unfortunately kidney disease doesn't show up until it's fairly advanced because the kidneys can compensate for quite a while. when they go off their food though it's usually because the stomach is acidic (a side effect of kd) or they have nausea so your vet can prescribe some anti nausea meds but also advise you on antacids to help with the stomach. The other thing you should do is elevate his dish so he doesn't have to lean down to eat or drink and that helps stop the acid from coming up from his stomach when he leans forward. These things can make a huge difference to make him feel better and get him back eating, and keep him eating and getting fluids is really important.

Also the KD diets get criticised a bit by some, but when my dog was diagosed and given up to a couple of months to live at best, I started feeding her the hills kd and she did really well for well over a year and surprised everyone and I believe it was due to the kidney food, I also used to cook up small batches of white rice and mix it with the kidney food warmed up. Also if you can, feed him small meals throughout the day instead of larger meals, it helps with the stomach issues too, e.g. I would give my dog 4 smaller meals instead of 2 larger ones.

One other thing I would ask your vet is if they tested his electrolytes when he had the blood tests as he may need supplements and for example low potassium can cause muscle weakness or pain and you'll often see this in the hind end.

This post was edited by trancegemini_wa on Tue, Oct 15, 13 at 13:29

they did a full blood work including WBC, etc don't have the #s in front of me. He did vomit 2x on Sunday and twice yesterday. Just found out from my boyfriend at lunch that he had a pretty messy bowel accident at home. They did try anti nausea meds before when he was on antibiotics for the urine infection, they helped for a few days but then he was back to not wanting to eat much.
He doesn't have any interest in food of any kind now won't eat at all, drink small amounts of water. I was giving him pepcid AC with the Flagyl and Dexamethasone, vet told me to stop both for a day so we can determine if the fluid treatment is going to help him or not.
The sagging butt was after his levels were back to normal, I do believe they did the full tests as well then. All the vets believe the right lame hind leg is a separate issue.

"All the vets believe the right lame hind leg is a separate issue. "

it's very possible too. The fluids will help him feel a bit better and get him rehydrated, but they won't stop him from having excess stomach acid or nausea, that's just one of the things that comes with kidney disease and will be ongoing and it's the main reason they stop eating and/or have vomiting so if he is isn't eating and is vomiting, you need to get his stomach settled back down so he can eat or he will get very sick very quickly.

I looked it up I believe it was Cerenia that they injected in with the IV fluids, will double check when I get home from work. Waiting now on a callback from the vets office, he had the fluid treatment at around 6pm yesterday...so maybe its too soon to tell? No vomitting today last time was around 5pm yesterday.

what did the fluid treatment involve? The best way to give fluids and this is what my dog had, is they keep them in for 24 hours on an iv drip. I've been told by a couple of vets that it takes that long to get them properly rehydrated again because it takes a lot of fluid to do it properly but it can be quite expensive. Some people do subQ fluids at home instead, and that gets smaller amounts of fluid in to them but it's done daily as an ongoing thing

ps. the cerenia should be working by now. your vet can also prescribe you anti nausea tablets and then you can use them as needed at home instead of having to go back to the vet if he gets nausea again.

This post was edited by trancegemini_wa on Tue, Oct 15, 13 at 14:08

It must have been the SubQ fluids they put a needle under his skin in his back and it filled up with fluid that would soak in, don't remember how much they gave him it was about 1/2 a bag of fluid?? I know it says on his papers when I left but I don't have them to look at right now.

I'm so sorry this is happening to your dog. I've lost 2 young dogs suddenly to kidney failure and can understand the frustration you're going thru.
I hate to be blunt at this time but I feel you're going to have to make a hard decision soon, especially since he has other problems going on at the same time. I suggest you sit down and talk frankly with your vet and ask him what your dog's prognosis is. I have to have concrete info to base my decisions on, but if I'm still having problems I find it helps to ask the vet what he would do if it were his dog.

The hardest part is recognizing just how much pain your dog is in and what his quality of life is.......and not focusing on what you're going thru. You'll know then when it's time to let him go.

trancegemini: I believe they did the fluid treatment this way because they wanted that quick boost to try and help him want to eat and to see if he would tolerate the treatments...I spoke with him yesterday evening after I typed that last message and the vet said that it should have helped, the bad diarrhea accident was not a good sign either he said and it seems his kidneys are shutting down. The bacteria they found in his stool is on the bottom the list and is not really the problem at this point. My questions to him were would have more fluids helped him, he said no. We discussed the Euthanasia options that I can have him cremated or buried. I could either keep his ashes or have him cremated with other animals and his ashes scattered at a park.
I feel rushed to make this decision because of stupid work and social conflicts. I really don't want to have to do it tomorrow and have to go back to work on Friday...I can do it Friday evening but then my boyfriend feels bad because he has a show to play Friday night and doesn't want to leave me at home crying and depressed...but I also feel like I'm being cruel to let him starve until Saturday. I really want to take him to the park or something and just sit there and soak in the fresh air, my boyfriend doesn't seem like its a good idea he basically said that its not like Loki will enjoy it. I just wanted to do something special one last time before I end my best friends life. I just feel so selfish and cruel. I wish my boy could just tell me somehow that its going to be ok and that I should just let him go. But its so hard when he perks his ears and lifts up his head and that tail starts wagging when he sees me.
Annz: Thank you I know that if I talk to the vet that gave him the treatment he'll tell me what he would choose for his own dog. He told me about his dog when I was in his office getting a second opinion on his leg condition. He said they suspected his dog had a brain tumor just from all the signs he exhibited, he opted not to do an MRI or surgery because going through vet school he did some brain surgeries and he knew how extensive and harsh they were and didn't want to put his dog through that. After that I really felt this vet was a truly caring compassionate person, the other vet just doesn't have that good of a bed side manner. I always felt I was rushed and when I asked questions at times I felt like he just kinda of brushed them aside or he'd give me all this info that left me standing there saying huh?? Even though its almost $100 more to go to the more compassionate vet I'm leaning towards that option. Though I think I will call the other vet just to let him know what we tried and what he thinks.

Carolyn,

Did the x-rays include your dog's kidneys and bladder? If not, I would go to the vet and insist on more x-rays to check and see if your dog might have kidney and/or bladder stones. That may explain why his renal values have been fluctuating so much. He may have had one stone that was causing a partial blockage that he finally managed to pass, and now another stone may be causing a problem. This is a possibility that should be checked before making any irreversible and final decisions about your dog.

A single subQ fluid treatment isn't likely to do much of anything to improve a chronic condition like kidney disease, except make him feel a little better for a few hours. If a vet told me that additional fluid treatments wouldn't help one of my kidney cats (I have several cats in renal failure), that would tell me that the vet just didn't want to treat my cat, for whatever reason. That's not a vet I would stay with.

Laurie