Breeders Experiences
Cecilie Strømstad DVM
Chronic renal disease in boxers. My experience so far.
My parents bought our family’s first boxer in 1967. In 1969 they wanted to start breeding, and imported a well-bred boxer from one of the top producers in Great Britain at the time. She was a wonderful and beautiful flashy brindle female puppy, but at around 5 months it was apparent that she wasn't well. She spent a lot of time at the clinic at the veterinary college, and we had to let her go at around 10 months of age. That was my first experience with Juvenile Kidney Disease in boxers. I had my first litter in 1988, and soon after started Veterinary College. I heard people talking about hereditary kidney disease in boxers, but couldn't find any information except an article from Portugal describing several cases in one family. I discussed it with other breeders, and not one of them had encountered it – so I let it go and forgot about it. So – several years later we had a large litter of puppies, one of these had an abscess in his hind leg – and was on antibiotics for a long time. The abscess healed and the puppy seemed fine, so we sold him when he was around 3 months. We had regular contact with his family, and all was well until he was about 10 months when he got ill. He was diagnosed with chronic renal failure, and only lived for a short time after that. Because of his history, I wrote it off as a consequence of the antibiotics or the toxins from the bacteria in the abscess, and thought no more of it. Then again, several years later, a daughter of his litter sister that we had sold to Sweden produced three puppies that were diagnosed with Renal Dysplasia. You will find them on the Swedish list on www.boxerjkd.com. Another daughter of this female died of renal failure at the age of 5 – the diagnosis is unclear, and her kidneys were normal size – so it may, or may not have been JKD. In addition to this I was informed that a half-brother of this litter had produced a puppy with Renal Dysplasia in Canada. We use this information when making breeding decisions today. Then, more and more cases seemed to appear. Some were on the official Swedish list, some were here in Norway where we didn't have a list, and some were merely rumors. The only "official" information was the Swedish list, and it was difficult to find a system when looking at the pedigrees, most of the dogs were only distantly related – if at all. I was now a vet, and encountered my first boxers with juvenile kidney disease in the clinic. At a large veterinary clinic here in Oslo, the vets noticed that they suddenly had several cases, and when looking at the pedigrees all but one were related. The dogs were thoroughly examined clinically and biopsies or post mortems were done. The result was this article. And in Great Britain this article had been published the year before. It became apparent that we had a serious genetic problem on our hands, and that the clinical presentations as well as the post mortem findings were quite diverse. Fast forward to today. Based on what we know about the frequency of the disease and the family connections, the geneticists advice that the most likely mode of inheritance is a single recessive. More and more cases are recorded both new and historic cases from all over the world, and it is obvious that the gene is very widespread and can be found in most countries. Several groups of scientists are now working on finding a DNA test, and are collecting material from both affected individuals and healthy controls. DOGenes is marketing a DNA test that as proven to be worthless, documented in this article, but still religiously being used by some. A couple of breed clubs have started control schemes, some seem to be oblivious to the problem, and some seem to blatantly deny there is a genetic kidney disease in the breed. Agria breed profile statistics from 2006-2011 tells us that boxers have 40 times as high a risk of dying of Renal Dysplasia as the average dog, and that diagnosis of chronic kidney disease is killer number 8,9, 22 and 24 for boxers. Scientists are still working to find a DNA test for the disease in our breed. Breeders and stud dog owners seem to fall into the approximately the same categories as the breed clubs – some are open about affected individuals from their breeding and take measures to prevent producing new cases, some are disinterested and don't seem to think the disease even exists, and some blame it on the puppy buyers or the veterinarian for not treating the UTI's that are often the first sign of the disease, or even the veterinarian for using the wrong antibiotic. More and more owners and breeders are aware of the problem, and are openly telling about the disease in their boxer, or a boxer they have bred. Some people perceive this as a personal attack, on either themselves or their dog, and are often attributed to envy or an intention of revenge. Today I am head of the Norwegian Boxer Clubs Health Committee. The club has decided to collect information about as many affected