My dog has CKD and now refuses to eat Renal food

busannie said:

I would give your vet a call and see what they recommend. Is he willing to eat other foods? If he hasn't had bloodwork recently, it probably wouldn't be a bad idea to check that to see if there is progression of the disease that might be causing his inappetence. The toxins that build up in the blood from kidney disease can cause nausea, and there are medications that sometimes are prescribed to combat that. If he won't eat at all, tooth problems are always a possibility in an old dog, particularly if that's what caused the swelling in his face before. If he's willing to eat some things, you may be able to try a different kidney food, or either home make food, or try to select a commercial food that's fairly kidney friendly. You also might try mixing a little bit of something he likes into it to see if you can peak his interest.

My old dog has had kidney disease for over 2 years and has refused the rx kidney food completely for almost a year now, and only ate it sporadically before that. It's not a very appetizing food, which is a design flaw IMO since most dogs with renal dz are picky old dogs, but probably the nature of the beast since they're looking for minimal protein, phos, etc. She's on a couple supplements (Renal Essentials and Azodyl) to help neutralize the byproducts of her kidney disease since she will only eat meaty "normal dog" foods. She had bloodwork done yesterday, and her kidney values have actually improved over her values a year ago when she was on the kidney diet, so all is not lost if he decides never to eat it again. When I was lamenting to my vet about her refusal to eat the kidney food, he said it wasn't a huge deal, as long as she is eating something.

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LuvMyFluff said:

Here is a low protein homemade dog food recipe for senior/ckd dogs:

It is very important to use the fattiest, cheapest ground beef, as you want more fat than protein.
Measure all ingredients very accurately and be sure not to use any substitutions.
Also be sure to give your dog a good multivitamin ( I use Missing Link)

Nutritional info; Protein 6.9%
Carbohydrates 21.1
Fat 5.5
Calories 750


1/4 lb ground beef (do NOT use lean)
2 cups cooked white rice
1 hard cooked egg peeled and chopped
3 slices white bread (crumbled)
1 teasp Calcium Carbonate (blend/grind a bottle of calcium carbonate into powder and store in a plastic bag...cal carbonate can be found in health food stores or you can use things like Tums, OsCal, etc)

Instruction;
1. Cook ground beef thoughly
2. Mix in other cooked ingredients
3.Feed 2X daily
4. Don't forget to give your dog a vitamin suppliment!

All these ingredients can be cooked in large amounts and then used as needed,
but be sure to measure very accurately! Refrigerated it stays good for 3-4 days. or you can freeze and defrost as needed

Amount to Feed;
weight of dog..............Amt to Feed
5lbs,......................... 1/4 lb per day
10lbs.........................1/2lb per day
20lbs.........................1lb. per day
40lbs..........................1 1/2 lbs per day
60lbs..........................2lbs per day
80lbs..........................2 1/2 lbs per day
100lbs.........................3lbs per day

p.s. if you are wondering about the white bread, it is used because there is little protein in it!!

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LuvMyFluff said:

I've only used this on a very small dog and mixed up the basic recipe and then weighed it out into individual servings...........I really don't know how much you'd need to cook up for a 65lb dog but I think I would perhaps mix up a double amount of the basic recipe and then weigh it! A 65lb dog according to the instructions would eat about 2 1/4 lbs of the mix a day....

I think it is less expensive than the canned diets though!


p.s. I just cooked up a large amount of rice and then measured it, as the recipe calls for cooked rice.............I ate the 'leftovers' hahaha!!!

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LuvMyFluff said:

Also.....there is a book called "Home-prepared Dog and Cat Diets" by Donald Strombeck DVM that has over 200 homemade and specialty diets in it.......you can get a used copy quite inexpensively from Alibris.com (it is kinda expensive if you buy it new!)

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agility collie mom said:

What was the facial swelling from? Dental issues?

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