Kidney
Kidneys act as a filtering system by getting rid of waste products. Vitamin D is activated in the kidneys. They balance the body's fluid content by reabsorbing immense amounts of water into the blood, produce hormone that helps to make red blood cells and help to control blood pressure.
The food that your dog eats is broken down and part of this breakdown, along with the normal breakdown of body tissues becomes waste. This waste is sent to the blood which moves to the kidneys for removal. When kidney function is compromised, the wastes build up, damaging the body and often causes nausea.
Kidney Issues
Problems and Controls
Kidney trouble may come from stones, or the compromise of kidney function for many reasons including the ageing process. Not that long ago, it was believed that less protein in the diet would help kidneys function better, but more recent studies prove that, in fact, protein restriction is not required in the early stages of kidney failure. Protein restriction in late-stage failure may be necessary.
Lowering the amount of phosphorus in the diet is the main goal when the kidneys need some help. Even when the diet itself is formulated to elp the kidneys, dog parents often feed treats that hinder rather than help. These treat recipes solve that problem.
Vitamin D plays a critical role in cases of kidney disease. Read about it here.
Do's and Don'ts
In the case of kidney trouble, fish oils such as Wild Salmon Oil have been proven to be kidney friendly while vegetable oils are something to stay away from. Vitamin C supplements tends to acidify urine, but also, vitamin C is flushed out of the body via urine. Combined with excess calcium in urine, it's the perfect set-up for calcium oxalate stones. You never want to supplement vitamin C in the diet of a calcium oxalate stone forming dog.
The B complex vitamin group supports almost every cell and body tissue and these vitamins are flushed out of the body via urine. Compromised kidneys can cause a dog to urinate more frequently and/or greater volume which can create a B vitamin deficiency. Supplementation with a vitamin B compound is prudent.
Acidophilus has been proven to help fight urinary tract infections. CoQ10 can be beneficial to kidneys and works as a very powerful antioxidant. Taurine may also be beneficial.
TREATS: None of the treats found in stores are appropriate for dogs with kidney disease because they're not balanced in calcium to phosphorus. In fact, the addition of any store-bought treat serves to add phosphorus - the one mineral we need to reduce!
We've formulated 3 super easy recipes and put them in one instant download booklet for exactly this reason.
For Further Reading
Detection of a Lactobacillus Substance that Inhibits E. Coli by Dr. LJ Leventhal: Acidophilus helps to suppress E. coli in the urinary tract