[Continued from Finding supplements]

But, another big challenge was dog kidney disease anemia which I didn’t get on top of for a couple of years and dog kidney disease anemia is an occurrence that needs to be addressed quickly to keep a dog’s bodily functions continuing at optimum level.

Dog kidney disease anemia was heavily on my mind because, although Pnut’s kidney markers on the blood work panel were now improving every 90 days , she was still falling prey to dog kidney disease anemia laying around so lethargic, so early on I would cook up tiny amounts of beef liver and give them as treats but also had already introduced fruits into her diet which were especially high iron, like the blueberries, cranberries and raspberries.

I still kept diligently searching the Internet for a low phosphorus vitamin supplement with iron.  I did come across another herbal product called Marrow Plus claimed to benefit blood circulation and anemia associated with kidney disease so I started that but then I finally found a human multi-vitamin-mineral complex that had extra iron and NO phosphorus: FOSFREE.  Again, human vitamins-minerals, especially iron are cautioned and some claim dangerous but I saw an article listing the forms of iron that can cause toxicity and gluconate, the type in FOSFREE was NOT on the list (Ferrous fumarate, Ferrous sulfate, Ferric phosphate, Ferrous carbonate are TOXIC and must be avoided [75]) and I saw another study that specifically listed iron gluconate as acceptable for dogs and cats and gave dosages, so I decided to risk it and she didn’t have any iron toxicity side effects (listed in the same article and many others) and her anemia all but disappeared.  I didn’t get it until June 2013, some 2 1/2 years after diagnosis and there were other iron supplements I had read about earlier but for some reason I did not want to try them, like PetTinic by Zoetis which was made with Beef Liver Paste which I would have thought would be high in phosphorus as it contained beef liver paste (and organ meats are very high in phosphorus) but their Customer Service said no, but I just wasn’t sure and the foods I had chosen were iron-rich.   Her anemia was only moderate at that point but once I started getting this new vitamin-mineral combination into her – always with honey because of a study that indicated iron is better absorbed when taken with something sweet (plus honey was high in calories to keep her weight up and she did almost get back to her pre-diagnosis weight of 3 lbs consistently weighing in at 2.8 lbs)  she thrived and showed no ill effects.  And her bloodwork came back more positive each time until she was barely borderline anemic in just a couple of markers.  Had also read that high amounts of folate fight anemia so got her started on it by using a product called Marmite (from the UK) which was VERY high in folates, thought to fight anemia.  I only used a little though because it is so outrageously high in sodium but felt the addition of the folate outweighed the sodium downside.

My Full Diary pages supply every detail and step I went through to perfect Pnut’s kidney-disease-directed nutrition intake including fighting and beating anemia so do read every bit of it if possible and check out my Excel spreadsheet explaining the benefit of each choice I made found on the Food-Nutrition page from the menu.  [Continued in About Diet]