Bruce's Recovery Food

Every Sunday I do groceries primarily for Bruce and for the rest of my pack. And it's become a weekly routine. I love it. I've become more aware of the prices of goods and I've experienced the best groceries in town. For a while I went to Cash and Carry, Landmark and Rustan's Fresh, which are all in Makati. But now I stick to Puregold in Better Living or the new Metro Grocery in ATC cause of good selections and cheaper meat prices. I don't like SM Hypermarkets cause they almost have everything I need out of stock except for a steady supply of Coconut Oil.

Before Bruce was diagnosed with Acute Renal Failure, the dogs' meals were made of high-grade dog food mixed with human food leftovers. But ever since that frightening episode, I researched and decided to go Natural all the way...for all dogs!

When Bruce was in the hospital a month ago, I would research non-stop and vowed to try anything that would help him battle renal failure. I would rush home from the office at 4 pm and drive to the vet to give his dinner at 5 pm. His first natural dinner was white rice, boiled chicken breast, egg whites and cottage cheese. Absolutely NO salt. The helping was small more for a 15 Kilo dog while Bruce weighs 45 Kilos. At that time I just wanted to test if he would respond to this kind of food and I don't want to surprise his stomach too much.

First meal I bought for Bruce when he was still at the vet.  White Rice, Cottage cheese, chicken and egg whites

He loved it!! Every single day for those two weeks he would look forward to my visit. I'd like to think with those visits with home cooked meals helped in his speedy recovery. Probably it reminded him of home more than anything else. His packed meals would either be chicken or ground pork mixed with rice. I started to experiment with additional ingredients and give him 2 cups a day. He relished it. The veterinarians were impressed on how he ravaged his meals every single day, which is always a good sign of recovery. They would also applaud me to be the only dog owner that they know who would do hourly visits daily with home cooked meals.

He gets excited for breakfast, lunch, snacks and dinner

He does this really good obedient sit-and-stay kind of trick and looks at you with so much concentration.

1 full meal gets consumed in a minute. Before it was less than that, but we try to tell him to slow down. He now harbors a stronger appetite for anything!

I became more encouraged. I started to print out diets from sites and consulted this with my vet of course. Since he lost a lot of weight, our initial recovery food would include lots of carbohydrates, fats with right amount of minerals and right amount of protein. Low Sodium, Low Protein/phosphorous is key.

I took cue from the medical pet sites and bloggers. And as much as we would want to be precise, we relied heavily on right cups and proportion for a 45 Kilo dog. Ground meat that would just fit in one's palm is enough for one meal. We limited organ meats and cheese intake for the entire week. We only add cheese and butter for flavor. We concentrated on giving right vegetables, white rice, pasta, egg whites and potatoes.

WEEKLY GROCERY LIST:

1/2 Kilo of Ground Pork  - regular / with fat
1/2 Kilo of Ground Beef - regular / with fat
1/2 Kilo of Chicken Thigh Fillet
1/4 Pork or Beef Liver
1/4 Pork Menudo cuts (Extra treat!)
Cottage cheese, regular cup
1 bar of Unsalted Butter (This will last for 2 weeks) - Magnolia brand is cheaper
500 g Oatmeal pack (This will last for 2 weeks)
Salad Macaroni 1 Kilo ( This will last 1 1/2 weeks)  - Sunshine brand is cheaper
Rice (Majority of the week)
Baby Potatoes 5 Packs
Sayote 4 pcs, medium
Kangkong
Pechay
Sweet Potatoes
Carrots (Lots)
Apple  (Snacks)
Coconut Oil
Yogurt

Grocery Cost: It would cost you around 1,200 PHP per week. This could be shared by Bruce and Harvey (Bullmastiff, JRT). 

Bruce gets 2 full meals a day - that's 3 1/2 cups. 1 snack size serving for lunch, Occasional slices of cheese and biscuits for mid-afternoon treats and a small sized apple at night.

Sample meals:

1) Ground Pork + White + Rice + Egg Whites + Veggies
2) Mashed Potatoes + Unsalted Butter +Beef cubes + Egg Whites
3) Oatmeal + Ground pork + Squash + 4 Tablespoons of yogurt
4) Macaroni + Shredded Chicken + Carrots + Cottage Cheese/Regular

** Add crushed egg shells in every meal.
**mix and match as you'd like, experiment on vegetables

Snacks:
1) Apple
2) Small Banana
3) Cheese and Bread
4) Celery Sticks
5) Biscuits (Bruce loves Broas and Marie)

Ratio - 40% Carbs, 30% Veggies 30% Meat: 3 Cups for Bruce/meal. Full meal is twice a day 8 PM and 8 AM.

