4th stage renal failure in my dog

[aggieone]

I have a nine year old lab  "Sandy Grace".  She is in fourth stage renal failure-Of course she has seen her regular vet for fluids-ultra sound revealed she has one kidney which is failing.   Creatine was 13-subs at home-now using hollistic and homepatic treatment.  Recently more bad days than good.    I am giving her ice chips which seem to work better for her than lapping.  Pedialyte ice is also better.  She throws up until she staggers and falls-I am continuously trying to hydrate her and giving her baby food-At times, she is able to keep it down,  other times the vomiting is horrible.  She continues to try for us, and we are fighting so hard for her-LIke others, I tuck her in at night (she sleeps on the loveseat with her "bankie" covering her).  I am sleeping in the den with her so I can give her support throughout the night.  Neither of us are getting much sleep.  I have her spoiled now with hand feeding other than her baby food, and I hold her plate while she licks it up.  I am using a recipe of egg yellow / whites, honey, and whole yogurt with a touch of dry powdered milk.  This works sometimes.  Sandy Grace is not ready to leave us-she continues to try-we try for her twenty-four hours a day.  Is there any over the counter medication that I can give her that will help with her vomiting?  We love her so much and she loves us so much-my husband and I feel like we will know when she is ready to go.  We went to grocery store yesterday to  buy more food supplies and liquids for her, when we got home, there she was looking out the window-barking for us to hurry and come inside-you open the door and there she is  - -so excited, still wagging her tail for us.  What can we do, this is our baby, she is so, so sweet-I know her days are numbered, but she is just not ready to leave. Help.    Aggieone

[tonyb286]

Hi. That's good news about Flash. One of the big problems about testing for cholesterol and properly diagnosing high lipids is the fact that many owners don't realise how eating can manipulate the blood results. Dogs really need to be fasted for 12 hours before the test, otherwise any food taken during that time will raise the lipids count. Vets will commonly only undertake a test when they are absolutely certain the owner has not fed their dog. They will often do a test while the dog is being supervised at the vets (detained for 12 hours), but otherwise many believe it just isn't reliable, given the way owners "give in" to feeding their dog something, even a small treat.

Tony

[sorrymom]

Hi, My Peabody also had high lipids(cholesterol) in her blood. Again had I gotten blood tests  all along. I would have caught it and could have done what I needed to do . She could have had some liver and pancreatic problems too. But my vet said she does not check cholesterol in dogs. But none of this makes any sense, lipids show up in a blood test, we got the whole blood test for Flash, my vets and the one she sends out. Do they not tell you when they get the results back, or I suppose as usual you have to ask! So as I said before BLOOD TESTS AND RESEARCH!

[sorrymom]

Hi Tony, Just an update here. We took Flash to the vet on Monday for his toenail clip and decided to go ahead with his blood test. It came back perfect, I know he is young but I needed to know how his calcium and phosphorus were beings I feed him his food with eggshell powder.  So all is well. All the other things were perfect, kidneys, liver, pancreas, I will always get blood tests. I also encourage everyone else to do the same!

[tonyb286]

Hi. As far as I know, tomatoes are fine as long as they are not under-ripe (green) and you don't give them too often. Green tomatoes do contain toxic substances (just like any green parts of standard white potatoes), but not red ripened ones. May need to check up on that, as it's just from memory.

Tony

[sorrymom]

I lost my mini dachshund Peabody in March of this year, she was 15 years old, she passed away from renal failure.  She never had any arthritis. I never gave her any nightshade vegetables. These include tomatoes, white potatoes, peppers and capsicums, and eggplant. These vegetables produce Glycoalkaloids, a natural pesticide produced by nightshade vegetables. These are not good for arthiritis, and even cause acid reflux. I tried to give her everything that I could that was pretty pure. I am not going over anyones head but it might have been why she did not get arthiritis. So we know that a pesticide is poison, Solanine is the bad stuff in nightshades. Sweet potatoes are not part of the nightshade group. Even if it would take a lot of say tomatoes to bother their joints, I don't think it is worth it in the long run.

[tonyb286]

Hi. While not toxic, almonds are not easily digested and can give your dog an upset stomach and create gastric intestinal distress. So only give very small amounts and infrequently. Tomatoes are also fine, as long as they are ripe. The leafy parts of the tomato plant ARE poisonous to dogs, so be careful if you grown them yourself in a greenhouse or in your home.

Just a mention also about the Greek Yoghurt ... make sure this is pure and plain yoghurt, not one that has been sweetened (some artificial sweeteners are very poisonous to dogs) or had additives added to it. Also, I say plain yoghurt because any other could contain fruit pips, again these are often poisonous to dogs.

Fibre is great for CKF dogs ... but not always the same kind of fibre we humans tend to eat. Brown rice is actually harder to digest for dogs, so it's better to use rice bran, if you can get hold of it. This is also a fermentable fibre (more about that in my article), so very good for kidney disease. A little cooked chopped cabbage in the diet will also help deal with any stomach ulcers (common with CKF dogs) - and helps to prevent them forming.

Hope that helps.

Tony