confused, need some nutrition advice
 

My boy will be 2 in April. He is approximately 7lbs. For the past 6 months I have been feeding him Orijen. He's very picky, but he loves this food. He has a corn allergy, which is why on other foods he couldn't stop biting his lower back (sometimes until it bled), but he has completely stopped this behaviour since being on Orijen. This is the only change I've noticed in him. He seems to be a healthy, happy dog. Not as active as he used to be, but this is a change I noticed in him after he was neutered. He went from being hyper all the time, to being much more calm and cuddly. Pretty sure it has nothing to do with his diet, though.

Anyway, I have some concerns. I want to have all my pets on high quality, grain-free diets. Orijen is very high quality, grain-free, and high in protein. It's supposed to be one of the best. However, I've heard some stuff about the high protein content. Apparently it can cause kidney problems. I'm not sure what to believe. Some people swear that very high protein causes issues, and others say that a problem will only arise if he has had kidney problems in the past, or if he has lowered kidney function for some medical reason.

I thought I'd try to find this stuff out myself before asking my vet because we usually don't agree on issues involving diet. I know he's the expert, but a lot of vets simply don't know enough about pet nutrition, and my vet is one of them. I knew from the moment he tried to sell me Royal Canin.

Thanks in advance!

High protein diets have not been shown to cause kidney problems (although dogs on high protein do sometimes have a higher BUN). These diets are thought to exasperate a kidney problem that is already present. So you can just do bloodwork first and check. The problem with doing that is a large portion of dogs have some degree of kidney insufficiency by age 5, but it's too mild to show up on regular labs. So it's really a matter of what and your vet (or you and your veterinary nutritionist) are comfortable with.

I think if you dig into the Champion company, you'll find that the meat is probably not as great quality as what people think... Seems it's really nothing special. Whether or not the food is good for your pup should be decided by how your dog looks and the blood and urine results. If all is good and you have looked into and trust the company, then it might be a good food for your pup.

I would agree with your vet. Royal Canin is a great food (imo). I don't feed my dogs high protein and/or Orijen. I'd rather be a bit more careful with their kidneys and I trust RC much more for quality control and testing.

Low Protein Dog Foods

Interesting article I just read.

Interesting read. Yup, phosphorus is a concern. It seems easier to do low phos if you're doing low protein. I don't know of any veterinary nutritionist that would say high protein causes kidney problems. Did they not link to that study?? Unfortunately, they are basing some of their information off of an dog food advisor website. These are almost never created by the people with the correct credentials to do that.

I think some nutritionists would say that while the protein won't hurt healthy kidneys, they do have to work harder. So it's all in what you're comfortable with.

I'd really like to see this study.

Low Protein Dog Foods

Interesting article I just read.

High protein is only a problem in kibble, but not in raw foods. The protein in kibble is highly processed and a lot of the nutrients have been destroyed, making it hard for the dog to digest. I'd rather look at a fresher, more natural food than trying other kibbles (which mostly contain corn).

Royal Canin is not a good food at all and since your dog has a corn allergy, I would never ever put him on RC because it's mostly made with corn and maize products.

Try a natural diet. You'll never feed anything else again.

I have been looking into grain-free dog kibble for my lil lovelies. I looked up " Blue Buffalo grain-free" and found this in the ingredients list;

©2012 Blue Buffalo Company All of our natural dog foods have real meat, fish, or poultry as the first ingredient, plus wholesome whole grains

So whats up with that?