Sorry to double-post, but I wanted to make sure youngandtired got the message since the question had been asked in the midst of the middle of a long conversation–----- so,
I did email Dr. Gonto again, and I got a response this morning.
I am SO GLAD that I asked BEFORE starting to "pre-treat" Jazzy.
He recommended strongly AGAINST that.
He did suggest WEEKLY STRIP TESTING, and mentioned the venous blood gas tests as a way to get an earlier "catch" of the syndrome {gee, Pat, where've we heard that before }
I told him what I was thinking of doing:
I am thinking of beginning to feed high protein canned lamb at least once a week, giving 1/2 Pet-tab and 1/2 Pet-cal w/D twice a day, 1 Centrum complete vitamin once a week, and possibly 1 amino fuel tablet once a week, holding off on the bicarb since the dosage for that would be related to the progression of the disease {from what I understand}.
And he responded:
I must disagree with ALL the above, since you are "replacing" what the dog is NOT losing yet (and MAY NEVER…since we are not yet sure that ALL dogs with the gene set express it). In fact, the excess vitamins and protein may HARM the kidneys!!!! All that excess MUST be renally wasted. I would just feed NORMAL good quality food, use FILTERED water for the dogs drinking (a tap end PUR, Culligan or BRITA is fine)...even a BRITA type pitcher is fine. However, FILTERED water is best for ALL your family with the stuff we are finding in our tap water now
So now we know….....