Frequently Asked Questions: Chronic Renal Failure

Q

A

Can I add broths and meat juices to the diet to improve palatability?

No, we do not recommend adding any supplements to the diet. Adding supplements to the diet may unbalance the key dietary features that we are trying to control with the diet.

Is dry or canned food better for my pet with renal disease?

For most pets with kidney disease, it will not matter whether they eat canned or dry food, as long as they are both formulated to assist the management of renal disease. For some pets that do not drink adequate amounts of water to maintain hydration, canned food may be beneficial to aid the ingestion of water.

When should you start to feed the renal diet?

Renal diets should be implemented as soon as the diagnosis of kidney disease is made. However, renal diets should not be fed to pets that are sick and hospitalized. Rather they should be implemented in the pets normal home environment. Hospitalization is a very stressful event for pets. Changing the food at that time may foster food aversion.

How often should my pet be rechecked?

The frequency that a pet is rechecked will depend on what concurrent medications that the pet is currently receiving. For pets with early disease, they should be rechecked every 3 - 4 months. If pets are on hypertensive agents, or erythopoietin therapy, they may need rechecking every two weeks until the ideal dose of the medication is identified to stabilize the pet.

What do I do if the pet is not eating enough food and loosing weight?

If the pet is not eating adequate amounts of food to maintain body weight, then assisted feeding by the placement of esophagostomy or gastrostomy tubes should be considered. Therefore, on the days that the pet will not eat the appropriate amount of food, the food can be blended and administered to the pet.