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Is Acana's high protein linked to dog CKD? What about heavy metals?

Updated On September 23rd, 2025

Pet's info: Dog | Yorkshire Terrier | Female | unspayed | 11 years and 8 months old | 7 lbs

Hi, I have a female Yorkshire terrier (3.5kg, 11 years) recently diagnosis with CKD early stage 1. My question is: I changed his kibble to Acana Wild Prairie when she was 8 years old until 6 months algo that I changed it to another one from my veterinary and now I'm worried if the high protein in Acana (35%) caused the CKD the 3 years that I gave ver Acana. Also, I'm worried about the lawsuit of heavy metals, can you also tell me if that os false? Please, I want to know if Acana caused her CKD

2 Answers

Most Helpful Answer

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Answered By Lauren Jones VMD

Veterinarian

Published on May 11th, 2021

I'm sorry to hear that Kira was recently diagnosed with CKD. While the high protein in the Acana diet would not have caused specific damage to Kira's kidneys, it's possible that it sped up the disease process. One of the biggest challenges with kidney disease in general is that we don't see changes on blood work until 2/3 of the kidney function has been compromised. As a result, it's hard to know exactly how long this issue has been present and how slowly it may have been progressing. I don't have any specific information regarding the Acana lawsuit, but I did see that the suit was dismissed in 2020. Chronic kidney disease is a very common degenerative disease in older dogs. Again, I don't think this diet caused the onset of her kidney issues, but it may have contributed to the speed at which it progressed. I hope that everything goes well for Kira!

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    Answered By Penelope Graben, DVM

    Veterinarian

    Published on

    Hello there, Acana is admittedly not my favorite of dog foods. I do not know about their current heavy metal lawsuits, but I know they are highly associated with nutritional dilated cardiomyopathies. That being said, the average age of onset of canine kidney disease is 11 years of age. It is unlikely to be related to her diet at her age. In the future, I'd feed your pets something your vet will stand behind- Hill's, Royal Canin, Purina ProPlan are the top three brands that will follow nutritional guidelines. I hope this helps. Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach.

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