Coming to the Darkside....UPDATE

Well, this is about doodle's brother, Taquito the chihuahua.

Many of you know that yesterday he had his blood drawn to re-check his kidneys (creatinine levels specifically). They have not improved and I have really done all I can do feeding commercial food.

My vet fully supports homecooking and walked me through a kidney diet recipe she recommends. It involves ground beef, eggs, rice, mixed veggies (frozen kind for soup), olive oil. I add Tums, B-complex and fish oil to one feeding a day.

Anyway, I guess this is more of a blog, but to any of you Food Groupers who homecook and know of any other recipes, just let me know. For now, I will go with what vet recommends. We will re-check his levels in 3 months, assuming he does okay between now and then. He also will be on daily meds for the rest of his life!

Let's hope this never applies to any of our doodles, but I thought it might be worth posting so you all get T's update and just in case it helps someone in the future.

Update: Made my first batch last night - doubled the recipe and I got 10 days out of it. I used the suggestions here and put them in individual containers (1/3 cup per serving). I kept about 3 days in the fridge and froze the rest.

Taquito had his first serving last night and for the first time ever, ate faster and finished his food FIRST! This morning he had his second serving and Peri physically moved him out of the way to try to steal his food. She got quite a firm NO. I am giving her a small spoonfull on her food to placate her.

So, success thus far! It only took about 30 minutes to cook everything and put it in individual containers, so it wasn't so bad!!! Thanks for the support all!

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Permalink Reply by Tina, Clover, Plus 5 More on May 6, 2011 at 10:01am

Sorry to hear Taquito's levels haven't improved. Allyson and T your in my thoughts.

Permalink Reply by Nancie & Gracie Doodle on May 6, 2011 at 10:04am

I hope the home cooking all works out for him. After all, Tacky is an honorary Doodle mascot. Tacky and Lady P are the same in our eyes when you talk about them. He is totally one of the Doods!

Permalink Reply by Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle on May 6, 2011 at 10:38am

Thanks for posting this, Allyson.

I'm sorry to hear that Taquito's blood tests did not show an improvement, but hopefully we can be glad that they at least didn't get worse.

Homecooking is a really good option for a lot of dogs. It's more work, of course, but one plus is that Tacky is so small, you can probably make up a month's supply of food fairly quickly and freeze it. Kudos to your vet for helping you with this!

My elderly cat was recently retested, and her B.U.N. and creatinine have gotten much higher, which means her kidney disease is progressing. We have now switched to baby food for her. Of course, since she's past 17, my goal is just to keep her comfortable and maintain a reasonable quality of life.

I hope your trip to the Dark Side goes well and helps Tacky live a long, healthy life. I'm sure you'll also get some new experience that you can use to help others with these issues down the road.

We are all here to support you and send positive thoughts for Taquito. Hugs to you both.

Permalink Reply by Allyson, Peri & Taquito on May 6, 2011 at 10:46am

Thanks all!

It will be a lot of work, but vet said if I double the recipe, it would last 2 weeks at least for Taquito! That's not too bad.

Taquito just turned 7 and in chihuahua years, that's actually pretty young to be facing kidney issues like this - which is why I will do the medicine, cook the food, etc...because he really deserves more time with us (and I want him her darnitt!!!). Just this morning I woke up - he was sleeping curled up in between my legs - he looked up at me a smiled :)

Karen, I am sorry about your cat. 17 is a long life...my childhood cat experienced same thing - mom kept her comfy and she passed at 18. Good long life!!!

Permalink Reply by F, Calla & Luca on May 6, 2011 at 1:22pm

Sorry to hear about your cat. Getting older sucks for us and our pets.

Permalink Reply by Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle on May 6, 2011 at 2:53pm

Thanks. Yes, I sure hope it never comes to my having to eat baby food, lol, it makes me gag just smelling it. At least the cat seems to like it!

Permalink Reply by F, Calla & Luca on May 6, 2011 at 2:58pm

The meats, ugh, but the fruits are kind of nice. I bought some not too long ago when I needed a baby food jar, needless to say I couldn't waste the fruit : )

Permalink Reply by Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle on May 6, 2011 at 2:59pm

I agree...unfortunately, the cat only gets the meats. :(

Permalink Reply by F, Calla & Luca on May 6, 2011 at 3:01pm

She probably loves them, though.

Permalink Reply by GBK on May 6, 2011 at 10:48am