Renal Failure

Hello imlooking for answers about treatment for Tye my 6 year old Sheltie  he has lost at leat 10lbs in the past few months not eating well so i thought that was causing the weight loss,he vomited 1x and has seemed depressed he also was eating alot of snow since december.yesterday we noticed a patch of hair gone so took him to the vet had all the blood work done and this morning we received a call saying Tye was in renal failure and may only have a few months to live.we brought him into the vet to get SUB Q fluids and this is needed for the next few days he will get a special diet and have to take a water pill and antiacid as well as another medication i cant remember what it is called let alone what it is use for.We just lost another sheltie to lepto in the late summer and had to put my 16 year old sheltie down befre christmas.i dont think we can handle loosing another dog this year.what im looking for is some type of answer....Tye was never sick he  what could have caused this????What else can we do???

[Aleda M Cheng, D.V.M., C.V.A]

I am so sorry about your dog and I am also greatly saddened about the loss of your other two Shelties recently!

Thank you for posting your dog's lab work results.  Sadly, his kidney enzymes are high.  Has your vet tested Tye for lepto.  You did mention that you lost another Sheltie to lepto and,  lepto can cause severe kidney disease.

What ever the cause this is serious and I am sure that your vet is well versed in treating kidney disease the traditional way.  Traditional methods of treating kidney disease are limited.  Even in human medicine, once the kidneys fail the patent's only option is to go on dialysis until a kidney donor is found for a kidney transplant.  

I noticed that you live in PA close to Philadelphia.  The University of Pennsylvania, School of Veterinary Medicine has performed kidney transplants.  Although more common in cats, dogs have also received a donor's kidney.  This is quite costly however.  Please call UP if you are interested.

There are holistic methods of treating kidney disease which can prolong the pet's life successfully for awhile.  Many holistic veterinarians have treated kidney disease patients successfully with acupuncture, special diets, Chinese and Western herbal medicine and other medications and therapies.  Many of these patients have lived far longer than the estimated few months.  It is worth a try since the traditional methods of treating kidney disease are limited.  To find a holistic vet in your area please google: tcvm.com and ahvma.org.  It would help if the vet also practices Chinese herbal medicine.

[momg6k]

thank you for answering so quickly.we are having Tye tested for Lepto but that will take at least 5 days also when my other dog was dx with lepto we gave the rest of our dogs medication just incase as well as vaccinated for lepto.Today we did a kidney xray and bilateral kidneys look normal.we will take Tye to UP but couldnt get appnt. until march 7th.He isn't keeping food down and we ar giving him the medication the vet told us to give.
     i will look into your other suggestions as well thank you again Bernadette

[Aleda M Cheng, D.V.M., C.V.A]

Please let us know how things turn out.  Thanks