Info on Kidney problems

[~Astral~]

Hi everyone,

I took my oldest dog to the vet today. He's called Sid and is 10 years old. He has heart disease and some scarring on his lungs along with Epilepsy which doesn't require medication.

He has been drinking a lot lately and urinating a lot and also urinated in the house twice which is totally unlike him. I had his kidneys checked today and his glucose via a blood test. Glucose was fine thankfully but his Kidney result was quite high & the vet is concerned & is re-testing his levels next tuesday. I was told it could be kidney failure & his furosemide has been reduced.

I dont know what to do & im very worried. I dont know anything about kidney problems with dogs. What treatments are available? Can the damage to his kidneys be reversed? I need as much information as possible. Thank you.

[fairlight]

I am going on the blind with this Astral.....could it be just a bad bladder infection?

[~Astral~]

Nope no chance its that. I wish it was just that I know that using Furousemide for a few years can result in kidney problems in Humans so perhaps its the same with dogs? Im really dreading what the vet is going to say. Once hes had his second blood test and I know what's going on, I'll take Sid to Coco's vet if its necessary and see what he thinks. I found out Vitamin B is helpful with Kidney problems so I'll get some of this for him. Thanks

[fairlight]

Sorry...I wish I could be more help. Hang in there...someone in the forum will read your post and can advise you wisely.

[~Astral~]

Sorry I didn't mean to sound snappy hun I'm just all over the place at the moment because it was so unexpected. Thank you again x

[alimel]

Last year my very old (16 1/2 yrs) Beagle was diagnosed with renal failure. There are a few types of kidney disease, I cannot think of the name, maybe Addisons (Perhaps someone else can confirm) which can be treated. Renal failure is not always a death sentence, there are dogs that can live a while with the disease, however, in some cases they may need IV treatments to restore fluids. My vet was willing to give us the IV to take home for us to administer in order to cut down on the cost. Some can be managed with the fluid treatments and medication.

My guy was not so lucky, we were given a prescription diet that was supposed to help with the disease, it was Science Diet K/D - two days after he ate this food he became very weak and lithargic and would not eat. He died two days later. The vet was shocked as he should have not died this early stage of the disease, his numbers did not indicate acute renal failure. We now think it was the food. After what has happened recently with the recalls and the deaths due to the different dog foods, it suddenly makes sense, although we have no way to prove it. (this happened in November)

I know it is very hard waiting to hear back on the results, Buddy, Mel and I are hoping for good results for Sid. Talk all of the options over with your vet and do not leave there until you are comfortable and you understand everything that will need to be done to help him.

[~Astral~]

Hi hun. I'm so sorry about your loss. I did hear about the food being recalled but I'm from UK and we haven't had any food recalled so far. I think we have different makes over here but I'm not sure. I'm not well versed with dog food lol.

I did contact the vet earlier but I couldn't speak with her so I talked to the receptionist and she told me if it was anything serious the vet would of asked me to bring him straight in and not to worry too much but from what's written on the PC screen his results have came back quite high which is cause for concern and the vet wants to perform some more tests on him to get to the bottom of it. I'm slightly less worried now but I do keep watching Sid like a hawk. I'm a paranoid mum at the moment lol.

Thank you so much for your help and Im sorry about your loss last year. x

[alimel]

Please let us know what the tests show. Hopefully you are worrying for nothing!

[~Astral~]

I will do hun. I hope I am worrying over nothing, lol.