individuals as possible. We are also motivating owners to participate in the quest for the DNA test we so desperately need, and owners are willingly giving their boxers blood as well as kidneys when they have to let them go. The many cases collected so far show three generations of producers, daughters of producers mated to other producers, and the more pedigrees of cases we collect, the more obvious the pattern of inheritance is. We face some challenges, one of them being that many veterinarians are not aware of the fact that the disease is a genetic problem in boxers, and many individuals are not submitted to research, or even sent for post mortem diagnostics. Another challenge is the huge variation in the presentation of the disease; Bruce Cattanach has discussed this in this article. Histology will also be diverse, and the histological diagnosis can vary from end stage kidneys, trough pyelonephritis and Renal Dysplasia as described in the previously linked articles. It is understandable that it is a confusing picture, and there is still a lot we all need to learn about this. I have heard from many of the unfortunate breeders and owners of these sick dogs. Owners are invariably upset, the experience of seeing their dog suffer and slowly poison itself before it has to be put to sleep is upsetting and heartbreaking. Some of these owners have left the breed, but most love the boxer for the wonderful dog it is, and has a new boxer, or is getting one. None of them blame their breeders for their dogs' illness, and understand that they didn't know this would happen. The few breeders I have spoken with are shaken by the experience, having suffered with the owner, and are cautious when breeding again, pulling the producing parent from their breeding program. What next? IDEXX has released a new test that can help detect kidney disease at an earlier stage, read about it here. This test can help us to avoid breeding from affected individuals with a low grade of disease. Scientists are working for us to find the DNA-test we so desperately need, we can support them with research material (blood samples and kidneys) as well as funding. Until we have a DNA-test, we have to make do with the "old fashioned" way of breeding dogs – identifying the individuals that have produced affected offspring, and combine parents that have a low risk of producing puppies with Juvenile Kidney Disease. There is just one problem with that – and that is that not all cases are out in the open, so at the moment every breeding we do may represent a risk we don't know about. I will end with an appeal: This is the time for all boxer lovers all over the world to stand together for the breed we love. We have a common goal and a common interest – we want to own, admire and produce beautiful and healthy boxers. To achieve this goal, we need to work together. We need to be open and honest about the affected individuals from our breeding – as well as the sick puppies produced by our wonderful stud dogs. We have to remain from pointing fingers – none of us produce sick puppies on purpose. We have to acknowledge that it is our responsibility to prevent more sick puppies from being born and more owners to suffer. It is our responsibility – as boxer lovers, to deal with this now, and together.
Chronic renal disease in boxers. My experience so far.
My parents bought our family’s first boxer in 1967. In 1969 they wanted to start breeding, and imported a well-bred boxer from one of the top producers in Great Britain at the time. She was a wonderful and beautiful flashy brindle female puppy, but at around 5 months it was apparent that she wasn't well. She spent a lot of time at the clinic at the veterinary college, and we had to let her go at around 10 months of age. That was my first experience with Juvenile Kidney Disease in boxers. I had my first litter in 1988, and soon after started Veterinary College. I heard people talking about hereditary kidney disease in boxers, but couldn't find any information except an article from Portugal describing several cases in one family. I discussed it with other breeders, and not one of them had encountered it – so I let it go and forgot about it. So – several years later we had a large litter of puppies, one of these had an abscess in his hind leg – and was on antibiotics for a long time. The abscess healed and the puppy seemed fine, so we sold him when he was around 3 months. We had regular contact with his family, and all was well until he was about 10 months when he got ill. He was diagnosed with chronic renal failure, and only lived for a short time after that. Because of his history, I wrote it off as a consequence of the antibiotics or the toxins from the bacteria in the abscess, and thought no more of it. Then again, several years later, a daughter of his litter sister that we had sold to Sweden produced three puppies that were diagnosed with Renal Dysplasia. You will find them on the Swedish list on www.boxerjkd.com. Another daughter of this female died of renal failure at the age of 5 – the diagnosis