Dietary Treats

JulesInKy

Hi All,

Long time lurker, first time posting in API.

I have two dogs Max (golden/lab mix) and KK (golden/GS mix).

KK is a recent adoption direct from his previous owner. He's approx 5 years old and has in the past few weeks had quite a bad kidney stone problem fixed with surgery. He's being fed RC Urinary SO food. I'm instructed by ex-owner that I'm not to feed him any treats. He won't be seeing my own vet until after Christmas (recommended time to have health check re: kidneys). He's in otherwise great shape and has a lovely character.

Max is 1 year old and has food intolerances, the only food I've found that he can eat without, erm "consequences" is Burns Potato and Pork. Max is still in training and I use treats for reward. I use RC Educ Low Fat treats which he loves and his digestive system doesn't react.

My problem is this. I don't feel right about giving one dog treats and the other just watching on.

After trawling through all the conflicting advice online I've decided to ask the folk with experience for their thoughts.

1. Would it be safe to use the kibble from KK's urinary food as reward treats for Max?
2. Is rawhide out of the question for a dog prone to kidney stones?

hardCopy

JulesInKy wrote: »

Hi All,

Long time lurker, first time posting in API.

I have two dogs Max (golden/lab mix) and KK (golden/GS mix).

KK is a recent adoption direct from his previous owner. He's approx 5 years old and has in the past few weeks had quite a bad kidney stone problem fixed with surgery. He's being fed RC Urinary SO food. I'm instructed by ex-owner that I'm not to feed him any treats. He won't be seeing my own vet until after Christmas (recommended time to have health check re: kidneys). He's in otherwise great shape and has a lovely character.

Max is 1 year old and has food intolerances, the only food I've found that he can eat without, erm "consequences" is Burns Potato and Pork. Max is still in training and I use treats for reward. I use RC Educ Low Fat treats which he loves and his digestive system doesn't react.

My problem is this. I don't feel right about giving one dog treats and the other just watching on.

After trawling through all the conflicting advice online I've decided to ask the folk with experience for their thoughts.

1. Would it be safe to use the kibble from KK's urinary food as reward treats for Max?
2. Is rawhide out of the question for a dog prone to kidney stones?

The simplest thing would be to just withhold some of his daily portion of kibble for use in training. I can't see any reason this would cause a problem. I'm guessing the previous owner was just warning against giving him lots of ham, cheese and hot dogs, i.e. too much extra protein for his kidneys.

JulesInKy

The older dog with the kidney issues (KK) is fully trained and would be treated simply as a reward to reinforce his good behaviour. However to get around the treat problem I was wondering if his RC Urinary kibble would be harmful to use as rewards for Max the younger dog. That way they both get the same

Or would the younger dogs (Max) training treats, RC Educ (the low fat stuff) be harmful to the dog with the kidney problems?

aonb

When my elderly dog was on Renal specific dog food (Royal Canin at one time) I asked the vet if I could use the left over tins for my other dog. He said not a problem... just not to give it to the non-renal issue dog only/exclusively/long-term, other than as treats to use it up

For the dog with the kidney issues there are treats you could give them both - strips of dried sweet potato? Does he like bananas - you could even freeze discs of banana??! How about a bit of peanut butter (or would that be too high protein?) I used to freeze in an icecube tray, some probiotic yogurt, just half full, for my boy. There are recipes online for home baked dog biscuits that are suitable for dogs with renal issues that Max would enjoy too - I cant find the recipe right now, maybe another boards person can point you to them - I used to make a big batch, and they stored well...

Latatian

I have a similar issue, for training I will often just use kibble for both, or else treats for the non-sensitive one and kibble for the sensitive one. It doesn't seem to make much of a difference as she still jumps up and down and crashes into things in sheer excitement at 'TREATS'. They also go nuts over apples, if that's any help?

JulesInKy

The dog with the kidney issues, KK: he was never introduced to fruit and veg as treats and I just cannot coax him to enjoy them. It's a good job that Max enjoys snaffling up all the carrots, green beans, apple etc, that KK just drops on the floor!

I freeze natural Actimel into ice cubes and they each get on after their meals.

I did make some home-made biscuits: peanut butter, fresh puree pumpkin, wholewheat flour and eggs. They both love them but I only give one of these a day.

It's more small treats for training that I'm concerned with, where the quantity given is high. I did use steamed chicken breast, but that is high protein so it's out.

Convenience and quantity is the criteria I'm trying to meet whilst fulfilling both dogs' needs. Training is very awkward and slow because I'm having to dip into two different treat containers and match them up with the target dog.

As I said, the older dog is trained, but I would like to teach him "tricks" at the same time as Max so that his brain is kept busy

tk123

OP if you use something like hotdog, ham, chicken etc (keep the pieces big so you can easily pick it out) you can put it in a lunch box/bag with his kibble and leave it in the fridge - the kibble will absorb the smell of say the hotdog and make it more appealing.