12/04/2024
Sometimes we also post about non-homeopathic topics because they are just as important!
LOW PROTEIN DIETS AND KIDNEY DISEASE?
So much biologically and indeed nutritional information is transferable amount rats, humans and dogs. It's why we run so many tests on them. Sure as hell ain’t for there benefit! However, it appears that, at least in terms of protein metabolism, dogs, as meat-eating carnivores, are different to omnivores like rats and humans.
First we know they have a great affinity for meat and will select it over all other ingredients all the time in every taste trial so far conducted. They rarely include carbs in their diet, given the chance to avoid them. They are protein eating machines and can digest much more of a meat than we can. In short, they are ALL about the protein (and fat), they are protein-eating machines.
It turns out that their kidney too response differently to protein levels in the diet (compared to rats, at least). In fact, we’ve known since 1991 that lowering protein at the first sign of kidney disease to "protect their kidneys" is not the right course of action in dogs. In fact, if anything, it appears detrimental to the patient. But, like high-carb diets for dogs with pancreatitis for cancer, the idea sadly persists in veterinary clinics across the world today, more than 30 years on.
The authors below review two of the most telling studies in this respect and I’m just re-printing the entire abstract here (albeit CAPS added by me for effect).
"Two previously published studies in dogs with reduced renal function are reviewed. In the first study, renal function and biochemical responses to dietary changes were studied in four dogs with stable chronic renal failure. The objective was to determine if dogs with moderate stable failure adjust to diets with varied protein and electrolyte content. These dogs were found to have the capacity to adapt to a wide range of dietary protein and electrolyte intake. THE ONLY EXCEPTION WAS FOUND IN DOGS FED A REDUCED-PROTEIN DIET WHICH FAILED TO APPROPRIATELY ADJUST RENAL TUBULAR EXCRETION OF SODIUM AND PHOSPHATE.
The only advantage of reduced dietary protein in this study was a reduction in blood urea nitrogen (BUN). Disadvantages of reduced-protein diets were reduced glomerular filtration rate (GFR) and renal plasma flow.
In the second study, the hypothesis that large amounts of dietary protein sustain renal hyperfunction and produce progressive glomerulosclerosis in dogs as previously reported in rats was tested.
RESULTS FAILED TO FIND A PATTERN of deterioration of renal function over FOUR YEARS. Light microscopic changes and electron microscopy also failed to find glomerular injury similar to that reported in rodents. THESE RESULTS DO NOT SUPPORT THE HYPOTHESIS THAT FEEDING A HIGH PROTEIN DIET HAD A SIGNIFICANT ADVERSE EFFECT ON RENAL FUNCTION OR MORPHOLOGY”.
Since 1991 we’re known this.
Lowering protein WILL reduce the level of protein in your dog's blood, that’s for sure, but to what end?! Part of our problem in the real-food world today is that vets think their “normal” protein readings, based on dogs fed high carb, ultra-low protein kibble are…well, normal. But they’re far from it. They likely reflect a protein deficit. Normal readings should be taken from dogs fed normal foods, i.e. raw, and we know when they do, BUN and creatinine (protein in the blood) is around 30% higher.
A conventional vet will worry when they see this slight increase and conclude your dog is entering “early stage kidney disease”, but they are not.
So first you have to teach them what normal protein readings are in raw-fed dogs. You might follow that with the study in cats that showed diets WITH WATER are significantly easier on kidneys (imagine) and finally, if they're pushing the low protein bit hard, you need to ask for the study where feeding low-protein diets to dogs in early stage kidney disease was the best course of action. They won't like it but if you are calm and do it with love, if just for all the other pets in that clinic, you will get your message across.
So far, the only dogs you need to reduce the protein in are dogs suffering proteinuria, in other words, end-stage kidney disease where the kidneys are so bunged up they can’t even remove protein from the blood where it now builds to poisonous levels. Yes, if your dog is showing he’s not removing protein from the blood, you need to reduce it drastically in the diet. Not before.
Final tip - ask to check your dog's kidney readings NOW while healthy. What is normal for your dog? So few of us do this but it gives you a baseline. Too many of us check bloods when they're sick but that measure is far more useful when you have a counter-measure to compare it to. Everyone runs different.
And remember, if taking blood for organ readings THEY MUST BE WELL FASTED. No food that day. Measure in the morning and ideally make sure it's around the same time each time as patterns change throughout the day.
