Aa
CRF in approx. 12 year old terrier mix with lots of diarrhea
Hi. I'm so happy to have found this sight in the middle of the night after being up with my girl who is in CRF and has a terrible problem with diarrhea and loose stools. I will attempt to give you as much of her history as I have. She is a 12 year old rescue, terrier mix. She has always had a very acidic stomach, upset stomach until the last couple years it seems to have gotten better. We always fed her Purina One kibbles. I wish I knew then what I know now about grain free food and homemade food. Back in April of last year for her regular visit the vet said her BUN and creatinine were a bit elevated. She suggested a grain free kibble and Standard Process Canine Renal Support and Canine Whole Body Support on her food. In November she became lethargic, was drinking a lot and had diarrhea. Back to the vet and her BUN and creatinine were about 3 or 4 times above normal. Vet suggested a homemade diet but to only include chicken or turkey, pumpkin or sweet potato, a couple tablespoons of dark greens and the supplements mentioned above. We started Sub Q fluids(Lactated Ringer injection) and started them at home 3 or 4 times a week initially. Immediately we saw improvement from the fluids I believe. She continued to eat but had diarrhea. After a couple of weeks and trying a couple different things....an antibiotic which made her very sick, cordyceps for a couple weeks, olive leaf....none of this seemed to help with the diarrhea. We found a product called DiarRice which is used to treat diarrhea and soothe their digestive tract. It contains rice flour, dried pumpkin meal, flax meal, sodium bentonite, chicken liver hydrolysate, fructooligosaccharide, fruit pectin, and 5 different probiotics. It helped with the diarrhea which I know is not curing her problem, just masking it. We took her off the DiarRice and 9 days later the diarrhea was back. Put her back on the DiarRice and it seems to help for the most part. Some days she has firm stools while other days mushy. It has masked the watery diarrhea. The vet then wanted me to add some new things to her diet to try and get it balanced. We then did 2/3 cup of protein, 1/3 organ meat, 1/3 cup vegetable, dark greens, 1/2 teaspoon seaweed calcium, fish oil (we were doing an omega-3 supplement to start), Standard Process canine renal support and Canine whole body support., and the DiarRice. The next day she had horrible, watery diarrhea. In my opinion, it was either the organ meats or the calcium. I put her back to just the very basic diet. That seemed to help if I included the DiarRice. My questions are....even though a very basic diet is not nutritionally sound, considering her issues, is it just better to get them to eat something rather than worry about all the supplements? Is there anything else that people have tried for diarrhea? I did add a little white rice the last few days and that doesn't seem to make it better or worse. We continue to give her Sub Q fluids 2 or 3 times weekly at home. I will have to get the results of her blood work and post them, but we had her blood work done a couple weeks ago and her creatinine and BUN were a little lower and her overall kidney function was the same. I asked about phosphorus and the vet said that hers was normal right now. She said her blood pressure was a bit elevated but didn't want to do anything with that right now. She is not losing weight and she continues to eat pretty good. Thank you for taking the time to read this and if anyone has suggestions on controlling the diarrhea I'd appreciate it.
Okay. If blood pressure is even slightly elevated, it needs addressing as it will cause a deterioration of kidney function. My personal preference would be Enalapril, which is mostly metabolised by the liver rather than the kidneys. This will help deal with the high blood pressure and improve blood flow through the kidneys.
You have certainly tried a whole raft of different things and reading through it I'm not sure any of it has truly had much effect. I would tend to strip back to a simpler plan. For supplements I tend to suggest pure organic salmon oil for Omega-3 fatty acids taken with a canine formulated Vitamin E capsule (important because salmon oil depletes this vitamin in dogs). CoQ10 has proved effective for many kd dogs. Rehmannia 8 is another supplement I recommend. Adding a dessertspoon of cooked chopped green cabbage every alternate day is good to prevent ulcers forming in the stomach, and it's a fermentable fiber so it's good for kidney disease. To help protect the liver a little (bearing in mind the liver needs to take over some of the functions normally undertaken by the kidneys), I would give Milk Thistle as another supplement. Probiotics are good in small quantities - plain organic yogurt if you can't afford expensive ones like Azodyl (very costly but said to be among the best).
