1) The amount of food prescribed is way out of line with the amount of food the dog should take in. Says for 50 lbs should be 4.5 cups, and for my 70 lb dog we fed 3 cups per the doctor, supplemented with raw veggies. The dog did not gain or lose any weight on this amount
2) We combined the Urinary SO 50/50 with the Renal mix not sure why they have two. The vet cautioned about how this food will act as a diuretic, that the dog would be very thirsty and recommended we give him distilled water to drink to reduce load on the kidneys.
What happened was instantly his poop became hard and smaller than normal. Brought it up to the vet who said this is normal. Dog drank water all the time, and did not exhibit signs of dehydration. What got dehydrated was his poop. He died of peritonitis brought on by a completely full colon because he could not get the very dry stool out of him properly. Very hard to see warning signs he pooped twice a day, seemed a little distracted, but we had no idea his lower bowel had severly reduced movement. When he threw up undigested food four times in a row (12 hours after eating) the vet said to take him off Meloxicam for a week. Meloxicam is an NSAID arthritis drug known to cause kidney failure and ulcurs, and GI problems (bloody vomit or stools which Mikey did not have as we were watching closely for that). He stopped throwing up but I think it was coincidental timing. All these factors contributed to his death.
Long story to say you must measure the water intake while on this food more than keeping the bowl full. This food is VERY dehydrating. And be mindful of the output of the dog and weeks of very dehydrated poop is something that you should pay close attention to.
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My dog currently has a really bad bacterial infection in her kidneys. Our vet gave us (I mean charged us $2.00 per can) this food as it is low in protein. Unfortunately my dog REFUSES to eat it. Have tried mixing it with everything under the sun (that is low Protein) and she still refuses to eat it. The Techs at the vets office say that most dogs refuse to eat it. I have done a lot of research online and found "human" foods that are safe for dogs and are also low in protein and phosphorous.Phosphorous is apparently even worse for dogs with kidney issues than the protein is.
Also, you should NEVER feed dry dogfood to a dog that has kidney issues.
After a lot of research, I did find that Royal Canin renal is one of the better foods for dogs with kidney issues, Hills Science Diet is one of the worst. I recently ordered the Purina NV canned food for kidney health, low in protein and phosphorous. Ingredient wise it seems pretty good. This is also a prescription dogfood, and your vet will have to authorize the purchase on most websites, but I did find it here on Amazon from a seller that did not require the prescription. It has not arrived yet so I am not sure if my fussy little dog will eat it or not.
My vet was very adamant about this low protein diet, but never mentioned the phosphorous issue even though my dogs high phosphorous level is what led them to kidney infection. My vet stated it was better for the dog to not eat at all than to eat foods high in protein or sodium. Not sure if I agree with that as my dog went 6 days without eating, from 29 lbs to 20lbs, and I was so worried she was going to starve to death. The only thing she would eat was deli turkey and my vet made it sound like we were doing her more harm than good by giving it to her.
After 7 days of antibiotic injections, my dog is doing much better and is hopefully on her way to a full recovery. Her appetite is back, but she still will not eat the Royal Canine food. I am starting to think she is a vegetarian...loves green beens and carrots, and pasta.
I also have 2 labs, and my yellow one will eat ANYTHING...maybe I will try to give her the Royal canine just to see if she will eat it.
If your dog has kidney issues, please take the time to research it as there is a lot of good helpful information out there and sometimes the vets don't take the time to tell you everything that you could do to help your pet.
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The two previous reviews are confusing.Renal insufficiency/failure is an extremely complex illness and really requires a Veterinary Internal Medicine Specialist. AND for best results, it requires A LOT of research. Your vet isn't going to school you enough to teach you what you need to know.
It is only my opinion from my and others' personal experiences that I think regular vets are NOT equipped with the knowledge to deal with moderate to severe renal issues.
If your dog is put on this prescription diet, their lab test numbers must be severe enough to warrant it. And if those numbers are high/low enough, you may possibly need to be giving your dog subcutaneous fluids IN ADDITION to feeding them this food, and always supplying plenty of fresh, clean and perhaps even filtered water. If your vet prescribed this food for your dog and either you or your vet didn't do some sort of follow up, I'm not surprised bad things followed. But it's certainly not this specific food's fault. Let me tell you this from experience, because I learned the hard way myself.
This food isn't dehydrating, renal/kidney disease IS.
My dog hated the Hill's Science Diet kd formula, but loves this LP stuff. Other dogs love kd. But you can't just write a review on a dog's preference. If I hate carrots, I'm not going to give carrot juice a great review, am I?
If your dog is put on this food, DO YOUR RESEARCH ABOUT RENAL/KIDNEY DISEASE!
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