Dog won't eat kidney food. Is my homemade diet okay for stage 3?
Updated On September 23rd, 2025
Pet's info: Dog | Chihuahua | Male | unneutered | 9 years and 4 months old | 8 lbs
My dog was diagnosed with stage 3 kidney disease. In regards to homemade food (my dog will not eat the kidney diet food, he went days without eating & I'd rather him eat something he likes & will enjoy) I have since been feeding 50% high quality lean protein of either chicken, beef, turkey mince or green tripe with 25% white rice & 25% squash along with supplements-Hawthorne, COQ10, B12 for his anemia and salmon oil. He also has ipakitine with each meal. Does this sound ok? Anything I can add?
4 Answers
Most Helpful Answer
Published on December 12th, 2017
Aghh Poor Chico, sorry to hear about his kidney disease. Homemade diets are notoriously difficult to get right as it is never as simple as just working out calories etc. My general advice would be persevere with different renal brands as these will ultimately have a better balance. However, having said that, if you are sure about going down the root of a homemade diet, you sound like you are taking the right approach. For your dog's stage I would worry you are giving too much protein. The essential pointing this diet is to reduce protein and phosphorus whilst maintaining vitamin and mineral balance. Renal foods typically has a dry protein of about 14% so with you feeding wet meat I would reduce it to around a third of the diet then make up the rest with pasta, rice and range of vegetables. The supplements you are adding will be helpful and the phosphorus binder will help greatly.
1Pet Parents found this answer helpful
Related Answers from Veterinarians
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Published on
Aghh Poor Chico, sorry to hear about his kidney disease. Homemade diets are notoriously difficult to get right as it is never as simple as just working out calories etc. My general advice would be persevere with different renal brands as these will ultimately have a better balance. However, having said that, if you are sure about going down the root of a homemade diet, you sound like you are taking the right approach. For your dog's stage I would worry you are giving too much protein. The essential pointing this diet is to reduce protein and phosphorus whilst maintaining vitamin and mineral balance. Renal foods typically has a dry protein of about 14% so with you feeding wet meat I would reduce it to around a third of the diet then make up the rest with pasta, rice and range of vegetables. The supplements you are adding will be helpful and the phosphorus binder will help greatly.
1Pet Parents found this answer helpful
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Published on September 5th, 2017
Hello there and thank you for using pet coach! If you are looking at formulating your own homemade diet for your dog that has kidney disease, I would highly suggest visiting www.balanceit.com to formulate a well-balanced diet specific to your dog's needs. On this website, you will also find the necessary supplements to make the diet balanced with vitamins and minerals. Once you make the request for a specific diet, the website will send out a prescription request to your vet's office to get approval for the diet. Once approved, they will send you the recipe and how much of each ingredient to use in making the diet. This is by far the most comprehensive website for formulating your own homemade diet that I know of. I hope this helps! Please feel free to contact me if you have any other questions or concerns. I am also available via phone or text consultation if needed.
2Pet Parents found this answer helpful
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Published on December 5th, 2017
Chico is certainly lucky to have such a dedicated owner. I have a couple suggestions for you. I would recommend having a veterinarian who is board certified in nutrition help you create a diet for Chico. One of the largest companies that will do that for you is called Balance It. https://secure.balanceit.com/ Another options would be Just Food for Dogs which has kidney diets that are made of whole foods (https://www.justfoodfordogs.com/renal-support-low-protein) or can help you create a custom diet for Chico. https://www.justfoodfordogs.com Those would be my top choices to help you find the right diet for Chico. I hope that was helpful. Thanks for using PetCoach.
1Pet Parents found this answer helpful
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