Low-protein diet? Help!

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Our gorgeous collie baby has been diagnosed with protein-losing nephropathy (anyone else with experience of this?) and has to go on a low-protein diet.

The vet is quite happy with us feeding him chappie and the dog is quite happy with this too. The problem is treats - can you recommend low protein treats that your dogs like?

I have no experience of low protein diets I'm afraid, but saw these and wondered if they'd be any good for treats?

Hills also sell low protein treats.

Recipe for home made low protein treats here.

Antos do a range of vegetable/cerea chews in the shape of toothbrushes/crocodiles/hedgehogs which are meant to be really low protein. I will check tomorrow what the actual protein content is if you want?

Is it any treats you're after or training treats?

I try to keep mine on a low protein diet. I use the antos range too, dog loves them. I more specifically try to avoid gluten. Also buy fish skins from vet, will try to look up name, again she loves them but not sure of protein content.

Thanks for your replies - these are amazingly helpful! Especially that recipe, that's bookmarked!

CherryLips - well, both really. This literally landed on me today and I'm not entirely sure what constitutes "low protein". He is just a pup so training treats would be helpful, but general chew treats too. I'll check out those Antos chews :)

Yummum - We've been advised that avoiding gluten would help him too. I think fish is low protein because Chappie is fish based and that's what we've been advised to feed him.

A lot of fish treats are actually quite high in protein. Fish4dogs treats, sea-jerky and skins certainly are.

I think Chappie is lower protein because it's mainly cereal (maize and wheat being the main ingredients) and has a low meat or fish content.

Only Chappie Original is fish based though, as far as I can tell (14% white fish) and it still contains other 'meat and animal derivatives' which includes 4% chicken. So if your dog is wheat or chicken intolerant it might not be the answer.

Vet sounds a little like they're not too hot on nutrition if they're advising you to keep him gluten free, but at the same time to feed Chappie, which is wheat/cereal based.

I think it may be quite difficult to feed a low protein diet whilst avoiding cereals to be honest, as they're often used to bulk out the food and obviously the higher the meat content, the higher the level of protein, but it does seem to be the recommended course of action.

This is an interesting article on PLN and agrees low gluten is the way to go.

Fish4Dogs is 95% protein, I've just checked!

The 3 lowest treatytreats (like for training) I've been able to find [that we stock!] are:

Hollings 3 pack sausages - 4% protein. These are about a foot long but you can break them up into smaller bits really easily, I use them for my dog.

Hungry Hector Cornish Herby Lamb Temptations - 10.3% protein. Again easily breakable but are classed as a fresh food product so once the packaging is open, it needs to be kept in the fridge otherwise they go mouldy, but dogs seem to LOVE them.

Betty Miller Garlic Minis - 8% protein. Tiny little bones :)

Antos cerea XL toothbrushes (an example I looked at) is 1.6%

TBH I wasn't sure what constituted low protein either :-/ so stuck to under 10%. Try him with carrots too, they used to HOWL at our old dog training class when I turned up with pockets of chopped carrot and my old dog but he adored them.

I used to have a dog that would train for apple slices and for a real treat - banana (but that could get a bit messy ).

Thanks Cherrylips, Fish4dogs is certainly not low protein!! It is difficult knowing what to feed, I use James Wellbeloved (green for sensitive skins) with the odd salmon fillet for a treat/ to help coat. I avoid tinned meat as i think they are full of crap. I really struggle with training treats though so will certainly look at your suggestions. It's such a minefield!!