As a pet parent, suddenly knowing that your dog suffers from kidney failure is a nightmare. At this moment, you probably pray that the morning will come and everything will be OK, right?
But that’s not the reality. Because a nightmare may disappear in the morning, but the truth is always true.
However, don’t lose hope. Adopting new strategies and feeding your dog a proper diet can help to leverage your dog’s health condition.
What to feed a dog with kidney failure who will not eat?
A moderate amount of carbs (rice, potato, low protein (lean meat, fish), low Phosphorus (egg without yolk, dairy products), and low fatty acid (omega 3) are ideal proportions to feed a balanced diet for the kidney failure dog.
There are more ins and outs to know to progress your little cutty health and happiness. This post demonstrates a basic diet guideline for kidney failure dogs. But we always encourage you to get in touch with your vet to ensure better advocacy.
What Is Dog Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD)?
The kidney’s main function is to filter blood and waste products like urine from the dog’s body to keep it healthy. If a dog suffers from high blood pressure, diabetes, and obesity, gradually it reduces the dog’s kidney potential and causes kidney failure. This health condition of dogs is known as chronic kidney disease, and when it affects the kidney seriously that is called kidney failure.
Why Does A Dog With Kidney Failure Stop Eating?
A healthy dog always loves to eat treats, which is the opposite for a dog with kidney failure. But why? You have to detect the reasons. Otherwise, you can’t efficiently choose your dog diet, which may worsen the situation.
Once you know the overall symptoms of dog kidney disease, it’ll be easier for you to understand the reasons.
Sings of dog kidney disease
- Feeling thirsty
- Feeling lethargic
- Feeling nausea
- Loss of appetite
- Having no interest in foods, even for previous favorite treats
- Peeping frequently, the volume isn’t usual
- Coming blood with urine
- Rapid weight loss
So from the above list, you notice that feeling nausea and loss of appetite are the main two culprits why your dog stops eating when he is suffering from kidney failure.
Moreover, when the dog feels vomiting, he doesn’t get any food taste. Even his kidney won’t perform adequately to filter the body waste. So the dog feels full of stomach all the time. As a result, he won’t get hungry.
What To Feed A Dog With Kidney Failure Who Will Not Eat
We know your heart breaks into millions of pieces after hearing about your beloved pet’s kidney disease. So lots of questions hit your mind when you have to choose his diet. Here we enlist some of your questions and try to answer them according to the professional vet’s suggestions for your convenience.
What Foods Are Good For Dogs With Kidney Failure?
Most food items are good for dogs with kidney failure if you maintain a good proportion. According to the vet recommendation, 50% of carbs, 14-20% of protein, 10-15% of fat, 5-10% vitamins, 0.2-0.5% of Phosphorus, and 0.3% Sodium is overall a diet plan for a dog who suffers from CKD. So foods which are high in fiber, low in protein and fat, and have other food elements are suitable for your sick dog.
What Vegetables Are Good For Dogs With Kidney Disease?
Fresh green and yellow vegetables are an organic source of vitamins and minerals. The more your dog consumes these vegetables, the more energetic it feels. Here are some vegetables that are good for dogs with kidney failure.
Pumpkin
Pumpkin is one of the yellow vegetables containing carbs, protein, fiber, magnesium, and a little Phosphorus. You can offer your dog homemade pumpkin. Learn how to cook pumpkin for your dog from this post. (Here you can make an internal link on how to cook pumpkin for dogs) If you don’t have time, a can of pumpkin puree is a nice option for you.
Broccoli
Greenish broccoli is always appreciated as a healthy and digestible dog treat. Raw, boiling, steaming, and roasting are great ways to offer broccoli to your dog’s plate.
Carrots
Carrots contain vitamin C, iron, biotin, calcium, and potassium. So offering a carrot to your dog will ensure good nutrition. As the carrot is crunchy and delicious, your dog loves to chew it once you offer it as bite-sized pieces.
Asparagus
It is also a good vegetable for your dog. But a dog with kidney failure feels difficulties chewing and digesting raw asparagus. So it’s wise to offer the asparagus after chopping as small pieces.
Beet
Beets are dog-safe food and provide a great amount of nutritional value. But offering only beets to your dog isn’t a good idea. Instead, you can mix them with other vegetables to make the treat delicious
Squash
Zucchini, butternut, and yellow squash are known as dog safe. A plate of mouth-watering chopped or squash puree may increase your dog’s appetite. You can absolutely keep squash to your dog’s diet.
Celery
You can offer your dog a few chopped or bite-sized celery as a snack. You can cut the celery into half to one inch sizes to make them easily chewable and digestible for your pup.
What Fruits Are Good For Dogs With Kidney Disease
Till now, we have just talked about vegetables. Let’s look at some fruits you can feed your kidney failure sufferer dog.
Bananas
For a sick dog diet plan, you can keep a full or 2-3 small pieces of bananas according to your dog size. Smashing and stuffing them in a Kong, toy, or puzzle feeder is the easiest option to feed bananas to your dog.
Watermelon
There are a few fruit items that are as juicy as watermelon. When keeping your renal failure dog hydrating is a challenge for you, watermelon is a savior. Offer your dog a full plate of watermelon to prevent his dehydration problem.
