[MyFairLacy]

Originally Posted by hha

First as far as protein and yorkies, do a search, it tells you straight out too much protein is NOT good for them..... Too much protein for too long can cause kidney damage. I see wolves all the time(my hubby always has the national geographic channel on), it even showed the wolves eating some kind of carcass the other night, all the wolves are always thin, and always look like they're starving to death..
They sure don't look healthy to me..These are my opinions, which we all have...I'm not telling anyone what to feed their dogs, as I sure wouldn't want someone telling me what to feed mine..But, I do know that in 51 years, we've had 2 big dogs that have lived to be 17 and 18, and a lot of small dogs, that have lived to be almost 20..most of them were on purina, as back years ago, that was like the number one food..and the thing is, I can never remember any of them ever being sick or any kind of health problems..Well, I take that back, my golden retriever we had put down at 18(cancer), but, even people(if they live long enough), usually end up with some kind of cancer

High Protein does NOT cause kidney damage

http://www.thepetcenter.com/imtop/protein.html (agree with all except saying a dog is an omnivore...a dog is a carnivore!)

A fable that has finally been debunked is the one that states that dogs acquire kidney problems from eating too much protein. This fable was repeated so often that it became self-sustaining and axiomatic. Finally, experts in animal nutrition have buried this myth. It simply is not true that high protein levels in dog food cause kidney problems. "The dog can digest large amounts of proteins, especially those of animal origin" stated Prof. Dominique Grandjean DVM, Ph.D., at the Fourth Annual International Sled Dog Veterinary Medical Association Symposium

The very early research that pointed a finger at protein as being a cause of kidney failure in dogs wasn't even done on dogs! It was done on rats fed unnatural diets for a rodent... diets high in protein. (Were we tinkering with Nature during these “tests”?) Rats have difficulty excreting excess protein in their diets because they are essentially plant eaters, not meat eaters. Dogs are quite able to tolerate diets with protein levels higher than 30% on a dry weight basis. Dogs are meat eaters; that's how Nature made them! Rats are not. So some of the early research on rats was assumed to be true for dogs... and the myth of "too much protein in a dog's diet causes kidney damage" was started. And just like any seemingly valid rumor or assertion, it derived a life of its own and is only recently being accepted as untrue.

http://www.peteducation.com/article....articleid=1104

High protein pet foods are NOT harmful to a normal animal's kidneys. As an animal's body digests and metabolizes protein, nitrogen is released as a by-product. The excess nitrogen is excreted by the kidneys. A high protein diet produces more nitrogen by-products and the kidneys simply excrete the nitrogen in the urine. While you may think this would 'overwork' the kidneys and lead to possible kidney damage, this is not true. The kidney's filtering capabilities are so great that even one kidney is sufficient to sustain a normal life. There are many pets - and humans - living perfectly healthy lives with just one kidney.

The myth that high protein diets are harmful to kidneys probably started because, in the past, patients with kidney disease were commonly placed on low protein (and thus low nitrogen) diets. Now, we often put them on a diet that is not necessarily very low in protein, but contains protein that is more digestible so there are fewer nitrogen by-products. These diet changes are made merely because damaged kidneys may not be able to handle the excess nitrogen efficiently. In pets with existing kidney problems, nitrogen can become too high in the bloodstream, which can harm other tissues.

Unless your veterinarian has told you your pet has a kidney problem and it is severe enough to adjust the protein intake, you can feed your pet a high protein diet without worrying about 'damaging' or 'stressing' your pet's kidneys. Also, you are not 'saving' your pet's kidneys by feeding a low protein diet.