UNIVERSITY RESEARCH
Kidney disease is one of the most common medical problems of pets. Because the kidneys remove waste from the bloodstream and regulate body fluids, kidney failure is considered very serious. In fact, kidney disease is a leading killer of cats and dogs 2. Chronic kidney disease is a gradual, progressive disease in which visible symptoms usually do not appear until much of the kidney is damaged.
CLINICAL STUDY INVOLVING PRESCRIPTION DIETTM® k/d®
Recent research published in the Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association, April 15, 2002 edition shows that, among dogs with chronic kidney disease, those fed a specially formulated dog food (Hill's® Prescription Diet® Canine k/d®) live twice as long as those fed a typical adult grocery dog food.1 In fact, the benefits for the dogs on the kidney food were so dramatic the study was ended early, and all dogs were shifted to the kidney food.
Clinical Trial Details
The double-masked, randomized, placebo controlled, two-year university based clinical trial involved 38 dogs with naturally occurring cases of kidney disease that were fed either a regular dog food or a kidney food. At the completion of the trial, two times as many dogs fed the kidney food, Prescription Diet® Canine k/d®, were still living. The dogs fed the Canine k/d® food were 50% less likely to suffer uremic crisis than the control group and experienced a 72% reduction in the rate of progression of kidney disease. The Canine k/d® food delayed the onset of the clinical signs of uremia including vomiting, lethargy and loss of appetite two times longer than those fed the control food.4 The study was supported by a grant from Hill's Pet Nutrition, Inc., and conducted at the University of Minnesota.
Prescription Diet® k/d® provides optimal nutrition specifically for dogs with kidney disease. The uniquely formulated pet food reduces kidney workload through protein restriction and reduced sodium and slows ongoing kidney damage by restricting phosphorus and providing essential fatty acids.
OTHER RELEVANT RESEARCH
Relationship of Diet to Uremic Morbidity in Dogs
Fredéric Jacob. D. Polzin, C. Osborne, T. Allen, J. Neston and L. Swanson, College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Minnesota, St. Paul, MN.
We hypothesized that diets modified in protein (16% DM), phosphorous (0.34% DM), sodium (0.20% DM) and lipids (19% DM) (RD) are superior to diets containing maintenance quantities of protein (25% DM) ; phosphorous (0.95% DM) ; sodium (0.39% DM) and lipids (11% DM) in ameliorating manifestations of uremia in dogs with spontaneous renal failure.
To test this hypothesis, we designed a double-blinded randomized clinical trial. Thirty-eight dogs were enrolled from 1997 through 1999, including dogs that were > one year old; had serum creatinine concentrations between 2-8 mg/dl; and had stable serum creatinine concentrations. Using Kaplan-Meier survival analyses, we compared the efficacy of RD (21 dogs) to MD (17 dogs) in minimizing uremia, renal-related mortality and all-cause mortality. After assignment, a diagnosis of uremia was based on clinical signs, exclusion of pre-renal causes for uremia and increase in SUN concentrations >20% compared to the preceding visit.
MD dogs had a significantly (p< 0.02) higher incidence of uremic episodes (58%) compared to RD (28.5%). The proportion of dogs that developed uremic crisis was:
RD dogs had reduced all-cause mortality (p<0.05) and renal-related mortality (p<0.05). All-cause mortality was 48% in RD group compared to 88% in MD group.
The RD evaluated in this study significantly delayed onset of uremia and reduced mortality in CRF dogs.
Spontaneous Chronic Renal Failure (CRF) in Dogs:
Dietary Influence on Natural Profression
Fredéric Jacob, D. Polzin, C. Osborne, T. Allen, J. Neaton and L. Swanson. College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Minnesota, St. Paul, MN.
We hypothesized that diets, modified in protein (15% DM), phosphorous (0.34% DM), lipids (19% DM) and sodium (0.20% DM) (RD) are superior to diets containing maintenance quantities of protein (25% DM), phosphorous (0.95% DM), lipids (11% DM), and sodium (0.39% DM) (MD) in reducing the progressive loss of renal function in dogs with spontaneous renal failure.
To test this hypothesis, a double-blinded, randomized clinical trial was performed. Twenty-seven dogs were enrolled from 1997 through 1999, including dogs that were > 1 year old; had serum creatinine (Scr) concentrations between 2-8 mg/dl; and had stable Scr concentrations. Only dogs surviving greater than 6 months without a uremic episode following diet assignment were included. We compared the effects of RD (18 dogs) to MD (19 dogs) on renal function as measured by the reciprocal of serum creatinine concentration (1/Scr). Dietary effect on 1/Scr was examined after diet assignment. ANOVA with repeated measures was used to compare diet groups. Mean 1/Scr values were calculated for each diet group.
Renal function generally remained stable in dogs fed RD but significantly (p<0.001) declined in time in dogs fed MD. When the effect of diet on renal function was examined in dogs (n-16) with Scr concentrations < 3 mg/dl, a similar significant effect (p<0.003) effect was observed.
Renal diet used in this study significantly reduced progression of renal failure in dogs with naturally occurring CRF. Notably, early dietary intervention (i.e., Scr concentrations between 2-3 mg/dl) reduced progression of spontaneous CRF.
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