My 10 year old boy has just been diagnosed with kidney failure. He is currently on tinned RC Renal diet which he is having trouble eating as it is very 'claggy' and sticks to the roof of his mouth. I understand that Hills K/D is of a similar texture. He will not eat the dry variety so I was wondering if anyone knew of a home-made type diet that is suitable for dogs with kidney failure. How do others get on with the tins ? Is there anything I could add to the tins which would make it easier to eat ? Grateful for any help.

Check this link out, there is lots of information there to help with dogs in kidney failure: http://www.dogaware.com/kidney.html

Chappie is one I've often heard recommended for kidney failure as it is low in protein.

I had a toy poodle who had the start of liver and kidney failure when he was about 12 years old and the vet put him on a special tinned food which was as you described very claggy, Brandy didn't like it at all and after about 8 weeks of trying to hand feed him with it the vet said the next best thing was to feed him chicken and rice or white fish and rice and he prescribed a vitamin supplement called pet tabs for him which was in tablet form and brandy would happily crunch this with no problem. I also took him to the vets every 6 weeks for a steroid injection to support his liver and kidneys which kept him well for about 2 years when he had to be pts because his kidneys finally gave up but he was nearly 14 years old and had suffered with collitis all his life as well.

Hi,
Sorry to hear your boy has kidney failure.
I currently have a 15 year old dog with kidney failure, it was diagnosed 2 years ago.  He is also on RC Renal. I found the same problem as you and would have to scrape it from around the sides of his bowl where he had licked it into a solid mass! In fact he would come and fetch me to loosen it!

Over time he lost interest in the RC and just would not eat it. I then started adding some chicken, white fish, or tripe to the food along with either some lightly cooked peas and carrots. I would chop the meat and veg up really small and mix it through, this seems to get rid of some of that stickyness.  He seems to have more energy since I started to add the meat and veg (about 18 months ago.)

The vet however does not like me adding any meat so I do try to get away with as little as possible, just enough to make it more palatable. It is a difficult situation to be in. The Renal food is not what I would feed my dog on by choice, he was raw fed for many years, but I also want to help his kidneys. The vets say a low phospherous (sp) low protien diet but other research says protein should be kept nornal. Its a very difficult choice.

On my last visit to the vets for blood tests his creatinine and urea levels had risen and I felt guilty for adding the protein to his diet, but looking at it another way, we are 2 years down the line and he is still doing well for his age. 

I hope you find something to help you. The website listed is very good if you want to home cook. I got so much information from there.

Thank you all so much for your responses. The website quoted is amazing and is extremely informative. I now have lots of ideas. Thanks again.