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My buddy Reilly and his renal failure
I'm new here and not used to posting in groups but when I started reading through the threads I felt compelled to post as well. My JRT Reilly is going to be 15 in June and is in, what I believe to be stage 3 possibly 4 renal failure. I have to say that I've had a tough time reading through some posts without crying.
My boy has been part of our family his entire life and about 2 years ago we found out that he was in stage 2-3 renal failure after we took him to the vet for some pre-dental cleaning blood work. We have followed the vets instructions to the tee except for the fact that he's always been a picky eater and refused the renal diet. So I started cooking for him. Based on a recipe that I received from the vets office. Simple really. Just beef, rice, bread, egg and calcium carbonate as a phos binder. I added a multi vitamin and anti oxidants. Up until about a week ago he'd been eating well and had a decent amount of energy. He drank a lot and would sometimes urinate in his sleep so we bought a belly band diaper which he wears each night. Last week he got very ill and was vomiting multiple times a night for 2 nights. The vomit was mostly water and smelled horrible! He then started turning down his food. I tried eggs, chicken, lessening the rice to tempt him to eat. Tried raw diet as well. Finally took him back to the vet on Friday and am still waiting for the results. I don't recall much from his last bloodwork in November other than creat was 2.3 and the vet told us that we should expect months but not years with him. He's still drinking but not as much as before (he'd go through a big bowl in a day sometimes). He was eating cooked hamburger patty as of two days ago. Now he's turning his nose up to that as well. He's very restless and keeps wanting to be let out but then just pees a bit and paces back and forth on his lead for 10-15 minutes before signaling to come in. This morning he woke me up twice. 4am and then 6am. I tried to give him burger today and nothing. When he came in from outside he sniffed one of his cookies and proceeded to start licking his lips and drooling! I've never encountered that with him! He looks very depressed. We've been giving him anti nausea meds as well as Pepcid to try to control the acid but they don't seem to be working. He's also on blood pressure meds. Physically his weight is good and he's a little wobbly on foot sometimes. Mainly gets tripped up on the steps at times but is still walking up and down them following me around.
My husband and I are very sad and frustrated and nervous that we don't know what else to do to help him. I don't want to make that painful decision either because I feel that he's got to have more life in him. We r both losing sleep over this because we want what's best for him but have no idea what that is. I'm not ready to let him go but how will I draw that line and know when it's the right time for him?
My boy has been part of our family his entire life and about 2 years ago we found out that he was in stage 2-3 renal failure after we took him to the vet for some pre-dental cleaning blood work. We have followed the vets instructions to the tee except for the fact that he's always been a picky eater and refused the renal diet. So I started cooking for him. Based on a recipe that I received from the vets office. Simple really. Just beef, rice, bread, egg and calcium carbonate as a phos binder. I added a multi vitamin and anti oxidants. Up until about a week ago he'd been eating well and had a decent amount of energy. He drank a lot and would sometimes urinate in his sleep so we bought a belly band diaper which he wears each night. Last week he got very ill and was vomiting multiple times a night for 2 nights. The vomit was mostly water and smelled horrible! He then started turning down his food. I tried eggs, chicken, lessening the rice to tempt him to eat. Tried raw diet as well. Finally took him back to the vet on Friday and am still waiting for the results. I don't recall much from his last bloodwork in November other than creat was 2.3 and the vet told us that we should expect months but not years with him. He's still drinking but not as much as before (he'd go through a big bowl in a day sometimes). He was eating cooked hamburger patty as of two days ago. Now he's turning his nose up to that as well. He's very restless and keeps wanting to be let out but then just pees a bit and paces back and forth on his lead for 10-15 minutes before signaling to come in. This morning he woke me up twice. 4am and then 6am. I tried to give him burger today and nothing. When he came in from outside he sniffed one of his cookies and proceeded to start licking his lips and drooling! I've never encountered that with him! He looks very depressed. We've been giving him anti nausea meds as well as Pepcid to try to control the acid but they don't seem to be working. He's also on blood pressure meds. Physically his weight is good and he's a little wobbly on foot sometimes. Mainly gets tripped up on the steps at times but is still walking up and down them following me around.
My husband and I are very sad and frustrated and nervous that we don't know what else to do to help him. I don't want to make that painful decision either because I feel that he's got to have more life in him. We r both losing sleep over this because we want what's best for him but have no idea what that is. I'm not ready to let him go but how will I draw that line and know when it's the right time for him?
Hi. Yes, I agree, it seems to be stage 3. The Mirtzapine should help stimulate the appetite and get him eating, but it can take a day or two to have any effect.Personally, I would say you should try to get your vet to agree to give IV fluids for 3 consecutive days, and then continue with SubQs. The problem with SubQs are they take much longer to work than IV fluids, and I tend to think this is not a time to be wasted.
The high red blood cell count is very likely due to your dog being severely dehydrated. This is exactly why I am suggesting IV fluids, rather than SubQ.
The problem with weruva chicken is the phosphorus that's in it. Other than that, it's actually a very good dog food. If you could try the Hills canned kd again, it would be far more helpful, particularly now at stage 3. Try drizzling organic honey (just a teaspoon) on the top to encourage eating.
Remember, this is stage 3 ... so not yet a time to be thinking about throwing in the towel, I feel. I do agree, quality of life is always the priority, but it should go hand in hand with the best management and diet control possible.