Cooking method: The meats are all cooked in one day to save effort and gas. We store it in the freezer to be heated for every meal preparation. Rice, potatoes, oats and pasta are boiled per day. We either boil or sauté using extra virgin coconut oil (Never use COD LIVER OIL) or unsalted butter.

We add KIDNEY TONE, a diuretic medicine prescribed by the vet with Antioxidants such as Vitamin E, A and Omega 3, which you can get from Healthy Options. We add those pills in every meal. The Vet said he could go back to his regular dog-food diet after 3 months, but from the looks of it...I think we'll stick to this. The dogs are happy.

Thank you God that I have help at home who does the cooking and mixing and matching of meals. That's why Bruce and Harvey are always excited. They'll never know what they're going to eat for the day. They love it so much that they've become our alarm clocks at 8 am and 8 pm.

Again, this is just my own concoction. You always want to consult your vet for any changes in your dog's diet. But so far, this diet for Bruce worked wonders!

Bruce's Must-Diet

My dog eats healthier and fresher foods than I do. Well for him, it's a must.

Kidneys extract wastes from the body, that's excess minerals and toxins alike. This organ is pretty smart and crucial in the balancing act of minerals. When one's kidneys are functioning poorly, it would be inefficient to excrete toxins from the body. This would result to various complications that would lead to death if not medicated immediately. Someone who is suffering from acute renal failure will feel nauseous, weak and very dehydrated. Someone who is recovering from Acute Renal Failure has to have enough support and care as far as diet and activities are concerned.

According to medical experts, kidneys do not immediately regenerate like other organs. If it gets damaged, it stays damaged for quite some time if proper care and support are not met. It's not like a normal wound that would just heal itself in a couple of days. Prognosis are usually unfortunate for badly damaged kidneys receiving poor maintenance or care. Since toxins and excess minerals come from the food we eat, proper diet should be applied if the patient wants to live long.

Sharing with you what I know based from what I read. But for those who want an access to thorough medical information, you may view medical sites and talk to your veterinarian.

Protein   -   

Everybody knows that protein is essential to everyone's diet including dogs. They need this to build muscles and aid resistance to infections. Protein is good from the sounds of it. But if the dog has acute renal failure most or a huge chunk of their kidneys are damaged abruptly. Change in diet should be done immediately.

Protein is found in lean and high grade meats, dairy products, egg and chicken. Basically you can ask your obsessive gym buddy or athlete friend what they eat for breakfast, lunch or dinner.

Kidney Failure:   According to http://www.mcw.edu/Nephrology/ClinicalServices/, if one is recovering from acute or chronic kidney failure, that person would not want to stress out the remaining functioning parts of the kidneys. Once protein is digested, the by-products sent to the kidneys intended to be excreted from the body are toxic. Logically, too much protein intake means the kidneys will work double time to excrete these toxins. And for damaged and stressed kidneys, they might not be able to do the job efficiently, in fact they will be extra stressed and so toxins will build up. This is seen through BUN results (Blood Urea Nitrogen), which measures the by-products (toxins) present in the bloodstream. Normal rate is 20 - 30. When Bruce was diagnosed, his BUN rate was 65.

Low Protein:  The trick is to give them just enough protein they need daily cause you cannot totally eliminate this from their diet especially for dogs. Instead of getting high quality and lean protein, you can opt to buy protein with enough fats. Get the regular ground beef or pork. Instead of white chicken meat, get the darker one like thigh parts. And the amount is just as important. If before you give organ meats (liver, kidneys) to your dogs every other day, which is very healthy yet high in protein, you could probably just give organ meats to them twice or thrice a week. Eggs are high in protein, but have high biological value, so a large egg a day (egg whites only) is optimal nutrition for your dog.

Protein is a must, it's a matter of giving just the right amount, a little bit less than usual.

Potassium

Potassium is important in making the muscles work especially the ever-pumping heart. I remember watching Guga Kuerten, a retired tennis player, eating banana in between tennis matches because it keeps muscles from cramping under strenuous activities.

Bananas are primary source of potassium along with Oranges, potatoes, tomatoes

Kidney Failure: Kidneys make sure that you just have enough potassium in your diet. The rest they would have to excrete. If the kidneys are damaged, they might not excrete extra potassium from your system, which might lead to irregular beating of the heart or worse case, a stroke.

