I’m a listener of yours on Martha Stewart and I have been given some news recently about my 6-year-old 95-pound greyhound, Obi. His blood work showed that his kidneys are not working at 100%. I am not sure what the numbers were, but I can check with the vet if you need to know that. My vet wants us to buy either Science diet K-D or Purina NF Diet food. I have been looking into different options as I almost fainted when I heard that the food was $74 for 34 pounds. We love our dog, but quite honestly that seems very expensive. I have read an article on your site about dry food not being the answer for this condition and I know at least for cats that you advocate for wet foods. I have also gone to B-Naturals.com and read their section in the archives on a Kidney Diet. I’m not sure I want to cook all of his meals so given the scenario I would really appreciate your input on this as I don’t know what to do and have continued to give him the food we have been giving him for now since I just bought it.
On another note, I have just this week taken our one year old cat off of what I thought was a good food for him (The Good Life Recipe dry cat food made with all natural ingredients) or in your words “kitty crack” and bought canned food from your list of approved canned foods. Boo had no problem switching to wet food as I’ve heard some people on your show talking about. He loves it and I am anxious to see if I see any changes in him as a result of this change. The bad news is, that Obi seems really bummed that the cat (which we acquired because my college aged daughter had second thoughts about getting a cat) is getting this wonderful smelling food and he’s not getting anything that smells so wonderful and I had to take his favorite Dingo treat away from him too. I would really appreciate your wisdom and look forward to you helping me figure out what would be the best diet for Obi. I have attached Obi’s and Boo’s pictures for you to see.
God Bless you,
Michelle
I did talk to Michelle about this on the air, but the main take-away advice to this question is to READ THE LABELS and you’ll see for yourself that a corn or grain based food with minimal and low quality protein sources is the worst idea for an animal whose body is not working up to snuff.
She needs to get a high quality kibble like Halo, but that will only be half of Obi’s diet. He needs top quality protein making up at least 30% of his diet. All she has to do is add an equal amount of quality protein from a top canned food or add her own chicken, meat, cottage cheese, yogurt, and/or scrambled eggs) and Obi will be getting what he needs. Omega-3 fatty acids are essential, and I always recommend Nordic Naturals fish oil capsules because of their purity and freshness. My dogs get two capsules each twice a day, which will be about right for Obi, too.
He especially needs to drink plentiful amounts of water with his kidney issues, so she needs to make sure fluids are going down the hatch, too! If h’’s not a good drinker, then a great incentive to drink is to stir a scoop of Ice Pups into his bowl of water (it’s a finely ground chicken and herb powder from The Honest Kitchen) (my listeners et a discount – check out their page on my website for information). I’m not sure what a dingo treat is — I’m kind of afraid to find out! — but don’t know why he should lose his privileges with it.
Hi Tracie,
I just got back from Petco with a bag of Halo food!! I hope I was supposed to get dry food. Obi lapped it up. Thanks so much for your help. Before buying the food today, I have been feeding him sushi rice with chicken and cottage cheese and some scrambled egg whites. I hope you will be able to give me some recipes too. I can’t wait to read your blog.
