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Progression of kidney disease?


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Hoping to hear some thoughts on my dog's situation. Any and all musings are welcome.

 

My old dog, Ritz, is an ~17.5 year old Sheltie mix (I think) that I adopted from a shelter when she was 3.5 years old. She has been a finicky eater off and on throughout the years, but the last few years she has been more consistent in her eating habits. Usually if she rejects her food for one meal, usually in the a.m., she will eat at night.

 

The past few months I have noticed a more rapid deterioration of energy, etc., but she continued to do well with eating, short walks, interactions and elimination. At her age, she can still go up and down stairs, but it is an effort. She prefers to do it herself and not be carried.

 

This a.m., she rejected her food, and at midmorning, she also refused homemade liver treats (doggy crack) and deli roast beef. Food was also rejected tonight, although she did take a bite or two of RB.

 

Her last few years, her annual bloodwork has shown marginally elevated kidney values, but they have held steady, even as recently as this past February.

 

With her refusal to eat, my mind immediately jumps to kidney disease because that was the same symptom as shown by a previous dog when her kidneys decided to fail.

 

My question is, in your experience, how rapidly will kidney disease progress? And what other signs have you noticed?

 

Of course, she may eat tomorrow morning. Or her symptom may be due to another cause altogether.

 

I am thinking that if she doesn't eat tomorrow morning, I will try to get her in for some blood work - either at her regular vet or at the emergency clinic.

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I agree with getting her to the vet quickly if these symptoms continue. I am not an expert on kidney disease but I had an old dog many years agp with the issue and he was lethargic, had no appetite and was throwing up. At such an advanced age as your girl, it could be a number of causes. Please let us know how she is doing.

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I am not am expert, but I would take her to the vets. When our first border collie was diagnosed with kidney failure, he was already very sick (typical tough border collie, we had no clue he was sick until he had a seizure) the biggest thing that helped his quality of life was giving him fluids, which we did most nights watching tv. We got to enjoy 3 more months with him and we made sure they were the best we could give him.

As he was already very sick we made the decision with our vets support that there would be no special diets, we just gave him what ever he liked.

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Update:

Ritz did not want to eat this morning. I tried Roast Beef, Chicken breast, canned dog food, homemade liver treats and cheddar cheese.

 

She had a fluid white vomit this morning.

 

She still wanted to go outside and sit/lie down on our lawn and look down the hill to the lower fields. :) This is her favorite place.

 

The vet visit today revealed: NOTHING (well, nothing except for a fever)

Complete blood work was unremarkable. Kidney values stable.

No bladder infection. (She has had a couple of UTIs in the past 3 years so we checked.)

4-way snap test (TBDs) was negative except for a light reaction to Ehrlichia. She had Ehrlichia about 6 years ago so the vet thought the slight positive may have been due to the past infection.

Chest X-ray was clear.

A quick abdominal ultrasound was also clear. This was a quick look that the vet didn't charge me for. He just wanted to know.

 

So they are treating the fever without knowing the cause. Not much else they can do.

 

She is currently at the emergency clinic so she can be monitored overnight. She is on fluids, 2 broad spectrum antibiotics and and anti-nausea med.

 

We will see how she does overnight.

 

I would hope to see an improvement in a day or two. If not, then .............. :( After all, she will turn 18 in October. It is not fair to her to keep her going when she feels so crappy.

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Progression of renal failure in dogs is quite variable. It really depends on the underlying cause. I've seen some stay stable for years while others are gone just months.

 

Hoping she feels better soon. Do ask about long term use of anti nausea meds. They can really help renal failure patients.

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wow. This has happened to two good friends of mine. One has been giving fluids for over 6 months now, and the dog is still responding well. The other gave fluids for about 6 weeks, and all seemed fine until a very rapid deterioration last week, and after upping the fluids to no avail, it led to having the dog being PTS. Both dogs were elderly. So I agree with Liz's statement that it is variable.

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Thank you for asking. Ritz is doing So-So.

 

She has been boarding at the Emergency Clinic since Wednesday afternoon. Lots of fluids and 2 antibiotics to bring the fever down - which has worked since she now has a normal temp (~102) from 104 on Wednesday. Yesterday we also started doxy on the off chance that the fever may be due to RMSF - more common in eastern VA that here in the western part of VA. [The snap test does not identify RMSF.]

 

She has a very slight head tilt, commented on by the vet and looking back, I now realize that she has had a very slight tilt for the last few weeks. She had lost 3 lbs (10% of body weight) since February when she was last at the vet for annual check-up. I forgot to mention that before, and the weight loss suggested cancer to the vet which was the reason for the chest X-ray (which was fairly normal.) But she had been eating normally during the past few months.

 

But she will NOT eat. They were trying a bland diet for her - rice and chicken. [Nice try, but not very exciting.] I visited her yesterday with some sweet yogurt and a jar of chicken baby food. No interest in yogurt, but she did lick the baby food several times. She is a very anxious dog normally so it is not surprising that she will not eat for them.

 

There isn't much more they can do for her, so I will be picking her up this afternoon - and hope that her temp stays down (she will continue with the doxy) and that I can get her to eat. I am not optimistic about her desire to eat. I am now at the point of wondering if I should prolong this. (i.e. should I even put her through coming back home and probably not eating despite my best efforts.) I guess I feel I have to try.

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