Full Diary Part 6

[Continued from Full Diary Part 5]

Want to know what to feed a dog with kidney disease?  Adding fruits to the veggies and tripe I was already feeding plus necessary vitamins, minerals and herbs was another HUGE breakthrough!

Yes, to answer the question: want to know what to feed a dog with kidney disease, I’ve added mango, banana and honey to the veggies and protein I was already feeding to help better meet her nutritional needs. And when I mix up the banana, I add my mix or Calcium and D3.  And later on, I add a LOT more fruit including fresh pineapple, (I cut off the tops, rooted them and planted them to grow our own) blueberries, raspberries, strawberries and cranberries –  See Food List, Food Combining/Sequential eating and Full Diary Part 11.

Added Azmira SeaSupreme Holistic Animal Care multi-vitamin-mineral complex in powder form which I think is a very important part of her nutritional needs. Described as containing 60 trace minerals, 19 essential minerals, 12 vitamins and 10 amino acids from 16 types of sea vegetation.  Kelp is only one type of seaweed and limited in its mineral balance when used alone so this includes blue green algae and spirulina, the latter of which is touted as being  one of the most nutritionally balanced species of blue-green algae, abundant with chlorophyll, essential amino acids, omega oils, beta-carotene and countless other phytonutrients that nurture, cleanse the body and help to eliminate heavy metals.  It is naturally chelated for optimum assimilation. Totally essential vitamins, minerals and amino acids.  I have looked for a long time for something I thought was able to be processed by her and I think this is it and it is for animals.

Added Animals’ Apawthecary Hawthorn Plus which contains Ginko Biloba and garlic because although I had been using Hawthorn earlier and stopped it because it is a mild diuretic, read again how beneficial the combination of Hawthorn and Ginko Biloba can be: “The herb Hawthorn may be useful for dogs with kidney disease, according to Gregory Tilford, author of Herbs for Pets. He says “When combined with ginkgo biloba (for small capillary circulation) and herbs that improve urinary function, hawthorn may be useful for getting more blood and oxygen into renal arteries and smaller vessels of the kidneys. This, in theory, is thought to slow degeneration of whatever healthy tissue remains in the diseased organs.” I have read also that garlic can be toxic so  perhaps just try to get Ginko Biloba and Hawthorn even though the Apawthecary Hawthorn Plus with garlic states it is a blend of antioxidants they claim are crucial to the proper function by dilating the coronary blood vessels to increase blood supply and lower blood pressure. I was also concerned that in feeding her such a limited diet that she wasn’t getting enough of all vitamins, minerals, and amino acids and was considering Spirulina or blue green algae and so when I found the Azmira SeaSupreme which is made from 16 types of sea vegetation and includes blue green algae and spirulina,  I was hopefully better balancing her vitamin-mineral etc. intake.

I know I’ve said before that more is not better and I figured I should give her the Hawthorn Plus at 2 drops a day and I give treats four times a day and think I was putting one drop on each and once running to sit with me in the den, she had to pee and it came out half way there on the floor and she never has accidents any more so figured it was due to the diuretic effects of the Hawthorn (which is only MILDLY diuretic) but I think with the addition of so much Hawthorn it caught her by surprise and she couldn’t hold it. She is routinely very regular and she knows how often and when she needs to go and this threw her off.

I’ve gone back to adding a tiny amount of beef pancreas just twice a week on Sun. AM and Wed. PM which is supposed to help with EPI (Exocrine Pancreatic Insufficiency) and since she seems to have an irritated pancreas a good bit (soreness in the abdominal area) I’ll give it a try- but just a very little bit and several days off after.[75]