is unclear, and her kidneys were normal size – so it may, or may not have been JKD. In addition to this I was informed that a half-brother of this litter had produced a puppy with Renal Dysplasia in Canada. We use this information when making breeding decisions today. Then, more and more cases seemed to appear. Some were on the official Swedish list, some were here in Norway where we didn't have a list, and some were merely rumors. The only "official" information was the Swedish list, and it was difficult to find a system when looking at the pedigrees, most of the dogs were only distantly related – if at all. I was now a vet, and encountered my first boxers with juvenile kidney disease in the clinic. At a large veterinary clinic here in Oslo, the vets noticed that they suddenly had several cases, and when looking at the pedigrees all but one were related. The dogs were thoroughly examined clinically and biopsies or post mortems were done. The result was this article. And in Great Britain this article had been published the year before. It became apparent that we had a serious genetic problem on our hands, and that the clinical presentations as well as the post mortem findings were quite diverse. Fast forward to today. Based on what we know about the frequency of the disease and the family connections, the geneticists advice that the most likely mode of inheritance is a single recessive. More and more cases are recorded both new and historic cases from all over the world, and it is obvious that the gene is very widespread and can be found in most countries. Several groups of scientists are now working on finding a DNA test, and are collecting material from both affected individuals and healthy controls. DOGenes is marketing a DNA test that as proven to be worthless, documented in this article, but still religiously being used by some. A couple of breed clubs have started control schemes, some seem to be oblivious to the problem, and some seem to blatantly deny there is a genetic kidney disease in the breed. Agria breed profile statistics from 2006-2011 tells us that boxers have 40 times as high a risk of dying of Renal Dysplasia as the average dog, and that diagnosis of chronic kidney disease is killer number 8,9, 22 and 24 for boxers. Scientists are still working to find a DNA test for the disease in our breed. Breeders and stud dog owners seem to fall into the approximately the same categories as the breed clubs – some are open about affected individuals from their breeding and take measures to prevent producing new cases, some are disinterested and don't seem to think the disease even exists, and some blame it on the puppy buyers or the veterinarian for not treating the UTI's that are often the first sign of the disease, or even the veterinarian for using the wrong antibiotic. More and more owners and breeders are aware of the problem, and are openly telling about the disease in their boxer, or a boxer they have bred. Some people perceive this as a personal attack, on either themselves or their dog, and are often attributed to envy or an intention of revenge. Today I am head of the Norwegian Boxer Clubs Health Committee. The club has decided to collect information about as many affected individuals as possible. We are also motivating owners to participate in the quest for the DNA test we so desperately need, and owners are willingly giving their boxers blood as well as kidneys when they have to let them go. The many cases collected so far show three generations of producers, daughters of producers mated to other producers, and the more pedigrees of cases we collect, the more obvious the pattern of inheritance is. We face some challenges, one of them being that many veterinarians are not aware of the fact that the disease is a genetic problem in boxers, and many individuals are not submitted to research, or even sent for post mortem diagnostics. Another challenge is the huge variation in the presentation of the disease; Bruce Cattanach has discussed this in this article. Histology will also be diverse, and the histological diagnosis can vary from end stage kidneys, trough pyelonephritis and Renal Dysplasia as described in the previously linked articles. It is understandable that it is a confusing picture, and there is still a lot we all need to learn about this. I have heard from many of the unfortunate breeders and owners of these sick dogs. Owners are invariably upset, the experience of seeing their dog suffer and slowly poison itself before it has to be put to sleep is upsetting and heartbreaking. Some of these owners have left the breed, but most love the boxer for the wonderful dog it is, and has a new boxer, or is getting one. None of them blame their breeders for their dogs' illness, and understand that they didn't know this would happen. The few breeders I have spoken with are shaken by the experience, having suffered with the owner, and are cautious when breeding again, pulling the producing parent from their breeding program. What next? IDEXX has released a new test that can