Tips & Tricks for CKD Food / Medication

Feeding time can be difficult with CKD not just feeding but to administer treatment, in our case Harry had to be given a liquid treatment twice a day (Morning & Evening).  He also had been prescribed Nelio tablets, half a tablet to be given once a day in accordance to weight and condition.

There are a number of ways you can give Pronefra liquid, some say to put on food and mix it or use the syringe directly in the mouth. The only method that worked for us was to hand feed Harry with small cubes of his renal food (Integra Protect chicken), sometimes we would have to just get him to lick a finger to get the taste on his tongue as his condition affected his appetite. Once he ate a few pieces we knew then he was good to have his Pronefra, this was measured by a syringe and placed on a separate plate where I could then use my little finger to administer.

After food we would then give him his Nelio tablet, he ate this without any issues thinking it was a liver biscuit treat (it's a good job Nelio made them flavoured).

On one occasion Nelio tablets were unavailable and we had been prescribed a different brand called Fortekor, Harry did not like these tablets one bit and the only way we could get him to swallow them was to disguise the tablet by wrapping it in a small chunk of his renal food .  

There was no other way to give him the Fortekor, he really did not like these tablets and as soon as we found Nelio in stock online we ordered straight away. Please note you need a prescription with these tablets and always double check with your Vet.

Other occasions Harry had been given other types of prescribed medication in tablet form and the only way we could get him to swallow it was by crushing the tablet into a powder then using some of his Royal Canin renal chicken gravy food, we could mix it into a paste. The next stage was a little tricky as Harry knew when something was up, so I would pick him up and then my Wife would quickly rub the paste onto his teeth and gums. We asked the Vet about this method and they said it's totally fine, as long as he's getting the medication, the key to this method is being prepared and acting quick.

Other methods of giving tablets would be to conceal within cheese or ham, where this would be fine for normal dogs, it's not good for dogs with CKD due to high salt content.

If you have any tips & tricks let us know by posting in the comments.