Hannah Zulueta My Dog Was Raw Fed. Then Came the Kidney Diagnosis.
What a kidney diagnosis changes about raw feeding, and why the carbohydrates you worked so hard to remove may belong back in the bowl.
You chose raw because you wanted the best for your dog. Nothing about that choice was wrong. Kidney disease changes the job the food has to do, and the classic raw bowl was built for a different job.
Can a raw-fed dog with kidney disease keep eating raw?
Sometimes, in the early stages, with a reformulated recipe. Most dogs in stage 3 or 4, and any dog on a drug that turns down the immune system, do better on cooked food. Fresh, whole food stays in the bowl either way.
- Take out the bone, and add calcium from a measured source.
- Measure the protein, and add a cooked grain to carry calories.
- Cook the food if your dog is in stage 3 or 4 or takes an immunosuppressant.
Why doesn’t a classic raw diet fit a kidney dog?
Three parts of the classic raw model collide with kidney disease.
Why is bone a problem for a kidney dog?
When your dog crunches through a chicken neck, he is eating the mineral that holds a skeleton up. Bone is made largely of calcium phosphate. That is exactly why raw feeders include it: it balances the calcium in a meat-heavy diet.
For a kidney dog, it also delivers phosphorus in bulk. A German study of home-prepared raw and bone-based rations found that calcium and phosphorus often ran well above recommended amounts (Dillitzer et al., 2011). In a healthy dog, the kidneys clear the surplus. In a kidney dog, phosphorus builds up in the blood and speeds the disease along (Finco et al., 1992).
A kidney recipe gets its calcium from a measured source instead, such as calcium carbonate or eggshell powder, so the calcium comes without the phosphorus. Phosphorus targets for a kidney dog.
Is too much protein a thing?
Yes. The body can’t store extra protein the way it stores fat. It uses what it needs for muscle, organs, and repair, and it has to break down the rest.
Think of protein as building supplies delivered to a house under repair. The crew uses what the job needs. The extra can’t sit in the yard, so it gets broken down and hauled away. A raw bowl with no grain leans hard on protein for calories, so more of it ends up as extra.
Why can a young dog handle extra protein when an older dog can’t?
Plenty of working filters clear the extra urea easily. BUN stays in range, and the surplus protein never becomes a problem.
Urea builds up in the blood faster than the kidneys can clear it. BUN climbs, bringing nausea, ammonia-smelling breath, and a falling appetite.
Every gram of meat protein also brings phosphorus with it. In kidney dogs, I measure protein: enough high quality protein to hold muscle, with no surplus left for the kidneys to clear. How much protein a kidney dog needs.
Are the bacteria in raw meat riskier for a kidney dog?
Raw meat diets carry a documented risk of Salmonella, Listeria, and other pathogens, for the dog and for the people who handle the food (Freeman et al., 2013). A strong young dog may never show it. The risk rises for a dog who is older, losing weight, or on a drug that turns down the immune system, such as mycophenolate for protein-losing kidney disease.
If your dog takes an immunosuppressant, tell your vet he eats raw. This is the situation where cooking the food carries the clearest benefit.
What complications do you see in raw-fed dogs with kidney disease?
Raw-fed kidney dogs rarely come to me with only one problem on the chart. These are the complications I see most often.
- Thyroid. Thyroid values out of range. Neck and gullet cuts can carry thyroid tissue, and feeding it has been reported to push thyroid hormone too high in raw-fed dogs (Köhler et al., 2012).
- Potassium. Potassium running out of range, which then limits which vegetables and medications fit.
- Low cholesterol. Cholesterol sitting low on the panel, which surprises owners who expect a meat-rich diet to push it up.
Two more come up often enough to need a closer look. Choose one.
Picture the inside of an old tea kettle, coated white with mineral scale from years of hard water. Raw diets often run high in minerals, and the urinary tract collects them the same way.
Of all things, this one surprises owners most. The food goes in, but the body can’t pull what it needs out of it.
- Weight and muscle slip even when the bowl is emptied.
- The coat turns dull.