Food is going to largely depend on the most recent blood results. I'm glad you aren't using Purina kibble anymore ... just about the worst food there is. Kibbles all cause chronic dehydration - and Purina are the target of a massive lawsuit by thousands of dog owners in the US, who say their food made their dogs fatally ill.
The diarrhea seems to be a chronic condition. Has your vet considered it may be due to IBS? Have you tried using Slippery Elm for it? Many say this all natural remedy really does work well.
I'm wondering what the phosphorous blood levels are like. If they are high (which I suspect) then a phosphate binder is essential. Aluminium hydroxide is my preference, as it doesn't interfere with electrolytes as much as calcium based binders do.
Tony
You have certainly tried a whole raft of different things and reading through it I'm not sure any of it has truly had much effect. I would tend to strip back to a simpler plan. For supplements I tend to suggest pure organic salmon oil for Omega-3 fatty acids taken with a canine formulated Vitamin E capsule (important because salmon oil depletes this vitamin in dogs). CoQ10 has proved effective for many kd dogs. Rehmannia 8 is another supplement I recommend. Adding a dessertspoon of cooked chopped green cabbage every alternate day is good to prevent ulcers forming in the stomach, and it's a fermentable fiber so it's good for kidney disease. To help protect the liver a little (bearing in mind the liver needs to take over some of the functions normally undertaken by the kidneys), I would give Milk Thistle as another supplement. Probiotics are good in small quantities - plain organic yogurt if you can't afford expensive ones like Azodyl (very costly but said to be among the best).
Food is going to largely depend on the most recent blood results. I'm glad you aren't using Purina kibble anymore ... just about the worst food there is. Kibbles all cause chronic dehydration - and Purina are the target of a massive lawsuit by thousands of dog owners in the US, who say their food made their dogs fatally ill.
The diarrhea seems to be a chronic condition. Has your vet considered it may be due to IBS? Have you tried using Slippery Elm for it? Many say this all natural remedy really does work well.
I'm wondering what the phosphorous blood levels are like. If they are high (which I suspect) then a phosphate binder is essential. Aluminium hydroxide is my preference, as it doesn't interfere with electrolytes as much as calcium based binders do.
Tony
2 Comments
Thank you for all the great information. I wanted to give you her latest blood work results. I will start with November 2016. Her bun was 75.2, creatinine 2.1, Calcium 12.3, and total bilirubin 0.7, RDW% 19.9, MCHC 41.3 and MCH 26.6. Those were the ones that were elevated, everything else was in normal range. December 2016 her bun was 67, creatinine 1.8, and RDW% 19.3. Everything else was in normal range. Her phosphorus was 4.8. How do you give a dog CoQ10? Dosage? Do I need to get it from the vet or can I get it at the vitamin store? Thank you again for taking the time to give me all that great information.
Great that BUN and creatinine have come down. You are clearly on the right track with the regime. I'm amazed phosphorous was within normal range. That's unusual in kidney disease? Are you limiting it in the diet? You can buy CoQ10 from most high quality pet suppliers or online. Just search "CoQ10 for dogs".
RDW is almost back within normal range, so another plus.
Tony
RDW is almost back within normal range, so another plus.
Tony
You must join this user group in order to participate in this discussion.
You are reading content posted in the Chronic Kidney Failure in Dogs Group
A list of national and international resources and hotlines to help connect you to needed health and medical services.
Herpes sores blister, then burst, scab and heal.
Herpes spreads by oral, vaginal and anal sex.
STIs are the most common cause of genital sores.
Condoms are the most effective way to prevent HIV and STDs.
PrEP is used by people with high risk to prevent HIV infection.
