Published on August 26, 2005

When your pet is diagnosed with kidney disease, your vet considers the type of treatment based on your pet’s age, physical condition and stage of the disease.

Kidney disease, however, may or may not have been caused by other diseases. A problem as seemingly insignificant as bad teeth and gums could be affecting your pet’s kidney functions – or as critical as a cancerous tumour.

In Thailand, most vets immediately advise owners of pets with kidney disease to reduce the amount of protein in the diet, the reason being that protein is much more difficult for the kidneys to process than, say, carbohydrates.

A few people recommend raw meat for cats and dogs, whether or not the animal is suffering from disease. They argue that the ancestors of cats and dogs survived only on raw meat, it makes sense to feed your own pet raw meat too.

I disagree. First, ancient wolves and cats never dealt with meat from animals fed with hormones, chemicals and other modern stuff. Second, the animal that sits in your lap is not wild. Unless it has eaten raw meat from birth, I doubt if its gastro-intestinal tract could handle food that is much more difficult to digest than cooked food. Third, owners who made raw meat available have told me (in tears) how their pets died.

I am not a vet, and I can’t recommend one diet over another, but readers should be aware that diets for animals with kidney disease have become somewhat controversial.

Research has not proved definitively if diet improve kidney function significantly. The effect may be indirect, though. An overweight animal is prone to many more diseases than an animal at its optimum weight. An animal whose diet has fewer calories will lose weight, and pressure on the kidneys should be reduced.

There’s another consideration. My boy Pan-Pan loves chicken, lightly boiled. Not for him those commercial cat food products that contain chicken. He wants his meat freshly cooked. He’ll nibble at the glop I make for him, a combination of ground chicken, chicken liver and rice, but he much prefers his chicken straight.

When he was diagnosed with incipient kidney problems, the vet suggested a commercial cat food (chicken-flavoured) especially for his problem.

It’s quite expensive (Bt65 for a little tin), but the moment I put it out, he let out a moan and retreated to his lair in the bathtub.

“You’ll have to force him to eat it,” the vet said.

Pan-Pan and I then went through a battle of wills as I forced the food down his throat every mealtime. He did swallow it, but in the end, he came under so much stress that his gum problem flared up, and he had to take a course of antibiotics to get it under control.

In the end, whether you opt for a commercial brand or make your own kidney-enhancing diet, you know your pet and how far you can go with a change in its diet. I still put out that expensive food, and Pan-Pan nibbles at it, but he also gets the glop and boiled chicken.

We both want to avoid stress, which can also be a major factor in kidney problems.

Questions about your pets? Fax (02) 751 4446 or e-mail laurie@nationgroup.com.

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