Low Potassium:  Just like protein, we need potassium in our body and all food has potassium content, we cannot really avoid it. The idea is avoiding giving high-potassium foods as often. Now, I only tend to give Bruce regular sized (Latundan size) bananas thrice a week for  snack. Mashed potatoes are included in his diet, only for 4 meals a week.

Sodium

Sodium is needed in the system to balance fluid and control blood pressure.

These are generally your ol' good salty foods found in canned goods, cheese, cold cuts and processed food.

Kidney Failure: Like Potassium, well-functioning kidneys determine just the right amount of sodium you need in the body. If the kidneys are not working at its best, sodium build up may occur and may result to swelling of organs (eyes, hands, anklets)

Low Sodium:  Instead of putting salt or using processed foods, cook foods with their natural flavor and avoid adding salt. Use herbs/spices instead to create flavor. Use unsalted butter if a must and AVOID canned foods. Before, I give Bruce repeated cheese snacks in a day which results to consuming 1 regular bar for 5 days, but now I've cut it down to 1 bar for 1 1/2 weeks, spread out in snacks and meals.

Phosphorus

It's a mineral that works with calcium that keeps bones healthy. Aside from keeping bones healthy, it's also needed to keep nervous systems working.

High protein foods also produce high phosphorous content like organ meats, dairy products, sardines and chicken

Kidney Failure: Kidneys create a delicate balance of Phosphorous and calcium. If Kidneys are down, kidneys will have a hard time excreting too much phosphorous. Phosphorous will build up and Calcium will not be properly absorbed by the body. In this case, bones will become weak and brittle and there will be undesired calcium build ups in the system.

Low Phosphorous: Minimal organ meats, high grade protein and cheese. Sometimes, we need the so-called BINDERS to include in the diet. These binders help kidneys in such a way that it "binds" phosphate to the food that your dog eats so that excess phosphate will not be absorbed by the body. I would limit Bruce's organ meats, cheese and would often give him crushed egg-shells as a natural phosphate binder.


Bruce's exact diet plan that will currently works in the succeeding post. 



Resources: http://www.mcw.edu/Nephrology/ClinicalServices/DietforRenalPatient.htm
http://www.2ndchance.info/kidney.htm
http://dogcathomeprepareddiet.com/diet_and_chronic_renal_disease.html

Bruce's Recovery: 1 Month After

Bruce is our miracle dog. Just after he turned 1 year old last June, he was diagnosed as suffering from Acute Renal Failure on July 3rd. He couldn't move, he couldn't sleep and he looked like he was about to welcome death. But we fought. I prayed so hard as we both tried to cope from depression. And after almost 2 weeks of intensive therapy and hospitalization, he was able to bounce back and was released to us for continued care.

When he came back home, as much as we wanted to forget the painful episode, on the first week we were all on strict monitoring of Bruce's progress. Acute Renal Failure is a fatal disease and damaged kidneys do not almost regenerate as fast. There's a high possibility of relapse as the doctor said and Google medical sites supported that claim. I've read that mortality rate is high and most dogs that survived most often graduated to chronic kidney failure. Select friends also shared that they had dogs who also suffered Acute Renal failure and just died even after weeks of therapy and signs good health. But I prayed and urged Bruce to be that minority, to be part of that small statistical number of dogs who survived and led a good quality of life.

It's been more than a month since he was diagnosed and it's now a month and 5 days since his release from the veterinarian. From the time he was released, he only displayed strength, vitality and positive energy and we can say that coming out from his sickness made him a better dog. His energy level remained high, his appetite remained aggressive and he maintained his sweet and protective disposition. No signs of vomiting. No signs of lethargy. No signs of pain and irritation. It was like coming out from a nightmare better than ever.

He is scheduled to visit his vet next week for some follow up check-up and blood test. I must admit, I'm anxious. His diet of low sodium, low phosphorus and protein will still apply. His kidney maintenance medicine and antioxidant will still be given. I know he is strong and he might be a miracle dog, but we've learned our lesson and we won't' be taking any chances. Acute Renal Failure is no big joke and I doubt the threat is totally diminished, so we'd continue to support him in whatever way possible so he may very well enjoy long years of quality life.

I'm so proud of all my dogs and I'm so thankful to Him, whom I believe really saved Bruce's life.

This was taken 2 weeks after he was released from the Vet. He maintained his loving, energetic and positive disposition. No signs of lethargy, pain and nausea. He is now more curious and excited about simple things. Spends his mornings with Harvey and enjoy sleep and food more than ever.