HELPING PETS WITH KIDNEY DISEASE

• Provide your pet unlimited access to fresh water. Change it daily.
• Avoid physical or psychological stress if possible. (such as kenneling, long trips, excessive exercise, etc.)
• Regulate your pet’s diet. Feed only a prescription kidney diet.
• Low amount, high-quality protein (cooked egg, chicken, fish, lean muscle meat)(no more than 30% of diet for cats; 20% for dogs)
• Carbohydrate (rice, pasta, potato, bread)(40% of diet for cats; 50% for dogs)
• Restrict salt intake. Do not use ingredients with a lot of preservatives, as they are usually sodium salts which can lead to high blood pressure in pets with kidney disease.
• To increase palatability, warm the food or mix in well a little chicken fat or unsalted butter to increase palatability, add Potassium Chloride Salt.
• If your pet is a nibbler, leave food available at all times. Otherwise, feed 3-4 small meals daily rather than one large meal. Allow your pet to eat all that it wants, unless free-feeding causes obesity. If weight loss occurs in spite of good appetite, increase fats (cats) or carbohydrates (dogs). There are also drugs which can be used to increase appetite.
• Maintain your pet’s body weight at an optimal level. Your pet should be trim and have a marked waistline.
• Supplement with water-soluble vitamins (B & C) and zinc. Give zinc at 1/2 milligram/pound body weight per day.
• Repeat kidney tests and urinalysis every 30-60 days until your pet’s condition has been stabilized and then every 4 months from then on.
• Give your pet 60 milligrams of aluminum hydroxide (1/5 of an Amphogel 300 tablet) per 11 pounds of body weight every 12 hours or with meals to lower phosphorous absorption from food.