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If you're worried about your pet's health, please speak to a vet or qualified professional.

Renal diets

9 replies

NotLeavingWithoutTheSpringRolls · 19/09/2025 18:15

Vet has advised to put our elderly dog on a renal diet for suspected kidney disease. However she hates the stuff and will only eat a few bites so I was after any advice from those of you who know about these things or have had similar experiences. Have rung vets but not helpful. She’s in on Monday so I can ask again then but got the weekend to get through first. Many thanks

OP posts:
Dearg · 19/09/2025 18:23

Which food have you tried? Many renal diets substitute fat for protein, and that’s not always good or tasty to the dog.

I struggled when my lab needed a renal diet, as he also needed low fat for occasional pancreatitis.

I ended up using Bosch Sensible Renal & Reduction , which I got from Zooplus online.

He seemed to enjoy it, but he was a lab, so that’s not a ringing endorsement.

NotLeavingWithoutTheSpringRolls · 19/09/2025 18:31

Just Royal Canin special so far but anything like that she probably won’t eat so I was looking for something more appetising. Until we started this she was enjoying Lilys Kitchen.

OP posts:
Loz2033 · 19/09/2025 18:44

You can get tinned renal diets which we used to stir through the kibble for our dog.

NotLeavingWithoutTheSpringRolls · 19/09/2025 19:15

She’s not eating the special renal tinned stuff we’ve got - just wondering what to do in the absence of any veterinary advice that would be preferable to her not eating anything. I’ve tried ringing the vet to no avail - I can make her something myself but don’t want to make her unwell.

OP posts:
Loz2033 · 19/09/2025 21:24

I think the problem is kidney issues can make them feel queasy which doesn't help. Have you tried heating up the food? Can make.it smell stronger for them

ACavalierDream · 19/09/2025 21:57

I will tell you what I did but I must stress quite strongly that I am no vet and I did the best I could with what I believe was right. Not everyone would agree.

My Whippet was diagnosed with kidney failure, I want to say 2 years/18 months ago but I cannot remember the exact time line. All her life she had been fed Lily's Kitchen organic with extra toppings of salmon, chicken, beef, veggies (not popular), homemade stock and leftovers. She was never interested in food and when we had her as a lone dog we could leave the food out all day, she would just pick at it.

When she was diagnosed I moved to Hill's Renal diet both kibbles and wet. She would never eat the wet food and would only eat the kibbles if mixed in home cooked food. I tried to removed the home cooked food entirely but she just would not eat. I then took the view that if I was her age with what is in effect a terminal disease, I would rather continue with gin and pastries and probably would take up smoking again because why the hell not. I would rather shorten my life a little and have fun in the meantime. So I resumed mixing her favourite foods (mostly lots of homemade chicken stock, chicken and cheese). We continued like this for some time. One vet I saw agreed because I think there was not much more to do.

Three weeks before she was put down she stopped eating entirely. The vet gave me meds to make her hungry but she was losing her marbles (it was miserable seeing her eating like that), became even more incontinent and would refuse to get out of bed. The bloods showed an issue with liver on top of kidney and they recommended more drugs to make her eat, a stay in hospital to bring fluids up (but this would have to be regular trips and she was terrified, I mean properly terrified of the vet) and more investigation into the liver problem. She was about to turn 15 and I thought if it was me, I would not want to live like that. The vet also thought she was in pain.

I take some comfort in knowing that the last few months of her life continued just like she had lived and that all good things come to an end.

I don't mean to sound gloom but just share our story in the hope that it helps. For some things, there is only so much medicine can help with and we need to decide what we are comfortable with.

Freysimo · 21/09/2025 07:23

@ACavalierDream I absolutely agree with what you did with your dear dog. My lurcher is 14 with dementia. Her appetite was very low and I was so worried. The vet prescribed low dose Mirtazepine which worked well, but had side effects of restlessness (already restless with dementia) amongst others. We also suspect she has a degree of kidney disease but vet says treatment would be unpalatable diet, which she wouldn't eat anyway.

I have decided to stop the Mirtazepine and let her eat what she wants, or not. She has lost weight and I think we have to look at her quality of life now. It's time to make a considered decision, so, so hard.

ACavalierDream · 21/09/2025 08:48

Freysimo · 21/09/2025 07:23

@ACavalierDream I absolutely agree with what you did with your dear dog. My lurcher is 14 with dementia. Her appetite was very low and I was so worried. The vet prescribed low dose Mirtazepine which worked well, but had side effects of restlessness (already restless with dementia) amongst others. We also suspect she has a degree of kidney disease but vet says treatment would be unpalatable diet, which she wouldn't eat anyway.

I have decided to stop the Mirtazepine and let her eat what she wants, or not. She has lost weight and I think we have to look at her quality of life now. It's time to make a considered decision, so, so hard.

Edited

Thank you for your kind message and I am sorry you are going through what I went through a few months ago. Mirtazepine is indeed what we were given but it broke my heart seeing her artificially eat but OP it was clearly the end for us. It doesn’t sound that is the stage you are in. Perhaps what we wrote can help you decide what to feed her and perhaps that drug will help but from memory it is not a long term solution. It is worth saying that my whippet went on for another 18 months/2 years after diagnosis.

@Freysimo I feel for you. You are where we were a few months ago. It was very hard. Despite having lived all my life with dogs it was always my mum who did the job. On hindsight we were all rather selfish to leave her to it. My whippet was my first proper dog so it fell on me. I don’t want to derail the thread but @Freysimo do dm me if you need someone to speak to. It was very lonely and all I had was this site to find more info on pts and my husband was away. I gathered a few gems, so please do not hesitate to ask me for help if you need it.

Weedkillerworks · 21/09/2025 09:07

OP, thank you for posting - I too have a whippet diagnosed with kidney disease who is reluctant to eat renal food.

He doesn’t mind renal dry food too much (various brands from ZooPlus including Royal Canin and Integra). Wet food is a struggle - I’ve tried Hills and now Rocco, which he will eat a little of but is losing weight.

@ACavalierDreamThank you for posting about your lovely whippet - it’s a similar tale here although mine is younger (10). He is not late-stage yet but I have had the same thoughts about whether it’s better to give him something he will eat and actually enjoy but may shorten his life rather than making him miserable with his unpalatable tea.

I am topping him up with a tiny bit of chicken which he will take my hand off for and titbits of peppers and any other veg he will eat.

He is on Simintra tablets.

it’s a tough one.

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