help detect kidney disease at an earlier stage, read about it here. This test can help us to avoid breeding from affected individuals with a low grade of disease. Scientists are working for us to find the DNA-test we so desperately need, we can support them with research material (blood samples and kidneys) as well as funding. Until we have a DNA-test, we have to make do with the "old fashioned" way of breeding dogs – identifying the individuals that have produced affected offspring, and combine parents that have a low risk of producing puppies with Juvenile Kidney Disease. There is just one problem with that – and that is that not all cases are out in the open, so at the moment every breeding we do may represent a risk we don't know about. I will end with an appeal: This is the time for all boxer lovers all over the world to stand together for the breed we love. We have a common goal and a common interest – we want to own, admire and produce beautiful and healthy boxers. To achieve this goal, we need to work together. We need to be open and honest about the affected individuals from our breeding – as well as the sick puppies produced by our wonderful stud dogs. We have to remain from pointing fingers – none of us produce sick puppies on purpose. We have to acknowledge that it is our responsibility to prevent more sick puppies from being born and more owners to suffer. It is our responsibility – as boxer lovers, to deal with this now, and together.
Gudrun Sørby - published by kind permission of the Norwegian Boxer Klub
I have always wanted to be able to be a breeder and have puppies. During all the years I have had dogs, I have never had a bitch that in my opinion was good enough to breed from. When I finally had a good and healthy bitch with good health testing, coming from a litter of equal quality it looked like my dream would finally come true.
In May 2008, my first litter was born. To make a long story short: the first in the litter had to be put down at 16 months. The early symptoms appeared shortly after he went to live with his new owners.
They called me telling me that the puppy was drinking and peeing a lot, and that he was leaking urine while sleeping. They were regulars at the veterinary clinic, and I supported them the best I could. The post mortem revealed that he had Juvenile Nephropathy.
Another of the litter died suddenly from something entirely different, but at the post mortem they discovered that her kidneys were small and underdeveloped. This dog never had any kidney related, or any other symptoms.
The third dog in the litter developed symptoms at around 2,5 years. She lived until she was 5, when she it was impossible to live with the disease any longer.
This litter of puppies, that was supposed to bring joy, instead brought sorrow, despair and tears for both my puppy buyers and myself.
My head was spinning at this stage. Should I try again with a different male, or would that be stupid? I came as far as sending the papers for the proposed litter to the breed club, but my gut feeling told me not to go through with it. I felt so bad that I cancelled the planned litter and put my dream of being a breeder to rest. The next litter could have been healthy if the male I had planned to use did not produce kidney disease when combined with my bitch. The problem was that nobody could guarantee that. There was no way of testing the parents, so I felt I just couldn’t risk the same happening again. I couldn’t stand the thought of once again getting phone calls from puppy buyers about puppies that were drinking and peeing all the time.
I have been open and honest about the cases of kidney disease in my litter, and that has not been well received by all. I was constantly told I needed to get a new female, since it was in her line all the bad stuff originated. The male had nothing to do with it they said. I wasn’t convinced, in my opinion the male had a part in this too. At this time I also experienced that breeders that had been there for me and supported me before, when things went bad wanted nothing to do with me.
A positive experience in the midst of all the negativity was that the family who lost their puppy from the litter at 16 months wanted to buy from me again. The fact that I had been open about the kidney disease and this made them trust me. Being open about the problem may not be a bad thing.
I am among those who accept what geneticists are telling us, that the kidney disease in boxers is inherited from both parents. I am very surprised that some people repeatedly want to debate this, I can’t understand that some people are so superior. Instead of asking questions, they are in total denial. Since they purposely/knowingly continue to breed boxers they know have produced offspring with kidney disease, they must be convinced that the scientists are wrong – and that they are right. Or is it because the dogs in question have many titles? Titles do not say much about what the dog produces – the offspring tell that story. I do not understand how they have the stomach to do it.
