Hills Presecription K/D vs. IVD Select Care Modified Formula for CRF

[K-9Girl]

Just curious if anyone has done a comparison with these two foods for chronic renal failure. Does anyone know the ingredients to IVD Select Care?

Thanks

Sara

[moondog]

This is from waggintails:

IVD Select Care Canine Modified Dry

Protein: 12.60 %
Fat: 16.80 %
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Oat flour
Corn
Dried Egg Product
Poultry Fat
Oat Hulls
Yeast Culture
Herring Oil
Natural Flavor
Potato Protein
Liver Digest
plus essential vitamins and minerals

I home-cook for Luna (PLE), and I'm of no use for commercial food evaluations. Hopefully someone will see this that is familiar with both foods. :)

[K9-man]

Hmmm...not so sure about that 'liver digest'. :(

[mmgy]

Here's k/d:

Protein 14.5%, fat 19%, phosphorus .25%

Brewers rice, pork fat (preserved with mixed tocopherols and citric acid), dried egg product, flaxseed, corn gluten meal, chicken liver flavor, soy fiber, L-lysine, taurine, L-tryptophan, ethoxyquin (a preservative), minerals (calcium carbonate, potassium chloride, salt, calcium sulfate, potassium citrate, magnesium oxide, ferrous sulfate, zinc oxide, copper sulfate, manganous oxide, calcium iodate, sodium selenite), vitamins (choline chloride, vitamin A supplement, vitamin D3 supplement, vitamin E supplement, niacin, thiamine mononitrate, calcium pantothenate, pyridoxine hydrochloride, riboflavin, folic acid, biotin, vitamin B12 supplement).

I'm not real impressed with either.

Normally, I'd pick IVD, but I think overall their quality has been slipping since they were bought by Heinz. However, I think I'd prefer the oat flour/whole corn over the brewers rice, if your dog is tolerant of corn. Also, k/d has chemical preservatives.

I think in your first thread about Kodi I wrote some about home-cooking for kidney failure. Mary Strauss has some great information at bowchow.com. I think I'd try feeding 1/2 of whichever one was easiest to get, and 1/2 homecooked.

[lblax]

k9 girl....do yourself a favor dont try to second guess the food your vet has put you on... reghardless of what any of us think about science diet ,,,, hills prescription diets do exactly what they are prescribed to do and work better than the other prescription diets..... stick to it

[spidey]

Larry, I don't think she's second-guessing her vet, she's trying to decide between two comparable kidney diets. And I don't think it's true that the prescription diets work better than any other prescription diets, they've just been around the longest. They're good diets, but there are other good diets too.

The IVD SelectCare diets are very good - they're called Medi-Cal in Canada, and I used the feline low protein formula for my CRF cat (when he'd eat any kidney diet at all, that is), it seemed to be more palatable than k/d. What I'd do is buy a bit of each and see which your dog prefers - CRF animals tend to be anorexic, and often your goal needs to be to get them to eat ANYTHING, rather than the "right thing". It's great that there's more than one comparably good renal diets out there, since renal animals can go off one food overnight (I wouldn't buy big bags/cases unless your dog absolutely loves the food, you may find it gets wasted). You may also want to look into the Purina Veterinary Diets, they make a renal diet, and I've heard they're pretty good diets (as with Hill's, don't let the fact that they're made by Purina put you off).

[mmgy]

Originally posted by lblax
k9 girl....do yourself a favor dont try to second guess the food your vet has put you on... reghardless of what any of us think about science diet ,,,, hills prescription diets do exactly what they are prescribed to do and work better than the other prescription diets..... stick to it

Larry, I don't want you to think I'm trying to encourage her against her vet's advice............I've done lots of research on this, and like spidey says right after you, often times you just want them to eat, regardless of what it is. But it is also true that Hill's & Co. use inferior ingredients in many of their formulations, and while they do manage prescribed conditions, they are not always perfect for overall health.

I just wanted to point out that she does have options outside the realm of prescription diets, and that once he is stabilized, she may find a happy medium mixing different plans.

[K9-man]

You gotta go with the science diet on this one. Any kind of ‘digest’ is just plain nasty!

I didn’t realize Heinz bought IVD. Guess we can look for that downward slide to continue. :(

[moondog]

Well, I was trying not to, but I just have to say that for any disease that involves the gastrointestinal system, which kidneys are a part of, my preference by FAR is a home-cooked diet ala Dr. Strombeck using a simple mix of fresh foods and minus all the little extras that come by necessity with commercial diets. :) There, I feel better now! :D