Is too much PROTEIN causing kidney failure?

[shandoggy1]

I feed my dog Innova evo and have recently read on another forum I sometimes go on that to much protein is causing kidney failure in dogs as well as crystals and high ph levels in the urine. One of the foods that was listed and talked about the most was the Innova. So what if you are feeding raw? Same thing because raw is lots of protein and Innova is based on raw feeding. I do also give some raw occasionally. What do you think of this and is it even true? I also wanted to know if anyone has any more info on this topic, maybe a website perhaps

[linnie]

Dogs with compromised kidneys have to have lower protein intake but normal healthy growing or working dogs need protein.

[IceyBlueSibes]

I believe that this has been ruled out by veterinarians. Protein in food does not affect a healthy dog, UNLESS it's kidneys are damaged --- which then results in kidney failure.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but that's what I have gotten from the research I've done.

[IceyBlueSibes]

Blah, the edit button is not working for me, but when the kidnies are damaged, too much protein is not good. The dog must recieve a diet that's a HIGH QUALITY protein (less of an amount though) and low phosphorous.
If it's a healthy dog, I don't think there should be any trouble. BUT kidney failure cannot be diagnosed until 70% of the dogs kidney's are no longer functional.
If you are concerned about your dogs kidneys, you can have blood tests run to check the kidney function.

[LVT]

Wow- lots of confusion here.

High protein diet is not the cause of kidney failure. However, when an animal has kidneys which are not working properly, it is losing protein that it should be keeping. It's instead filtering out through the urine. Instead of increasing the protein intake as one might originally think, the goal is to decrease the amt of protein, since that would be more protein for the kidneys to filter out, thus more work for the already "tiring" kidneys.

Kidney failure can be diagnosed well before any symptoms are seen; it just usually isn't- since most people aren't keen on keeping up with diagnostics and bloodwork when their animal appears healthy to them. It is once 75% of the renal cells are damaged that you will see the symptoms resulting from the toxin buildups.