One month update on Pepsi

[pepsibaby]

It has been one month since my 11 year old Yorkie, Pepsi was officially diagnosed with Kidney Disease, two months since he was diagnosed with Heart disease. I have two questions about enalapril and turkey v. chicken.

He gained some weight, from 4 to nearly 5 lbs, his numbers are better:

     last month          this month
BUN     224                  95
Creatinine    3.5            1.6
Phosphorus    11.4        9.6

First, my question is, the Internal Med Vet wants him to start on Enalapril because he has high amounts of protein in his urine. I hear it can cause his kidney numbers to go up and I am scared. He finally has started to perk up and be his old self. She wants him to take 1.25mg x 2, for a total of 2.5mg daily. I convinced her I would be more comfortable with half that amount twice a day, for a total of 1.25 mg daily. She thought this too low, but agreed to do this for one week when I go in for another kidney value test. What side affects or dosage has others tried and had luck with?

Second, she wants him to increase his water intake,and is considering the sub Q. He drinks 1/2 cup daily (I measure) . And he just started a few days ago to be finicky about his food, he was gobbling everything and now sniffs it and walks away. Lucky if he eats 1/4 cup a day now. I tried the boiled cabbage, chicken broth, unsalted butter. I have 4 diff. cans of food in fridge. I heard about the chicken, but is turkey okay? I boil ground turkey and feed him the broth.

Thanks to everyone!

[tonyb286]

Hi. The refusing food is absolutely typical of a dog with too many toxins building up in his digestive tract and stomach ... is Pepsi on any anti-nausea medication? If not, then he needs some ... get your vet to advise, as it needs to be something that is also compatible with the heart condition.

Do be careful of stuff coming straight out the microwave - there are often pockets of super-heated fat inside the food that will seriously burn the inside of a dog's mouth, so always let microwaved dog food cool for at least 10 minutes before feeding.

Tony

[pepsibaby]

I am so new to this, trying to learn and understand. I guess it is Sub Q fluids. With his heart condition, the vet wants to make sure Pepsi's heart can handle it before we start this.

Pepsi has started an odd habit of sniffing his food before he eats. I mean, sniffs really loud so I think the "smelly" tripe may not interest him.

And since Pepsi is small and eats so little, I find it hard to invest in so much tripe. I found one company that comes into my city in Ohio. I make an order and meet the truck so I pay less shipping. I may try them.

One day he wants me to hand feed him, then the next he won't take from me. One day I have to make little pyramid shapes out of the food and place them in front of him and then the next he turns his nose to the little pyramid shapes. He loves baked KD lamb or original but I hate giving him these since most of the water gets baked out. By accident I once heated his food too hot in the micro but I was in a hurry and gave it to him anyways. He loved it, gobbled the hot stuff down and begged for more, odd, but if it helps him eat it I will do it.

I have found what helps me in food prep. is boiling the ground turkey (sometimes using the turkey water to then boil pasta for him), and placing the turkey water mix in ice cube trays. I put the frozen cubes in zip bags and take one out when I need one.

[tonyb286]

Hi. Do you mean coQ10? If so, this is pointless. Canine kidney specific Sub-Q fluids would be a hundred times more beneficial.

His numbers are much better, so something is definitely working. And gained weight too, which is great. Enalapril is a good medication for treating both heart disease and kidney disease, so it's certainly worth trying. I reckon you may be right to start low and then raise the dosage if it doesn't seem to be working efficiently. Chicken is good, turkey is fine - but I would consider trying some green tripe, if you can find it. The reason being it is more nutritional and will help provide him with much-needed energy and maintain his weight level. It is also low in phosphorus, which is good. Like many foods, try rotating them ... so give one kind of food for 3 days, then change to another, and so on ... which hopefully will prevent food associations with sickness starting. Chicken is fine for kd dogs, but it must be human grade chicken or a canine kidney manufactured dog food.

Hope that helps.

Tony

[pepsibaby]

oops, I meant coQ injections, not subQ, still learning...