Question

I have a 10-year-old gelding that was diagnosed with renal failure. I feed him fescue hay and a senior feed. I have read that I shouldn’t be feeding him senior feed. What should I be feeding this horse?

Answer

For a horse with renal failure, you want to avoid feeding things that make the kidneys work harder, but make sure the horse maintains a healthy body weight.

Because excess protein needs to be broken down and filtered out of the body by the kidneys, a feed with low protein is best. Senior feeds are typically 14% or more protein, and this is why senior feeds are generally avoided. If you can find a 10% or 12% protein feed, it would be better. Alternatively, you could feed your gelding straight oats with a vitamin/mineral supplement.

Another nutrient that makes more work for the kidneys is calcium, so high-calcium forages should be avoided, like alfalfa (lucerne) and clover. Grass hays are preferable, and fescue should be fine as long as the horse will eat it.

Offering smaller, more frequent meals throughout the day is preferred over large meals because it will reduce large surges of nutrients passing through the kidneys at a time. Keeping a horse on pasture is ideal so that the horse can have a slow, steady intake all through the day.

If the horse is having trouble maintaining weight, added fat in the form of oil can give a caloric boost to the diet.

In dogs with renal failure, the recommendation of adding omega-3 fatty acids to the diet is standard and thought to be beneficial to the horse as well. Supplementation with fish oil such as EO•3 can boost the omega-3 content of the diet.