- The stool is loose or greasy, sometimes with pieces of undigested food in it.
In TCM, this picture points to a digestive fire running low. Undigested food in the stool is the body asking for warmth.
Do raw-fed kidney dogs also get EPI, PLE, PLN, or Addison’s disease?
They can, like any dog. Raw feeding is not a known cause of any of these four conditions, but each one changes what a raw diet asks of the body.
- EPI and PLE. In exocrine pancreatic insufficiency (EPI), the pancreas stops making enough digestive enzymes. In protein-losing enteropathy (PLE), the gut leaks protein and absorbs fat poorly. Both make fat hard to handle, and many raw diets run high in fat.
- PLN. Protein-losing nephropathy is a type of kidney disease where the filters leak protein. Many of these dogs take an immunosuppressant, which raises the bacteria risk covered above.
- Addison’s disease. It can look like kidney disease on bloodwork, with high potassium, low sodium, and raised kidney values. If your dog’s potassium keeps running high, ask your vet whether Addison’s has been ruled out.
Each of these changes the recipe. When I see any of them, I flag it for your vet, and the kidney recipe gets built around all of them together.
Aren’t carbohydrates bad for dogs?
Dogs digest starch. During domestication, dogs gained extra copies of a gene called AMY2B. It makes amylase, the same enzyme in your saliva that turns a piece of bread sweet if you chew it long enough. Wolves typically carry two copies. Many dogs carry far more (Axelsson et al., 2013). Dogs spent thousands of years living alongside people and eating our grain.
In a kidney bowl, a measured portion of cooked grain does three specific jobs.
Type and amount still count. Sugar and highly refined starch belong in a separate category from a measured scoop of cooked grain. The grain in a kidney recipe is portioned to a purpose.
Which grain depends on the dog. In TCM Dietetics, each grain carries its own warming or cooling nature, and the right one for a dog who runs warm is different from the right one for a dog who runs cold. The TCM food energy list sorts them for you.
How does TCM see grain, cooked food, and an aging dog?
The oldest Chinese medical text on diet puts grain at the foundation. The Su Wen, chapter 22, says the five grains nourish, the five meats benefit, the five fruits assist, and the five vegetables fill (Unschuld & Tessenow, 2011). Grain forms the base, and meat supports it.
TCM also asks how hard the body has to work to use a food. The Spleen is the cook in this picture, turning what comes in into usable energy. Raw food is cold and hands the cook more work. Cooked food has already done part of that work.
The cook needs heat to work. In TCM, that heat comes from Ming Men, the Gate of Life, a fire the Kidneys keep burning low in the body. Think of it as the pilot light under the stove. Every other burner lights from it.
With age, the pilot light burns lower. Bodies get older and colder, and a kidney dog’s pilot light is often lower still. You may notice:
- Cool ears and paws.
- A dog who seeks the sunny spot, the heating vent, or the blanket.
- Slower digestion and a softer appetite.
- Pieces of undigested food in the stool.
That last sign is the clearest. Undigested food in the stool means the body is asking for warmth. Warm, cooked food arrives already heated and partly broken down, so the fading fire has less to do.
What are my options if my dog has always eaten raw?
Some dogs have strong bodies and do well on raw for their whole lives. If your dog is doing well on raw, keep feeding what keeps him healthy.
If your dog has been raw fed his entire life and now has some of the issues above, this is the time to ask what else can be done in these later years. Choose the option closest to your dog right now.
- Boneless muscle meat, with calcium from a measured source.
- Organ meat reduced and measured, since liver and kidney are dense in phosphorus.
- A cooked grain added to carry calories, chosen for your dog’s constitution.
- The pathogen risk stays, so handling and hygiene count.
Meat cooked gently until just done, then mixed with cooked grain and vegetables. It stays fresh and whole, kills the pathogens, and is easier for a tiring digestion.
A later-stage kidney dog, or a dog on mycophenolate or steroids, carries the most risk from raw bacteria and the least spare digestive capacity. A cooked, formulated recipe covers both.
How do I move my dog from raw to cooked without upsetting his stomach?
