[Continued from Anemia]

My dog was surviving chronic dog kidney disease which meant she was LIVING LONGER and GETTING OLDER so there were other necessary changes. 

Pnut was a chronic dog kidney disease survivor and that meant she was getting older and when she reached 13 3/4 – 14, I began finger-feeding tripe as well (cut it into bite-sized pieces with scissors) and it was the only protein I fed since it seemed such a superior protein  (I fed no other raw meats and really venison was the only other raw meat she liked but I had limited it to Thursdays, one meal a good while back) and I began syringe-feeding her fruits and vegetables to be sure she got her nutrients and it was more efficient than finger-feeding her.  And she always continued to respond positively, perking up for her meals on my lap, hungrily lapping the food off my finger or easily swallowing the syringe-supplied food, remaining active, enjoying her naps in the sun, and climbing the long ramp to our couch to snuggle in her blankie.  She was growing pretty old – 98 in people years.  How WONDERFUL was that?

Whatever size pet YOU have, I feel you should have no problem adapting accordingly. But remember a main concern is always to limit phosphorus because it is so hard on the kidneys and offer plenty of fermentable fiber to lessen the load on the kidneys.  I watched phosphorous so closely and chose food and vitamins, minerals and herbs with VERY LOW phosphorus or made sure to limit it drastically such as in dairy, although the calcium in the dairy helped to block the phosphorus.  Be sure to review my nutrition Excel spreadsheet.

I KNOW I have helped my dog with kidney disease because my vet commented: “We are responding to anecdotal evidence in uncharted territory.”  She had never seen what I had accomplished before and had been so skeptical, always warning me not to get my hopes up.  Well, Pnut and I showed her!!

So eventually Pnut, with chronic dog kidney disease and now going into 3 years of my efforts, my veterinarian finally acknowledged Pnut had indeed improved to relatively little sign of kidney disease and her blood tests were irrefutable proof.  It was a big day for me when my vet had to say that I was working wonders with Pnut, keeping her alive – and not just alive, but healthy and active and back to almost normal body weight for her increased age.  Everyone at the animal hospital couldn’t comment favorably enough! Again, the veterinarian had always treated all of my efforts skeptically as to the outcome, especially not giving me any false hope, trying to spare my feelings and have me prepared, repeatedly warning me in the first year and a half that for all my efforts kidney disease would claim her.  But finally there came the day when she admitted:  “We are responding to anecdotal evidence in uncharted territory.”  She had NEVER seen this before – a dog surviving with kidney disease.  Pnut was doing so well the vet even scheduled her follow up blood work interval now to 6 months rather than 90 days.

You must read my full dairy and other pages to get the whole detailed story and my research links as it has so much more and is a wealth of information as to my successful choices that I hope could help with YOUR choices.  Continue on to my Full Diary.

I AM proudly Pnut’s Mom!