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It’s important take preventative measures that protect your dog’s health and avoid kidney failure symptoms. This is especially true for pet owners with older dogs.
Many people who own older dogs wonder if it’s even possible to deter kidney failure when their pups enter double digits.
This article highlights what you need to know about kidney failure in older dogs, and how to give your old pal the quality life she deserves. As you look for signs of kidney failure in your dog, know that kidney diseases in dogs are more gradual, and can be prevented and controlled, no matter how old your dog is.
If you notice something “just isn’t right,” it might not be that your dog is getting up in years—it could be chronic kidney failure. It’s time to get proactive with your friend’s health using the following information as your guide.
Introduce Vitamin D into Your Dog’s Diet
Give Vitamin D supplements to your dog in order to improve the balance of phosphorus and calcium. This reduces the symptoms of renal failure and will help make your dog feel as if he isn’t sick.
Keep Your Dog Playing
Even though you might have a dog who is up in years, that doesn’t mean she’ll stop being her old self. Age has nothing to do with good, quality playtime, which your dog can’t have if they suffer from kidney disease symptoms.
Kidney disease is progressive, and while it is managed with diet and supplements, it never hurts to increase not only the quantity of years, but also the quality of life.
In other words, get that old coot to the park!
Avoid kibble.
If you notice an unnatural sluggishness or malaise that’s symptomatic of kidney disease, your first course of action is to change their diet.
That means no more kibble, most of which contains a multitude of wheat, corn, and “leftovers” from the slaughter house. Keep in mind that improving kidney function doesn’t entail just cutting out dry dog food.
The best action step is to make your dog’s food yourself. The good news is that it’s pretty simple to create nutritious, vitamin- and protein-rich dog food. All you need is a crockpot.