- Start with the same proteins he already eats. Change the preparation first, and the ingredients later.
- Cook lightly at first. Meat just cooked through is closer to what he knows than meat cooked hard.
- Mix old and new over 7 to 10 days. A quarter new food for a few days, then half, then three quarters, then all.
- Add root vegetables, grain, or both, in small amounts. A dog who has never eaten them needs a few days for the gut to adjust.
- Watch the stool. Soft stool means slow down and hold at the current mix for a few more days.
A complete recipe needs formulation. Cooking changes nutrient levels, and removing bone removes the calcium it supplied. What complete and balanced means.
What else do owners ask about raw food and kidney disease?
Is raw food bad for dogs with kidney disease?
I strongly recommend that you work with a nutritionist qualified to formulate a kidney recipe for your dog, raw or cooked. Classic raw diets run high in phosphorus from bone and carry a bacterial risk. Some early-stage dogs can stay raw on a reformulated, boneless recipe. Later-stage dogs usually do better cooked.
Can I feed raw meaty bones to a dog with kidney disease?
I don’t recommend it. Bone is built from calcium phosphate, so every bone adds a phosphorus load the kidneys can’t clear. A kidney recipe gets calcium from a measured source such as calcium carbonate or eggshell powder, which brings calcium without the phosphorus.
Do dogs with kidney disease need carbohydrates?
They benefit from them. Carbohydrates supply calories with little phosphorus, lower the protein share of the recipe, and let protein go to muscle instead of fuel. Dogs carry extra copies of the starch-digesting gene AMY2B, so a measured portion of cooked grain suits them.
What are the best carbohydrates for a dog with kidney disease?
It depends on the dog. The grain has to fit the phosphorus budget and your dog’s constitution, since some grains are warming and others cooling in TCM Dietetics. The TCM food energy list shows the nature of each one.
Is lightly cooked food as good as raw for a kidney dog?
For a kidney dog, it is often better. Gentle cooking kills pathogens, makes food easier to digest, and keeps it fresh and whole. The recipe still needs formulation, because cooking shifts some nutrient levels and removing bone removes calcium.
Where do I go next after switching from raw?
The Kidney Disease hub covers what goes into a cooked kidney recipe. If the switch from raw unsettles digestion, the Gut Health hub picks up from there, and the TCM hub explains the Spleen and Kidney patterns behind the advice in this guide.
Want your dog’s fresh food rebuilt for the kidney?
I build TCM Dietetics kidney recipes for raw-fed dogs, whether that means a reformulated raw bowl, a lightly cooked one, or a full cooked plan.
References
Axelsson, E., Ratnakumar, A., Arendt, M.-L., Maqbool, K., Webster, M. T., Perloski, M., Liberg, O., Arnemo, J. M., Hedhammar, Å., & Lindblad-Toh, K. (2013). The genomic signature of dog domestication reveals adaptation to a starch-rich diet. Nature, 495(7441), 360-364.
Dillitzer, N., Becker, N., & Kienzle, E. (2011). Intake of minerals, trace elements and vitamins in bone and raw food rations in adult dogs. British Journal of Nutrition, 106(S1), S53-S56.
Finco, D. R., Brown, S. A., Crowell, W. A., Duncan, R. J., Barsanti, J. A., & Bennett, S. E. (1992). Effects of dietary phosphorus and protein in dogs with chronic renal failure. American Journal of Veterinary Research, 53(12), 2264-2271.
Freeman, L. M., Chandler, M. L., Hamper, B. A., & Weeth, L. P. (2013). Current knowledge about the risks and benefits of raw meat-based diets for dogs and cats. Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association, 243(11), 1549-1558.
Köhler, B., Stengel, C., & Neiger, R. (2012). Dietary hyperthyroidism in dogs. Journal of Small Animal Practice, 53(3), 182-184.
Unschuld, P. U., & Tessenow, H. (Trans.). (2011). Huang Di Nei Jing Su Wen: An annotated translation of Huang Di’s Inner Classic, Basic Questions. University of California Press.
