Building confidence & breaking up with a doc when changing diets for kidney disease (cooked vs raw)

[DayshaG]

Good morning all! I wanted to share that after my initial consult with homeopathic vet Dr. Judy Herman last week, I also touched on the topic of nutrition with her. I shared that what HA! has reminded me about (and these next words are coming from me!) is that I don't have to take one professional's view as gospel. After Bella was determined to have SDMA ranges above normal in 2022 it was suggested by my vet to seek a nutritional vet, I asked for recommendations and a few were given to me, and I picked one. That's it, just picked one as I thought I was doing the right thing. I googled her and her reviews were good. And there's no judgment here for the dr I chose, she has been professional, responsive, her and her staff are great! She recommended a few options and I landed on a home cooked diet, which has been very time intensive over the last year. That diet was created to lower protein and phosphorus and increase carbs with some fat/fiber added.

I wanted to share that currently I am transitioning Bella back onto a raw food diet with a kidney support powder from Aventi (Aventi kidney). In a sense this is taking back my own freedom of choice here so if anyone has experience they can share on calming the nervous jitters about switching gears again, of my own volition, I am all ears. And though the drs wanted to see another round of blood tests for Bella around Sept to gauge her values, I haven't done this and won't plant to do this until the new year and she has some time for her body to adjust to the new diet and change in supplements (and her homeopathic remedy has time to work). This is another choice I am making to delay because she is so very stressed at going to the vet.

Finally, can anyone share how I can deliver the news to my nutritional vet with tact and grace that I am going back to a raw food diet and will no longer be seeking their services at this time? Maybe it's as simple as what I just said! Thanks.

 

[Dr. Christina]

Just as simple as what you said.
Good for you to make your own decisions.

For the sake of clarity, you may want to do a very careful comparison of all symptoms in the master symptom list in the journal from when you started the cooked diet to now, before you have been on the raw diet long. And, maybe, for that reason also, you could draw the blood so you have values from the beginning of the cooked diet to the end of the cooked diet. Then you can do blood later, after being on the raw and the homeopathy.

This is not to change your plan at all, merely for clarity.

Dr. Christina

 

[Dr. Jeff]

Great work Daysha!

ow I can deliver the news to my nutritional vet with tact and grace that I am going back to a raw food diet and will no longer be seeking their services at this time?

Most vets are so overwhelmed that I suspect they'd be fine with your choice. And perhaps you don't even need to give them feedback.

If you choose to give them feedback, I agree with Dr. Christina that what you wrote is perfect!

 

[DayshaG]

Just as simple as what you said.
Good for you to make your own decisions.

For the sake of clarity, you may want to do a very careful comparison of all symptoms in the master symptom list in the journal from when you started the cooked diet to now, before you have been on the raw diet long. And, maybe, for that reason also, you could draw the blood so you have values from the beginning of the cooked diet to the end of the cooked diet. Then you can do blood later, after being on the raw and the homeopathy.

This is not to change your plan at all, merely for clarity.

Dr. Christina

Thank you for the feedback. I've decided to have Bella's blood drawn in January. Since we've talked about this outside the Forum, that Bella really has such anxiety with the blood draw (one of the symptoms I discussed with Dr. Herman), I've decided it's best to wait a little though I can certainly respect and see your suggestion about drawing blood now. <3

 

[DayshaG]

Great work Daysha!

Most vets are so overwhelmed that I suspect they'd be fine with your choice. And perhaps you don't even need to give them feedback.

If you choose to give them feedback, I agree with Dr. Christina that what you wrote is perfect!

Thank you!

 

[Dr. Jeff]

YW Daysha!