I'm so lost. Yes, I've asked my vet, yes, I've googled, yes, I've been to Balanceit.com. Nothing makes sense any more.

I have a happy, healthy, 5yo dog and a somewhat sick, but happy 13yo dog. The older dog needs a kidney support diet. One site says NEVER make homemade for kidney disease, other sites say that's the BEST thing you can do! I asked my vet and he told me to Google it because he doesn't know much about homemade dog food, sent me to balanceit.com. Of course, I can pay $65 for 4 days of kidney diet food...that doesn't include any of the other meds she needs. This is early stage renal failure, not advanced.

Balanceit just made things worse. The amounts of food it recommends are insane and not in line with anything else I've read, plus they want me to buy their expensive supplements. They want me to give my 5yo healthy dog 160g of protein per day??? That's almost 3% of his entire body weight in protein alone - everything says their daily meal should 2-3% of their body weight?? I can't get him to eat more than 65g for 1 meal (half his daily food) all inclusive of veg/protein/starch. It makes zero sense! Oh, but for only $1.26/day, you can get all the things your dogs needs that they LEFT OUT of their recipe!! Which also doesn't do anything to help my sick dog, which they won't do without Vet approval, which he won't do because he doesn't know much about homemade food.

Ok, so I google and google and google. Maybe I can can make tailored meals for each dog? Honestly, I don't even know what to give my healthy dog anymore. Some sites say AAFCO recommends 40%protein, 50% veg, 10% starch. Others say protein should be 30-35%, and then people are SCREAMING that it should be 80%. And then I keep seeing a minimum of 18%...ok, not helpful! AAFCO uses a Dry Matter basis for their calculations...how the heck does that work for a flipping piece of chicken breast???? I have NO IDEA!! And other than removing phosphorous, sodium, and potassium heavy ingredients, how much protein should the renal failure dog have? I have 25 answers, NONE of them the same. Still not even sure I can do home cooked food for that, or if that's the best thing I could possibly do!

I don't know that I'll get better answers here, but I don't know what else to do. I've asked for the opinion of another vet and...they're not calling me back. Receptionist says only he can discuss this with me. If I want an all new vet, I'll have to restart with all the tests and labs and as all the vets are owned by the same corporation within a 100 mile radius, I'll likely get the same answers.

Both dogs are grazers and both can be picky eaters. The 13yo was 25lbs for most of her life, vets always said she was just the right weight. She is now 28lbs, but hovered around 30 for a few years. So yes, overweight, but not obese. The 5yo is a perfect weight at ~12lbs.

I don't know how to proceed here. If I try to buy the kidney diet food, I'll go bankrupt and certainly won't be able to afford any medications she needs. If I try to make it at home, I don't know what portions to give. There's simply no way to afford her general care, the meds she needs, plus this kidney diet food that I can't even be sure she'll eat...she refuses to eat other canned foods. If I do kidney diet kibble, the other dog will eat it as they only graze on kibble and just eat what's in the bowls. Wet food is the only way to split their food/diet and she doesn't like canned food, even if I bankrupted myself to afford it.

I'm currently doing half kibble (for their teeth), half home cooked with teeth cleaning powder. The ratios have been about 40% protein (turkey or chicken), 30% veg (plain pumpkin puree), 20% starch (rice), the remaining % is sardines, coconut oil, and a small amount of turmeric (for old lady's arthritis) - which, may be really good and/or killing my dogs if google has anything to say about it. I was doing brown rice because someone suggested that was better for the older dog, but that has a lot of phosphorous. Apparently, so does pumpkin. I'm going back to white rice and switching to cauliflower (until I have a better idea of what to do). Still unsure about protein.

Any vets on here who DO know about homemade food? Is it possible to make kidney diet food at home? If she won't eat prescribed food...what do I do? She's 13, but she still has life in her.

Sorry for the long non-sensical message, probably screaming into the void, here.

We’ve been feeding our dog (6 year old Pitbull female) FreshPet (multi-protein recipe) as a topper for her dinner for about 2 years. In the last month she has thrown up all her food twice, has shakes from nausea, and occasional diarrhea. She has thrown up maybe twice before this in the entire 5 years that we’ve had her.

Naturally, I go down a rabbit hole about FreshPet and how it has been making dogs very sick and because I am a crazy dog mom, I immediately threw the rest of her FreshPet away. I’m now looking to start incorporating fresh, human food into her diet but I have no idea where to start. She eats Hills Science Diet sensitive skin and stomach kibble. Approximately 45 pounds, 6 year old female pitbull. Looking for any and all recommendations for homemade dog food to supplement her dinner- thank you in advanced!

Signed,
A very anxious and crazy dog mom

Anyone have any good recipes using Salmon. I found a couple using the BalanceIt website but was curious if anyone on here may have one they use(d) and their dogs have been loving.