I have an article I wrote about diet that may be helpful to you:
http://www.infobarrel.com/Changing_Diet_During_Canine_Kidney_Disease
Kepp me updated on how things go. You are in my thoughts.
Tony
The high red blood cell count is very likely due to your dog being severely dehydrated. This is exactly why I am suggesting IV fluids, rather than SubQ.
The problem with weruva chicken is the phosphorus that's in it. Other than that, it's actually a very good dog food. If you could try the Hills canned kd again, it would be far more helpful, particularly now at stage 3. Try drizzling organic honey (just a teaspoon) on the top to encourage eating.
Remember, this is stage 3 ... so not yet a time to be thinking about throwing in the towel, I feel. I do agree, quality of life is always the priority, but it should go hand in hand with the best management and diet control possible.
I have an article I wrote about diet that may be helpful to you:
http://www.infobarrel.com/Changing_Diet_During_Canine_Kidney_Disease
Kepp me updated on how things go. You are in my thoughts.
Tony
Hi. Welcome to our group ... although saddened that you need to be here. While awaiting the blood results (please post them once you have them, as that will help figure out what's going on), I wonder if your Reilly has a urine infection? That would possibly account for the excessive desire to urinate. If you can, try catching some morning urine and ask your vet to do a Culture & Sensitivity test on it. The same sample could also be used for a test of specific gravity and protein leakage, as both these are significant markers of kidney failure progression.
Ask your vet to prescribe Mirtzapine. This doesn't work on all dogs, but for those that it does work for, it's superb. It has a 3-way action on depression and/or anxiety, it's also an anti-nausea medication and an appetite stimulant. It usually starts working within 24hrs, but others have reported it can take 3 days to kick in. Give it a try.
The other question I have is concerning the phosphorus binder ... calcium carbonate is okay, but it's not nearly as effective as aluminium hydroxide, so encourage your vet to try it. The other good thing about alum hydrox is it isn't calcium based, so it won't affect things if calcium is already high in the blood results.
As for food, well hopefully the situation may improve with the Mirtzapine, but in the meantime I think what you are offering is good (although a canned kidney food would be much better, something like Hills kd or any of the others). Try drizzling a teaspoon of organic honey on the top, as an encouragement. The other important thing to mention here is the amounts being fed ... larger meals are disastrous on kidney failure, because it gives the kidneys too much to process all at once, so try feeding very small amounts every 2 to 3 hours. This removes some of the workload and some of the stress on the kidneys and can help reduce nausea too.
Finally, ask your vet to check Reilly's blood pressure. Kidney failure is often associated with high blood pressure in dogs, and this can worsen the kidney disease substantially. Getting any blood pressure under control is therefore crucial and a priority.
Hope some of this helps. Keep us informed and do come back with blood and urine results.
Tony
Ask your vet to prescribe Mirtzapine. This doesn't work on all dogs, but for those that it does work for, it's superb. It has a 3-way action on depression and/or anxiety, it's also an anti-nausea medication and an appetite stimulant. It usually starts working within 24hrs, but others have reported it can take 3 days to kick in. Give it a try.
The other question I have is concerning the phosphorus binder ... calcium carbonate is okay, but it's not nearly as effective as aluminium hydroxide, so encourage your vet to try it. The other good thing about alum hydrox is it isn't calcium based, so it won't affect things if calcium is already high in the blood results.
As for food, well hopefully the situation may improve with the Mirtzapine, but in the meantime I think what you are offering is good (although a canned kidney food would be much better, something like Hills kd or any of the others). Try drizzling a teaspoon of organic honey on the top, as an encouragement. The other important thing to mention here is the amounts being fed ... larger meals are disastrous on kidney failure, because it gives the kidneys too much to process all at once, so try feeding very small amounts every 2 to 3 hours. This removes some of the workload and some of the stress on the kidneys and can help reduce nausea too.
Finally, ask your vet to check Reilly's blood pressure. Kidney failure is often associated with high blood pressure in dogs, and this can worsen the kidney disease substantially. Getting any blood pressure under control is therefore crucial and a priority.
Hope some of this helps. Keep us informed and do come back with blood and urine results.
Tony
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Thanks Tony. I am familiar with all of the above and have been cooking his meals for him since November. The vet did inform me that Reilly's BUN is 178 and his red blood cell count is at 30. Creatinine is at 3.7 from 2.3 in November. He is at stage 3 at this point. I've called my vet about the mirtzapine and am awaiting a call back to see if he thinks it would benefit him. He also suggested hospitalization but said that it wouldn't guarantee any serious improvement and that it could worsen. Even though he's not in pain he's miserable and depressed. He was eating some chicken yesterday but only a small bit. Today he won't touch any food. We tried the hills diets two years ago when he was first diagnosed with stage 2. He wouldn't eat any of it and was losing weight so I kept him on his weruva chicken diet (canned). He is still drinking water and we give him subQ ringers every other day. 300ml. Our vet said to cut that back to 150 and do it daily so we've just started that on Saturday. According to our vet they are thinking that we should start taking quality of life into consideration now. My husband and I are beside ourselves with sadness and are fearful that he will not hold up and that euthanasia might be immanent. I've never gone thru this with an animal that I personally owned before so this is absolutely gut wrenching for me. Any advice on how we can make his possible last days better would be greatly appreciated. Thanks for your help and for this group.
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