Strawberries
Strawberries are a sweet fruit and are rich in sugar. So you can offer a moderate amount of strawberries to your sick dog. Keep in mind, over consumption of strawberries will promote your dog’s diabetes.
Apples
Both green and red apples are full of fiber and vitamins. You can substitute green and red apples with the same fruits if your dog gets bored.
Papaya
Feeding papaya can add a bunch of nutritional value to your dog. It also helps reduce blood pressure and improve blood glucose control. So that the dog gradually improves his kidney disease.
Mango
When mangos are available, they can be a nice ready-to-eat snack for your dog. You should just peel its skin and cut it into some pieces before offering it. That’s all.
Note: You should avoid grapes, blueberries, and raisins as they may cause loose stools for your dog for large amounts of intake.
Is Rice OK For Dogs With Kidney Failure?
Most grain foods like white and brown rice, pasta, and cereal are good for dogs with kidney disease. You have to keep 50% of carbs to your dog’s diet. As rice is a good source of carbohydrates, you can feed rice to your dog.
Are Potatoes Good For Dogs With Kidney Disease?
Yes, both regular and sweet potatoes will be a great treat for dogs suffering from kidney disease. Usually, potatoes contain carbs, protein, fiber, vitamin C, and B6. So you can surely feed potatoes to your dog. On top-notch, potatoes don’t contain fat, which will help you control dogs’ weight.
Is Barley Good For Dogs With Kidney Disease?
Barley has high-quality and easily digestible protein, abundant enzymes, and beneficial bacteria with low Phosphorus. So, yes, barley is good for dogs with kidney disease. You can mix barley with your dog’s other wet or dry foods to increase its taste. The best practice is to offer 5 ml of barley for a small to medium size dog and 10 ml for a large dog.
Is Chicken OK For Dogs With Kidney Disease?
Chicken is one of the potential sources of protein, as a dog needs protein to develop his bone. So you can offer 14-20 percent of chicken to your dog. But, the chicken should be organically sourced, fresh, moistened, and well cooked.
It’ll be better if you can collect chicken from a farm. But if not possible, you have to check the chicken label to know its information before purchasing it from a commercial dog food shop. Because added preservatives and chemicals will harm your dog’s health. So you should avoid those chickens which have extra preservatives.
Are Eggs Good For Dogs With Kidney Disease?
Yes, eggs are also good as chicken to feed dogs with Kidney disease to meet their protein requirements. Since eggs contain a lower amount of hippuric acid, uric acid, creatinine, and urea than other protein sources.
But, you have to keep in mind one thing when feeding eggs to your dog. Since the egg yolk is rich in Phosphorus, you can feed your sick dog only the white part of the eggs. Because high phosphorus intake will reduce your dog’s kidney functional ability, increase joint pain, promote weak bones and fatal heart attacks.
Is Tuna Good For Dogs With Kidney Disease?
Tuna fish contains a high omega-3 fatty acid, reducing inflammatory compounds and increasing oxidative stress on your dog’s kidney tissues. So it gradually slows down the CKD progression. That’s why tuna isn’t a good choice for a dog who suffers from CKD.
Raw Diet for Dogs with Kidney Disease
You have to struggle to keep your dog with kidney disease hydrated. On the other hand, providing cooked food is another challenge for you, especially if you have to maintain your personal and professional life equally. But, you also love your pet child.
In this situation, offering a raw diet is the best match for you to ensure your dog’s proper nutrition and stay a little bit hassle-free.
A plate with an adequate amount of raw lean meat or heart, sliced vegetables, and fruits is good. Kibble is also a nice option to provide a raw diet.
How To Get A Dog With Kidney Disease To Eat
Knowing the best dog food (here you can make an internal link on best dog food for epi german shepherd) to eat with kidney failure isn’t enough for you when he won’t like to eat. Vomiting tendency, losing food taste and appetite pushes him to roam away from the food.
Once you can feel your dog’s pain and try to feed with care and affection can help him to understand that he has to eat. So a few strategies can help you to feed your pup. Such as
- First, never force your sick pup to eat. As it will stress him out and increase food fear.
- Ensure offering moist and wet food in front of your dog which is easy to chew, swallow, and digest.
- Be creative in offering your dog healthy, nutritious, but delicious food. Make a seven days week diet plan to change his food so your pup won’t get bored with the same food.
- Offer meals to your dog after he comes from doing some exercise. Because extra body activity will lose energy and increase his appetite. So once you provide food, he will start eating due to hunger.
- Try to ensure a noise-free eating place for your dog because noise may trigger his stress. So he goes away before eating as much food as he needs. If you have more doggies, keep the sick dog’s feeding place private.
- Every dog loves to eat warm food, which spreads a good smell. It is also true for your sick dog. Before serving your dog food, pop them up in your microwave for 10-20 seconds to make them warm.
How Many Times A Day Should You Feed A Dog With Kidney Disease?
The thumb rule to feeding a dog with kidney disease is offering 4-5 small meals instead of 1-2 large meals. Every time you feed, ensure fresh and healthy food. As a kidney failure dog feels frequent thirst, keep clean and fresh water available near him.
Final Words
You have to focus on the diet plan and the proportion of the food items to feed a dog with kidney failure who will not eat. Following the best strategies and proper medical checks up are the associate programs to improve your dog’s health.
Stay positive and motivated, as good things will happen to your dog.
Best wishes!
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