It is early Oct. and I just got her latest blood panel and BUN is slightly down but creatinine went up to 2.0. Now 2.0 is still very nice for a kidney dog, but not the direction I wanted to go.  And she was being picky about eating her tripe which worried me because she went back down to 2.4 lbs. Not good at all, but oddly she didn’t appear as skinny as in the beginning when she lost as much weight down to 2.4 lbs. So I wanted her to get a more healthy appetite to the tripe so I cut back on the pureed veggie under it where I mixed in her ¼ tsp Sea Supreme, and cut back on all vitamins, minerals and herbs I was adding, but to no avail – still very picky, taking forever to eat it, and always leaving a little. She would pick up a bite, then put it down on her placemat and try another, rejecting most. Sometimes I added a little fresh tripe mixed in and a little on top, but she would pick it out and leave the rest. So a little light went off in my head to mask the many vitamins, minerals and herbs in the treats she was getting: sweet potato and banana with honey 9:30am; pumpkin mango and honey at 2:30 pm. Then when I served her main meal of plain tripe at 11:30, and didn’t add a single thing to it and she INHALED IT! And the same thing happened at her 5pm evening meal – gone in 5 seconds! That was two days ago, and it’s been the same at every meal since. The tripe disappears so quickly. And with her BUN down to 76 I’m even feeding her a little more tripe because I read another good article on the importance of protein in her diet and they use 75 as the cutoff to maybe restrict protein, but several others I have seen have it at 80 so I’ll see how it goes.

Now on September 3, 12 she had a very mild seizure that lasted only a little more than a minute and it was over with no loss of consciousness or any big problem. Then just yesterday, October 5, 12 she had another one a little milder than the other a month before. Interestingly, the September seizure was after I had started adding butter to her meals and now this one in October was two days after restarting cream cheese and brie. So I did do some more in-depth analysis and discovered how high in Omega 6 fatty acids (not advised for kidney dogs) butter was and that it had a strongly inflammatory Inflammation Factor and in looking at cream cheese it also is quite high in the bad Omega 6 fatty acids compared to its Omega 3 fatty acids (the good fatty acids like fish oil) and also rated strongly inflammatory. Brie cheese is only rated mildly inflammatory with of course a more reasonable Omega 6 fatty acid ratio to Omega 3 fatty acids. It broke down like this and it is really obvious I should not be giving her butter or cream cheese. And the Brie has far more nutritional value for her so I’m pleased to have put this together.

• Cream cheese -strongly inflammatory -397 w’ 2394 omega 6 vs 401 omega 3   Nearly 6 to 1, BAD to good.
• Brie cheese -moderately inflammatory -147 w’ 1231 omega 6 vs 751 omega 3     Only 1.5 to 1 Bad to good
• Butter –   strongly inflammatory             -720 w’ 6193 omega 6 vs 715 omega 3  Nearly 7 to 1 BAD to good.

When looking at the above it is obvious at this stage only Brie Cheese should be used, and then in moderation.

Now in my research a well-respected online expert on canine kidney disease had told me much earlier that just sweet potato, pumpkin and tripe was not a long term diet to satisfy her nutrition needs, which is why I researched and added bananas and mango to her sweet potato and pumpkin treats. She also felt Pnut might have gastrointestinal bleeding because she had questionable urinalysis results in June and although this time her Urinalysis was perfect, I had read that cabbage is good for ulcers which is a common side affect in dogs with kidney disease.   So I have bought and pureed fresh cabbage which I give her at night, with just a small amount of Brie cheese right now, around 8:30 so it sits in her tummy overnight to perhaps be the most effective. And information on how it helps humans is really positive as well. [79]

I had also read that pineapple is a good fruit for kidney dogs and one is ripening on my table right now and when it is ready, I’ll puree it and add it to the morning treat of sweet potato in place of banana which I like the idea of as bananas are high in phosphorus so this will cut the weekly serving in half feeding banana every other day, substituting the pineapple instead.

I’ve just read today how good blueberries are for the pancreas[80] and Pnut is prone to an irritated pancreas so I’ll puree some and give them with her cabbage and brie before bed so her stomach and pancreas can improve overnight which is the longest she goes without food – some 12 – 14 hours.

A new vitamin-mineral complex I’m giving her is Mega Pet Daily also from Azmira Holistic Animal Care which contains alfalfa, watercress, parsley and lecithin – so I’m concerned about it’s diuretic effects.  Alfalfa looks wonderful though as a reliable source of Vit E, extremely rich in Vit K which aids in controlling blood pressure and most interesting to me heals peptic ulcers (maybe like cabbage because it contains Vit U found in green vegetables) and helps fight off infection. It is also high in protein which is good as I don’t want to give her too much animal protein so I’m giving it a try.  It comes in capsule form so I have to open and pour out the powdered ingredient but not that hard to do and I just do a couple of days worth at a time in a tiny, tiny jar 3/4″ dia x 3/4″ h. 

 [Continued Full Diary Part 7]