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And of course, after all that price checking....I forgot to get prices on "normal" meats, like chicken drumstick, ground beef, etc. {smack} back to the store.

Hmmmm...gotta price out all the other things for Miko too. Sigh. So much to do.
 
Sheesh. After all that looking...it was for nothing. Well, not nothing, but a slight nothing. Because of Miko's kidney disease, the best foods to feed him are ground beef, lamb, pork, turkey and dark meat chicken. All the "easy" things. LOL.

Now I'm off to get prices on the grains I need to supplement his diet with (remember, this diet is low phosphorous for his kidney failure, so it can't be 100% raw). I keep wondering though, is $1/lb of farina expensive? LOL. I guess its better than buying it as cream of wheat. lol.

I'll probably start his new diet towards the end of the month. I did notice however, his breath is BAD since he's been on the k/d diet. And I have been brushing it every other day. Poor guy.

And lastly, I checked out scales, just to see. Not sure if I'll need one as I could do it by volume, not weight. But dang, those things aren't cheap. Especially if I want one to go down to half grams. Sheesh. $30+. Um, maybe I'll just eyeball it, lol, and if he gets fat, ease up on the amount.

The bigger question is.....do I want to switch Koji over eventually. That could be more expensive and time consuming. Maybe later, after I get used to Miko's half raw feedings.
 
I've been reading up on kidney diets as well, coz the rescue I have with me now has kidney problems. I joined the k9kidneydiet yahoo group and found it to be chock full of information! They tend to do more homecooked than raw though, probably because, like you said, in order for a dog to eat a decent meal that is low phosphorus, you'd need to add other things to the diet. The people at the yahoo group 'rawfeeding' might have other ideas.

Glutinous rice has low phosphorus, and sweet potato as well. I've been trying to make some kind of meatloaf with mushed up beef and glutinous rice or sweet potato for the rescue, but she's NOT liking it! Sigh. She happily ate meatballs that were only meat of course! She's definitely not going to eat raw meat and rice or potato on the side! :rolleyes2:
 
because dogs that usually get kidney trouble are seniors, homecooked diet would be appr, but with young dog I still would go with raw.
 
Michelle,

I'm on the list too. I don't post too often as I'm reading more than anything else. As for raw and reading as much as I can, I'm finding that no, you can't really feed a full raw diet to a kidney diet as there's way too much phosphorous in most meats. To balance it out, they use mostly grains.

From my calculations, Miko will be only getting about half raw and no more than 20% protein (including eggs). Otherwise, the phosphorous gets too high.

Whatever you choose, good luck. Feeding a half raw/half cooked is better IMHO than feeding the Hill's K/D dog food. At least he's getting quality stuff.
 
SheltieChe said:
because dogs that usually get kidney trouble are seniors, homecooked diet would be appr, but with young dog I still would go with raw.
Click to expand...

Actually raw is great for seniors too. It's not the protein that causes the kidney issues. So, young or old, for kidney dogs, full raw isn't really possible. But yes, if I could afford full raw for Koji, I'd go that route. I may just supplement his kibble with every other few days of raw. So he's not left out. ;)
 
Hi,
We use scissors mostly and those I bought in the kitchen section for 3.99. I buy zipper bags at Cash n Carry as it is alot cheaper and we use 12 quart tubs to hold bags of organs and hearts as they can be messy. We do feed four collies and three shelties raw so go through about 6.5 pounds of food per day.
I think your biggest issue is getting good priced meat. We have a meat wholesaler who will sell to the general public and I get the staples from them at great prices. We have another vendor for chicken backs and necks at .38 per pound. Contact with out local sheep/lamb butcher gets me fresh lung/trachea and some organ and lastly getting to know some hunters can get you venison parts and organs they don't want, duck, turkey, etc. They are generally very nice about saving stuff as they hate to see things go to waste.
Transition slowly and don't worry. I have weaned two sheltie litters right onto raw and the pups have done spectaculalry and the moms were raw fed during pregancy and it was one of the easy pregancy and whelping ever. Good luck

Liz T
 
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