Are they without any second thoughts about this combination? What do you tell your puppy buyers when/if the puppies in the resulting litter develops kidney disease? When one knew that this was a possible scenario when you have used a dog that has produced kidney disease in a previous litter, and maybe even combined it with offspring from another dog that has also produced kidney disease? Nowadays you can’t keep all the bad things secret. They will surface one way or another. Do they expect to still have their puppy buyers respect, or isn’t that important?
One other thing I wonder about is: what keeps an owner (a puppy buyer) with a sick puppy from reporting the disease? Are they afraid of the breeders wrath? Are they afraid of not being allowed to buy another puppy? I wonder a lot about this. We all need to help in stopping the kidney disease, breeders and puppy buyers alike.
I know you can be stigmatized if when you are open and talk about the disease, but if you love the breed, you are forthright, it’s as simple as that. You don’t have to talk about it in public or inform the whole world, the only thing you need to do is to send the information to the breed club. Denial will not take us forward, and we NEED to go forward and find a way to prevent this terrible disease from affecting more of our beloved family members.
We need to unite in this, to be open and honest and stop sticking our heads in the sand. My conclusion at least is that one must stop breeding from parents of boxers with kidney disease. No matter how painful it is, and I will repeat myself – we need to be OPEN about this.
This experience with my litter has resulted in me not daring to breed another litter. It is heartbreaking when things go so wrong as they did in this case, and I do not wish this experience on anyone.
I will strongly ask all owners who have or have had a boxer with kidney disease to report this to the Norwegian Boxer Club. If the club gets a good overview of the cases that are and have been, the club can help breeders not to combine two parents that have a high risk of producing offspring with kidney disease.
By not reporting a case to the club, you increase the risk of new boxer owners experiencing the same as my puppy buyers did – that their boxer will get very ill and dies at a young age . I, for one, hope nobody has to go through this.
I cannot for the life of me understand why we can’t all help each other identifying the parents that produce the disease, so we at least can avoid combining two parents of previous cases.
Gudrun Sørby
I have always wanted to be able to be a breeder and have puppies. During all the years I have had dogs, I have never had a bitch that in my opinion was good enough to breed from. When I finally had a good and healthy bitch with good health testing, coming from a litter of equal quality it looked like my dream would finally come true.
In May 2008, my first litter was born. To make a long story short: the first in the litter had to be put down at 16 months. The early symptoms appeared shortly after he went to live with his new owners.
They called me telling me that the puppy was drinking and peeing a lot, and that he was leaking urine while sleeping. They were regulars at the veterinary clinic, and I supported them the best I could. The post mortem revealed that he had Juvenile Nephropathy.
Another of the litter died suddenly from something entirely different, but at the post mortem they discovered that her kidneys were small and underdeveloped. This dog never had any kidney related, or any other symptoms.
The third dog in the litter developed symptoms at around 2,5 years. She lived until she was 5, when she it was impossible to live with the disease any longer.
This litter of puppies, that was supposed to bring joy, instead brought sorrow, despair and tears for both my puppy buyers and myself.
My head was spinning at this stage. Should I try again with a different male, or would that be stupid? I came as far as sending the papers for the proposed litter to the breed club, but my gut feeling told me not to go through with it. I felt so bad that I cancelled the planned litter and put my dream of being a breeder to rest. The next litter could have been healthy if the male I had planned to use did not produce kidney disease when combined with my bitch. The problem was that nobody could guarantee that. There was no way of testing the parents, so I felt I just couldn’t risk the same happening again. I couldn’t stand the thought of once again getting phone calls from puppy buyers about puppies that were drinking and peeing all the time.
I have been open and honest about the cases of kidney disease in my litter, and that has not been well received by all. I was constantly told I needed to get a new female, since it was in her line all the bad stuff originated. The male had nothing to do with it they said. I wasn’t convinced, in my opinion the male had a part in this too. At this time I also experienced that breeders that had been there for me and supported me before, when things went bad wanted nothing to do with me.
