What to do, what to do??

[Adrianne Matzkin]

Samantha, who will be 6 in a few weeks) has had a recurrent UTI (or maybe she never got rid of it and I only noticed since it has been to cold to keep the door open for easy access to the yard) for over a year.

Blood and crystals in her urine. She is back on antibiotics for 10 days.

Here's the kicker!!

I bought a bag of SD CD! I didn't know what else to do! She needs a food with low protein. I truly trust my vet, he is on the panel that is making the decision to change the vaccine protocol so he is no dummy. 

He wants her on it for a month, then run her labs again to see if it changes. If he sees significant changes he suggests we keep her on it for life. Needless to say I am not happy about this.

What else can I feed her that will help keep her kidneys healthy?? IF I have to I will feed her this for life but it make me crazy to even think that!

thanks!

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Not knowing anything about nutrition other than Hill's doesn't make your vet a dummy; it just makes him unedcuated in nutrition like most other vets, since there is no nutritional curriculum in vet school.

Here are the ingredients in the food your vet sold you: 

Whole Grain Corn, Pork Fat (preserved with mixed tocopherols and citric acid), Chicken By-Product Meal, Soybean Meal, Corn Gluten Meal, Soybean Mill Run, Chicken Liver Flavor, Lactic Acid, Calcium Sulfate, Soybean Oil, Flaxseed, Iodized Salt, L-Lysine, Choline Chloride, Dicalcium Phosphate, vitamins (L-Ascorbyl-2-Polyphosphate (source of vitamin C), Vitamin E Supplement, Niacin, Thiamine Mononitrate, Vitamin A Supplement, Calcium Pantothenate, Biotin, Vitamin B12 Supplement, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, Riboflavin, Folic Acid, Vitamin D3 Supplement), Vitamin E Supplement, Taurine, Potassium Chloride, minerals (Ferrous Sulfate, Zinc Oxide, Copper Sulfate, Manganous Oxide, Calcium Iodate, Sodium Selenite), preserved with Mixed Tocopherols & Citric Acid, Phosphoric Acid, Beta-Carotene, Rosemary Extract.

Obviously, corn, soy, floor-sweepings and by-products are not an acceptable diet for a dog, just for the purpose of getting a lower protein level. No medicine in there, nothing therapeutic. 

And for that matter, the protein levels are not all that low: 

Protein	22.3
Fat	22.1
Carbohydrate (NFE)	47.9
There are lots of commercial dog foods with protein levels lower than 22%. 22% fat is not the best news either.  Contrast that garbage with the Rayne Clinical Nutrition Rx food for bladder and urinary health: http://www.raynenutrition.com/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=RC307-4kg

[Adrianne Matzkin]

Karen - -just want to verify - you approve of Rayne foods? Very expensive so I just want to make sure before I order. 

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Absolutely. It's the only Rx food out there with safe, healthy and wholesome ingredients. 

[Lynda Kamrath]

Oh, Adrianne, I know exactly what you are going through.  My dogs always respond very well to antibiotics, but then after a short while the same problems seem to return.  You know, of course, that Hondo died of liver failure at seven years old.  And now, Groucho Too apparently has cancer and a short life expectancy.  I am afraid that I blame a lot of their problems on the canine diet.  Hondo could not eat processed food, so I started to cook for him.  But dogs are carnivores, they are made to eat meat.  What to do, what to do?  For humans, we can safeguard out health by eating no animal fats, but dogs?  I think we are feeding a good dry dog food (Solid Gold Hundeflocken) but they definitely prefer human food.  Recently they have been eating meat (corned beef, prime rib with no fat, turkey with no skin or fat) and things like lentils, barley, and rice.  They like carrots and squash, but they are basically carnivores.  There is a good food made here in Monterey County called Happy Dog that I always cooked for Hondo, and it has something like dog vitamins and minerals that you add to the natural mix of barley and veges.  They all like that.  Try a few other things and just remember that vets are paid off by the food and drug companies just like our doctors are.  Use your own best judgment.  I know that I am rather cynical, for myself and my pets.

[Lynda Kamrath]

[Nicky, Riley & Boris]

These are both lovely pictures of Groucho Too and he looks like he is certainly enjoying life for now, long may it last,

[Lynda Kamrath]

Can't get a comment added to the photos so here it is.

This is a favorite photo of Groucho at the beach in Pacific Grove and one at the dog park on Christmas Eve.  The biking photo was taken yesterday.  He seems to be doing fine, but who knows - cancer is like that.

[Nicky, Riley & Boris]

Adrianne, I think you should trust your vet on all things other than nutrition. That is what I do and what I will continue to do. I am sure at some point it will be mentioned to me that Boris has the option of being put on an Rx diet for joint and mobility support but I intend to be ready with my answer before that happens. I trust the information here on food 100% and I suggest you do the same. Let Karen help you find a good food for Samantha and then return the rubbish (as outlined in the ingredient list posted below) and get your money back.

[Lynda Kamrath]

Oh, Adrianne, the questions are definitely out there.  My son is a real diet freak (naturally, always has been that way) and he is adamant about food now with all the questions of GMO and nuclear contamination from the accident in Japan.  Can you believe gieger counters at the meat markets?  But it has come to that.  The fish and the oceans are contaminated and GMO crops have taken over the midwest.  My doctor came from a vacation in Kauai a changed man.  Apparently the corporations (Monsanto, etc) bought out the sugar cane plantations in Kauai and took out the sugar cane and planted corn (GMO of course).  The Roundup is not working well so they have come up with a pesticide cocktail that they have been spraying on the plants (kill the weeds) but it has also killed the bees and pollinators.  The papaya crop has been killed on the whole island.  The kids are getting sick.  Paradise has been changed and the oceans are also contaminated.  And it is getting worse.  Corn - poison, corn syrup - poison, soy - also ruined because they alternate corn and soy, seafood - also poisoned, and it goes on and on.  Now I bet this has made your day!  Well, you did ask.  Sorry about all of this and I hope Samantha gets better.  I know she is your heartdog, just like Hondo was mine.

[Ricki and Tara (doodle)]

Lynda, fortunately not everyone is sitting down for this...:)

http://www.naturalnews.com/042545_Kauai_measure_2491_GMOs.html

[Lynda Kamrath]

Yes, I was sitting, but already knew about this.  Unfortunately, a good friend of mine, a retired teacher, was on Kauai and I asked her about the GMOs, and she did not know what they were.  I'll tell you, there are a lot of ignorant people out there.  And the GMO labeling laws did not pass in California or Washington because they were made to believe that it was going to be "expensive".  Well, I will tell you, it is going to be expensive and not for labeling.  Unbelievable.

[Ricki and Tara (doodle)]

Oh, I wasn't implying that you were sitting! LOL!  Yes, it is a horrible problem and I think Monsanto is using the population of the World as their personal labs rats, much like they did with DDT.