Kidney failure

[Goose]

There's another factor about feed or protein. High protein if too high, can be a contributor but unusable proteins are worse. If the bulk or the main protein source of a feed is unusable then it has to be gotten rid of. It takes things like calcium for the kidney to be able to break down the excess protein and get rid of it. If they aren't getting enough calcium in their diet then it takes calcium from the bone. The muscles and organs also need calcium to function properly. If it takes every bit of available calcium to shed excess protein then those other areas are suffering. It also takes more water. Many dog foods, high protein or not, have accurate protein percentages listed. What they don't list is the usable protein. Just because a dog will eat it doesn't mean it's good for him. Chicken feathers are extremely high in protein. The problem is that even ground up and cooked, a dog can't digest them. It isn't a usable protein and that's a big part of poultry by products listed in the first 4 or 5 ingredients of so many feeds. I know a lot of folks use to cook mash for their hounds which usually had a ton of corn and other grains in it. Grains are another protein source that are very hard for a dog to digest. More times than not you can still see large quantities of corn in their stool. They just can't break it down in a useful productive way. Grains also produce toxins that ar bad for dogs. It wasn't that long ago that drought raised grains were used in feeds and had to be recalled because the alpha toxins they produced were killing dogs. Soy can be broken down and is a usable protein but it creates other issues. It produces a chemical that the body confuses for estrogen. This can cause the menstrual cycle of females to be irregular be it timing, or the severity of the cycle. It affects males as well. Meat source proteins are always your safest best source for protein. Plus you get something for your money. With the others, you more or less pay to watch them pass it without using it so your money is laying in the yard or the kennel floor. Soaking feed the day before, the day of, and the day after a hunt is always a good way to help get extra fluids in your dogs. I knew a man that carried a bucket of feed and a bucket of water with him to feed. Every dog got a cup of water in their feed bowl with dry kibble poured in it every feeding. They would clean up every bit of feed and water. He said dogs never drank enough.

Sent from my SM-G892U using Tapatalk

Lawdawg in the summer months I always give mine their rations out of my regular cup and when I put it in their feed pans I always top the feed pan off with the same feed cup full of water, that way I know their getting enough fluids and it also helps break down their feed so they can digest it faster...

[bowieknife50]

I don't know what your hunting schedule is but another thing I'll add is that dogs that get running really hard just every once in a while might be shy higher risk. If a dog has a lot of drive but they don't run all the time they will damage and break down a lot of muscle when they do run hard. One byproduct of this is a molecule called myoglobin that gets in the bloodstream. It's really hard on the kidney to filter. I've only noticed it twice and both times it's after the dogs run hard on the first snow of the season when they're out of shape. Dark or port colored urine, looks like blood at first glance but it's not. They can easily correct one instance of it but if you're all the time running hard for a day or two then don't run for a month or 2 it's a possibility.

I would also make sure you're vaccinated well for leptospirosis. This means the first shot with a booster a few weeks later then yearly with a reputable product. Bargain basement TSC vaccines don't always have a lot of efficacy.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Walkerdirt]

There was a podcast on houndsmen XP where they had a sled dog racer/vet on their talking about dog nutrition. After hearing all he had to say I ended up picking up a bottle of Maltodextrin to add to my dogs water after long hunts in the heat. I haven't used it a whole lot but from what this guy was saying it really helps the dogs recover quickly.

[Goose]

There was a podcast on houndsmen XP where they had a sled dog racer/vet on their talking about dog nutrition. After hearing all he had to say I ended up picking up a bottle of Maltodextrin to add to my dogs water after long hunts in the heat. I haven't used it a whole lot but from what this guy was saying it really helps the dogs recover quickly.

Where are you getting the bottles of the Malto-dextrin from, I bought some electrolytes in concentrated form last summer for myself, working outside down here on the gulf coast the humidity is killer and I sweat bad as it is, Gatorade and others such as that are nothing more than kool aid and buying pedialyte got expensive, I found a product by the name of Hy-Lyte, it’s the highest form of concentrated electrolytes on the market, it comes in a little bottle and just a few drops in a bottle or cup of drink of choice, I started putting it in my dogs water buckets I keep in the box on the hunt I noticed they recovered quicker and when given the choice of plain water or water with the hy-lyte mixed in they chose the latter, I’m about to order some more for this summer we have creeping up on us...