A positive experience in the midst of all the negativity was that the family who lost their puppy from the litter at 16 months wanted to buy from me again. The fact that I had been open about the kidney disease and this made them trust me. Being open about the problem may not be a bad thing.
I am among those who accept what geneticists are telling us, that the kidney disease in boxers is inherited from both parents. I am very surprised that some people repeatedly want to debate this, I can’t understand that some people are so superior. Instead of asking questions, they are in total denial. Since they purposely/knowingly continue to breed boxers they know have produced offspring with kidney disease, they must be convinced that the scientists are wrong – and that they are right. Or is it because the dogs in question have many titles? Titles do not say much about what the dog produces – the offspring tell that story. I do not understand how they have the stomach to do it.
Are they without any second thoughts about this combination? What do you tell your puppy buyers when/if the puppies in the resulting litter develops kidney disease? When one knew that this was a possible scenario when you have used a dog that has produced kidney disease in a previous litter, and maybe even combined it with offspring from another dog that has also produced kidney disease? Nowadays you can’t keep all the bad things secret. They will surface one way or another. Do they expect to still have their puppy buyers respect, or isn’t that important?
One other thing I wonder about is: what keeps an owner (a puppy buyer) with a sick puppy from reporting the disease? Are they afraid of the breeders wrath? Are they afraid of not being allowed to buy another puppy? I wonder a lot about this. We all need to help in stopping the kidney disease, breeders and puppy buyers alike.
I know you can be stigmatized if when you are open and talk about the disease, but if you love the breed, you are forthright, it’s as simple as that. You don’t have to talk about it in public or inform the whole world, the only thing you need to do is to send the information to the breed club. Denial will not take us forward, and we NEED to go forward and find a way to prevent this terrible disease from affecting more of our beloved family members.
We need to unite in this, to be open and honest and stop sticking our heads in the sand. My conclusion at least is that one must stop breeding from parents of boxers with kidney disease. No matter how painful it is, and I will repeat myself – we need to be OPEN about this.
This experience with my litter has resulted in me not daring to breed another litter. It is heartbreaking when things go so wrong as they did in this case, and I do not wish this experience on anyone.
I will strongly ask all owners who have or have had a boxer with kidney disease to report this to the Norwegian Boxer Club. If the club gets a good overview of the cases that are and have been, the club can help breeders not to combine two parents that have a high risk of producing offspring with kidney disease.
By not reporting a case to the club, you increase the risk of new boxer owners experiencing the same as my puppy buyers did – that their boxer will get very ill and dies at a young age . I, for one, hope nobody has to go through this.
I cannot for the life of me understand why we can’t all help each other identifying the parents that produce the disease, so we at least can avoid combining two parents of previous cases.
Gudrun Sørby
Debby Rothman - Lhasa Apso breeder
Here is an articles called 'An Odyssey with Renal Dysplasia' written by an American Lhasa Apso breeder outlining her experiences after she discovered Renal Dysplasia in her breeding lines back in the late 1990s. Her story is important as she decided to face the problem head on, she got involved with the research of the disease and tried to identify clear dogs in her lines.
She found evidence that the Renal Dysplasia was variable in different dogs. Some dogs appeared to be severely affected with a large amount of immature cells in the kidneys whilst some siblings had fewer immature cells. She had some dogs that had 40% immature glomerulus cells - yet lived a long and healthy life - eventually dying or a heart condition
We must stress a word of caution, the author used wedge biopsy to diagnose 'non clinical' or latent RD in her dogs. This was done as part of a research project in conjunction with a genetic company to search for the gene and get a better understanding to the molecular basis of the disease,
BoxerJKD must stress that we do not recommend kidney wedge biopsies on healthy or affected dogs as the risks involved in the procedure far outweigh any benefit, as outlined in this publication.
