dogs also eat their own or other dog’s faeces which is full of E-Coli. If E-Coli were to make them sick all of our dogs would be sick from exposure all the time. Salmonella is also not foreign to their digestive tract, like it is to ours, and is commonly found in their system causing no harm at all.

If you prefer to put a recipe together yourself, just keep in mind that if you are feeding raw meat you can make up to 50% of the meal by volume raw meat. If you choose to use cooked meat you should keep this to no more than 25% of the meal by volume. The other 75% of the meal should be made up of vegetables and starches.

Many dogs with reduced kidney function lose their appetite. This is usually due to their stomach becoming overly acidic. This in turn causes them to feel nauseated. If you have ever experienced bad acid reflux or heartburn you can probably relate. Even if your dog is not vomiting, he may still be nauseous. Here is an excellent natural antacid/nausea remedy to help settle their stomach and improve their appetite.

Nausea Remedy (Antacid)

A wonderful natural antacid is Raw Apple Cider Vinegar. You can purchase this at your health food store. Make sure it’s RAW!

Give ¼ teaspoon for dogs up to 20 lbs, ½ teaspoon for dogs up to 40 lbs, ¾ teaspoon for dogs up to 60lbs and 1 teaspoon for dogs 80 lbs and over. You can mix this with some unsweetened applesauce and syringe in his mouth 3-4 times per day or as needed. Powdered Ginger root is an excellent herb for settling the stomach. If you have a larger dog you can purchase capsules and give 1-2 capsules 3-4 times per day. If your dog is too small to swallow capsules, you can mix a pinch of ginger powder in with some unsweetened applesauce. You can give in the same dose with the Apple Cider Vinegar if you wish.

RAW DIET (This is the best recipe if your dog has an appetite and is eating on their own.)

The following recipe is a day’s food for a dog of 40 pounds. A formula and chart can be found below the recipe that you can use to calculate the correct amount for your dog’s weight.

Here is how to prepare the food:

Equal Parts raw meat any of the following (Chicken, Turkey, Beef or Lamb) to Equal parts Raw Pureed Fruits and Vegetables. If you can find Raw Green Tripe (www.GreenTripe.com they are in California but they ship) then you can substitute this for the other meats listed above.

That would be a 50/50 mix of meat to veggies by volume (1 cup to 1 cup or one pint to one pint).

You can make as large of a batch as you like and freeze it in meal-sized portions.

Do NOT feed Onion, Grapes or Raisins to dogs. Dogs can have any other fruits and veggies you wish. Parsley, Watermelon, Cucumber and Celery are all excellent kidney foods so try to incorporate some of these into the mixture.

Add 3/4 teaspoon powdered eggshells to each lb of food to ensure they are getting enough calcium and to act as a phosphorus binder.

Dog Greens add 2 teaspoons per meal assuming you are feeding two meals per day. (Dog Greens comes in Kidney Health package.)

Once you have the meat and veggies mixed together weigh out his daily portion of food. Dogs typically need to eat 2-3% of their body weight in raw foods for maintenance.

If 40 pounds is your dog’s healthy weight then he should be fed a total of 1 pound (16 ounces by weight) of the raw food mixture per day. Feel free to divide the daily amount into as many meals as you wish to feed that day. If he is losing too much weight feed him more, if he is gaining too much weight feed him less.

How to calculate your dog’s daily amount of food (for raw recipe only):

Your dog’s daily food requirement should be approximately 2.5% of their weight.
To simplify the calculation use the following formula.
Take your dog’s weight in pounds and convert it into ounces (there are 16 ounces in a pound) then multiply by 0.025.
e.g. 65 (dog’s weight in pounds) x 16 (ounces) x 0.025 = 26 ounces.
So the average 65-pound dog should require 26 OUNCES (measured by weight not volume) of food for one day.

Here is a simple chart to help you:

Dog’s weight	Daily requirement
20 pounds	8 ounces
30 pounds	12 ounces
40 pounds	16 ounces
50 pounds	20 ounces
60 pounds	24 ounces
70 pounds	28 ounces
80 pounds	32 ounces
90 pounds	36 ounces
100 pounds	40 ounces

Egg & Sweet Potato

This recipe is the daily amount for a 40 lb dog, divide into as many serving as you wish. Adjust recipe according to your dog’s weight.

Two large boiled Organic Eggs

3 cups of boiled Organic Sweet Potatoes with skin

1 1/2 cups of pureed or shredded Organic Vegetables – Carrots, Broccoli, Cucumbers, Tomatoes, Leafy Greens, Parsley etc

1 tablespoon of Organic Oil blend – any organic oil blend that says 3-6-9 omegas preferable with DHA, UDO’s makes a very nice one.

Add 3/4 teaspoon powdered eggshells to the mixture to ensure they are getting enough calcium and to act as a phosphorus binder.

Dog Greens

Beef & Rice – This recipe has been adapted from Dr. Pitcairn’s New Complete Guide to Natural Health for Dogs and Cats

This is one day of food for a 40 lb dog. Adjust recipe according to your dog’s weight.

1/4 pound (1/2 cup) regular fat Hamburger/Ground Beef, Chicken, Turkey or Lamb (preferably organic)

2 3/4 cups cooked Organic White Rice

2 large Organic Eggs

1/4 cup cooked Organic Carrots

2 Tablespoons Organic Coconut Oil

2 Tablespoons fresh diced Parsley

Add 3/4 teaspoon powdered eggshells or Seaweed Calcium to the mixture to ensure they are getting enough calcium and to act as a phosphorus binder.

1/2 clove Garlic (if he likes it)

Mix all ingredients together and serve raw if the dog will accept it. Otherwise, bake for approximately 20 minutes in the oven at 350F, let cool then add Dog Greens to each meal before serving.

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