Kidney Failure...now what to do?

[MashaG]

Quick intro: My dog is 17 1/2 (old I know), and last year he had a bad pancreatitis attack that led to kidney failure. After being put on IV fluids for 3 days, he got much better and the kidney failure actually went away. However the same thing happened yet again a week ago. My dog went through a horrible pancreatitis attack for 2 months, along with a bacterial complication that was stopping the attack from going away, but the day my vet and I figured out how to get his pancreas to go back to normal and for him to stop getting diarrhea...my dog ended up hurting his kidney again.

It's been about a week now of lots of water drinking and lots of peeing. No vomiting, however he is getting very lethargic and lost his appetite yesterday. My vet gave me subcutaneous fluids to administer at home, however I feel that the amount she told me to give him is just too little. He is 17 pounds (should be 22 but he lost weight from the pancreatitis attack), and he is only getting 200mL a day. I'm going to call my vet tomorrow about increasing his fluids, because he gets dehydrated again very quickly after I give him the fluids, and his body absorbs the water at a very fast pace. Can anyone give me an idea of how much fluids a dog should be given a day when going through a kidney attack?

I don't have a lot of money, and ended up spending over $3,000 last year to put him on IV. I really can't afford something like this again, so I want to first try sticking to subcutaneous fluids. Please let me know if anyone has a good idea of how much fluids to give a dog depending on their body weight.

Also, does anyone have any experience with a kidney attack lasting only for a short period of time? That's what happened to my dog last year, and I'm praying I'll be lucky enough that this isn't a permanent issue.

[tonyb286]

Hello and welcome to our User Group.

Pancreatitis can indeed cause acute renal failure - and this in turn can lead to chronic kidney failure, if the kidneys are severely damaged. I understand you are on a limited budget, but an ultra-sound would be the best thing you could do, as this would inform your vet (and therefore you) of how much of the kidney tissue is remaining after both attacks. If there is enough kidney tissue remaining, then you should be able to treat the acute kidney failure enough for it not to be a big problem. Resolving the pancreatitis issue is therefore an additional and major challenge worthy of you and your vet's attention.

Diet is probably going to be the biggest challenge. Pancreatitis is induced through too much fat in the diet. Of course, there is fat in all meats and poultry, so it is appropriate to reduce the fat content as much as possible, either through choosing the right manufactured dog food or through home cooking. Ideally, the fat content should not exceed 10% of any meal. Treats are also commonly high in fat so do be cautious about what you give as a treat.

Fat content is better replaced with high-quality lean meat (protein), and high-quality means feeding meats that are intended for human consumption. However, protein can cause issues to the kidney disease (there is some debate about this), and it is therefore wise to limit protein content to 15% of any meal, replacing the remainder with suitable carbohydrates.

What were you feeding before the onset of pancreatitis and the renal issue? What are you now feeding? How often are you feeding a day?

SubQ fluids are helpful, but IV fluids are probably going to be necessary. The point is, SubQ takes much longer to work than IV and if there has been a severe attack or one that has substantially affected the kidneys, then SubQ may not work at all. The other question is about the type of fluids. What fluids are you using?

As to the amount of fluids, well, I would actually be giving 300ml a day, if it were my dog. The recommendation is 5-15ml per pound of body weight. Importantly, a careful check on blood values is necessary during SubQ treatment, as electrolytes can swing abnormally high or low.

Tony