Below are the links to the article written in 1996 and 1998.
Pedigrees for dogs producing cases of Renal Dysplasia where published by the Breed Clubs.
Lhasa breeders have followed strict breeding recommendations to reduce the coefficient of inbreeding acceptable in the breed and increase genetic diversity.
Breaking the Silence
Breaking the Silence part 2
Breaking the Silence part 3
Shattering the Myths
Here is an articles called 'An Odyssey with Renal Dysplasia' written by an American Lhasa Apso breeder outlining her experiences after she discovered Renal Dysplasia in her breeding lines back in the late 1990s. Her story is important as she decided to face the problem head on, she got involved with the research of the disease and tried to identify clear dogs in her lines.
She found evidence that the Renal Dysplasia was variable in different dogs. Some dogs appeared to be severely affected with a large amount of immature cells in the kidneys whilst some siblings had fewer immature cells. She had some dogs that had 40% immature glomerulus cells - yet lived a long and healthy life - eventually dying or a heart condition
We must stress a word of caution, the author used wedge biopsy to diagnose 'non clinical' or latent RD in her dogs. This was done as part of a research project in conjunction with a genetic company to search for the gene and get a better understanding to the molecular basis of the disease,
BoxerJKD must stress that we do not recommend kidney wedge biopsies on healthy or affected dogs as the risks involved in the procedure far outweigh any benefit, as outlined in this publication.
Below are the links to the article written in 1996 and 1998.
Pedigrees for dogs producing cases of Renal Dysplasia where published by the Breed Clubs.
Lhasa breeders have followed strict breeding recommendations to reduce the coefficient of inbreeding acceptable in the breed and increase genetic diversity.
Breaking the Silence
Breaking the Silence part 2
Breaking the Silence part 3
Shattering the Myths
Rona M Mcleod.
I just wanted to share this, having been living with boxers with JKD since 2007 I've tried most of the food out there with varying results. I was asked by many people after the PDE three years on film went out what food I used and every time I told them VETXX Specific kidney diet. However, it seems they have changed the recipe and now whenever Roxy seats it she throws up what can only be described as couscous!!! So I've moved her on to Royal Canin special renal food, but not the dry or tins, they do sachets and she can't get enough. There's no doubt it's expensive but seems to be working, she had shockingly bad results after needing emergency surgery 5 weeks ago for a pyometra but she's picked up and is almost back to how she was before hand. Worth a try if your looking for a change in food, although not many places are selling it I got it from pet planet with few shipping! Curious to know what everyone else uses and the results. Roxy is now 7 - so I'm very happy!
Barbara Lequeux.
My Vesta is eating Royal Canin renal diet wet and dry, I've asked my vet and was told dry was ok, but for change I also feed her Hill's KD, she does like to change every week, but she's still eating fine. I buy her food on Amazon, but I'm willing to go somewhere else
I just wanted to share this, having been living with boxers with JKD since 2007 I've tried most of the food out there with varying results. I was asked by many people after the PDE three years on film went out what food I used and every time I told them VETXX Specific kidney diet. However, it seems they have changed the recipe and now whenever Roxy seats it she throws up what can only be described as couscous!!! So I've moved her on to Royal Canin special renal food, but not the dry or tins, they do sachets and she can't get enough. There's no doubt it's expensive but seems to be working, she had shockingly bad results after needing emergency surgery 5 weeks ago for a pyometra but she's picked up and is almost back to how she was before hand. Worth a try if your looking for a change in food, although not many places are selling it I got it from pet planet with few shipping! Curious to know what everyone else uses and the results. Roxy is now 7 - so I'm very happy!
Barbara Lequeux.
My Vesta is eating Royal Canin renal diet wet and dry, I've asked my vet and was told dry was ok, but for change I also feed her Hill's KD, she does like to change every week, but she's still eating fine. I buy her food on Amazon, but I'm willing to go somewhere else
