Any experience with the fresh dog diets advertised on radio and TV?

[Mike 03]

6. This is excellent, excellent information and so helpful

Our veterinarians have never come right out and said it, but the implicit message I have gotten since my dog's last tests, is that my current veterinarian does not believe my dog ever had kidney disease. The veterinarian who diagnosed him back in 2018 is long gone. She left for Colorado to be an equestrian vet. Every year since his diagnosis we would go into our local veterinarian practice, which is about three to five veterinarians (and the turnover is staggering because the hours are long and the pay is not great).

That is a hugely helpful tip about veterinarians not giving approval for these types of diets. I believe we would have had that conversation today and now maybe I will not bring the topic up at all.

This is pure gold:

This is what I would feed: plain quiona, a liver and kidney supplement, a multi vitamin supplement, and 2 or 3 times a week include salmon or boiled chicken. Quiona is mostly carbs, with about 14% protein and lo-fat.

I'm so glad someone is okay with me feeding salmon. I have to get the no-skin no-bone kind next time, because it never occurred to me how much fat is in certain types of salmon. If I feed him salmon a few days in a row I noticed he was acting like he didn't feel well (maybe pre-pancreatitis?) so he gets a little bit of salmon with the skin removed, every other day, and boiled chicken on the other days.

In addition to being elderly he is also a big dog--about 70 pounds (but a good weight). He is so sweet. I'd do almost anything for him.

The funny thing about his age and health is that veterinarians have been telling me for three years that he's on death's door--either from "advanced kidney disease" (which apparently wasn't the reality) or extremely high lever abnormalities that couldn't be explained.

When he had tests done in the summer of 2023 a veterinarian I'll call "Nell" phoned me in a panic with the results and basically told me he had months. And she was upset that I was feeding him anything other than his kidney disease prescription diet--like occasional salmon and chicken.

When we returned for more testing in 2024 I learned that this veterinarian had been fired, and our new veterinarian (who I really like) implied that she was not surprised Nell had been unable to interpret the results of his kidney labs. I guess she was incompetent.

My dog had an emergency in January 2024 and had to be hospitalized for high lever values. At that time the emergency clinic did all sorts of testing and they found nothing wrong with his kidneys.

Anyway, I'm so appreciative of your advice! We'll see how today goes.