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End stages of Kidney Failure
Hi Everyone..... This is one of the most difficult things I've ever had to deal with. My beloved Gypsy is dying of kidney failure. Gypsy is a Jack Russell Terrier and she turned 18...yes 18...on Christmas Day.
It's just so hard to know when it is "time." I prayed and prayed that she would give us one final parting gift and die on her own in her sleep...but she is SUCH a fighter and refused to surrender to this thing. We keep her comfortabel with sub-q infusions daily, Calcitriol, Aluminum hydroxide and novox. One day she seems bad and then the next day she is up and climbing a full flight of stairs and getting on the sofa by herself! Other days she can barely stand.
She sleep most of the time but today she has been shivering almost uncontrollably. I finally wrapped her in a warm blanket and held her for a while and she stopped shivering...she is asleep now. This is GUT WRENCHING. I know that you are all thinking that "OMG...she is 18...she's had a long life...put her down" but if you knew Gypsy... well she was spry as can be until she had to have surgery in November for a tooth abcess... She was under anesthesia way too long and developed acute pancreatitis (she also came back almost blind because the stupid vet didn't moisurize her eyes and she developed corneal ulcers)...She recovered from that (still can barely see) but then her kidneys started failing and haven't improved since.
She is skinny as a rail now....will only eat a bite or two occasionally (I supplement with Nutrical).. I read about how people look into their dogs eyes and "know." That hasn't been the case with me yet. I look into her cloudy eyes and just see a fighter who only wants to be with me.
My question.....How do you KNOW when it is time? AND, is there ANY chance she will just fall asleep and not wake up...or is everything I'm doing for her (infusions, etc) stopping that from happening?
Please help me....
It's just so hard to know when it is "time." I prayed and prayed that she would give us one final parting gift and die on her own in her sleep...but she is SUCH a fighter and refused to surrender to this thing. We keep her comfortabel with sub-q infusions daily, Calcitriol, Aluminum hydroxide and novox. One day she seems bad and then the next day she is up and climbing a full flight of stairs and getting on the sofa by herself! Other days she can barely stand.
She sleep most of the time but today she has been shivering almost uncontrollably. I finally wrapped her in a warm blanket and held her for a while and she stopped shivering...she is asleep now. This is GUT WRENCHING. I know that you are all thinking that "OMG...she is 18...she's had a long life...put her down" but if you knew Gypsy... well she was spry as can be until she had to have surgery in November for a tooth abcess... She was under anesthesia way too long and developed acute pancreatitis (she also came back almost blind because the stupid vet didn't moisurize her eyes and she developed corneal ulcers)...She recovered from that (still can barely see) but then her kidneys started failing and haven't improved since.
She is skinny as a rail now....will only eat a bite or two occasionally (I supplement with Nutrical).. I read about how people look into their dogs eyes and "know." That hasn't been the case with me yet. I look into her cloudy eyes and just see a fighter who only wants to be with me.
My question.....How do you KNOW when it is time? AND, is there ANY chance she will just fall asleep and not wake up...or is everything I'm doing for her (infusions, etc) stopping that from happening?
Please help me....
Hi everyone, I am so glad this forum exists. My love to all who are currently going through this, and to those who have lost their best friends. We lost our sweet Fox Terrier of 11 years yesterday to kidney failure. It all happened so quickly... In the beginning we thought it may have been pancreatitis, but when blood work and other scans were done there were indications of kidney disease/failure (which brought on the pancreatitis) We had our sweet boy in hospital on ivs and medication for 3 days and brought him home where we continued him on medication (Pain killers, Antacid, Anti-nausea, and an Appetite stimulant) At first he was eating and drinking and would have spurts of energy where he wanted to play and be outdoors. He had good and bad days, but mostly bad days... and then he became more lethargic and weak, and you could see the deterioration throughout the week. The toxins were building up. He started to have episodes where he would shiver, tremble, jolt and get up every two hours to walk around because he was so uncomfortable and most likely in pain from the toxins building up. His breath also smelled of ammonia. From there he stopped eating and drinking completely, and we could only give him water through a syringe. Even then he would make little noises when given water because of the pain. It came to the point where he began collapsing and eventually did not have the energy to leave his bed he was so sick and weak. He cried and made noise when he repositioned himself or you touched him/tried to pick him up. We both stared into each others eyes, and he told me it was his time to go. Putting him to rest was the hardest decision of our lives, we had never euthanized any of our pets before. Do what you can in the meantime to make them comfortable, but they will let you know when they are ready to go... My heart goes out to all of you. I am so sorry you have to go through this. Our sweethearts are running wild and free now.
1 Comments
So sorry for your loss. Yes, this is a dreadful disease and one some of us battle with every single day. I hope you find peace and reassurance knowing you did all you could in the short time you had available. Tony
Hi. I would urge you to join the Chronic Kidney Failure in Dogs user group here on MedHelp. If you use the search bar at the top it will take you to it. Once there, sign up to become a member. I administrate this group, which has over 100 owners all that have or have had a dog with CKD. They are very friendly, supportive and informative. Tony
Hi all
This website brought plenty of my tears reading all your comments. I am going through the same pain of end stage kidney failure with my nearly 15years old Jack Russell Terrier. He was first diagnosed late August. He is such a happy dog who loves to eat, walk and follow me around everywhere I go. He has been on fluid therapy since he was diagnosed once a week but it is going down too fast this week. So I went twice this week so far. He is hardly eating, not sleeping well, throwing up more often, not going to toilet much, struggling to walk, have very bad breath with dry mouth etc. somehow, he is worse when he comes back from the vet last few weeks. Now I am considering to put him on painkillers to help him to sleep better but worried it might just make it worse. He just had a minor seizure last night shivering, shaking, twitching etc I know what you mean by "they will tell you with their eyes when they are ready to go". I have experienced that myself with my other cat who died of cancer two years ago. But my boy is still wanting to follow me around, wag his tail and tries to eat.
now, did you guys ever experienced your pet getting worse once going to vet for fluid therapy and other treatments for end stage of kidney failure? I just want him to be comfortable and happy. Please let me know your thoughts. I am desperate. :(
This website brought plenty of my tears reading all your comments. I am going through the same pain of end stage kidney failure with my nearly 15years old Jack Russell Terrier. He was first diagnosed late August. He is such a happy dog who loves to eat, walk and follow me around everywhere I go. He has been on fluid therapy since he was diagnosed once a week but it is going down too fast this week. So I went twice this week so far. He is hardly eating, not sleeping well, throwing up more often, not going to toilet much, struggling to walk, have very bad breath with dry mouth etc. somehow, he is worse when he comes back from the vet last few weeks. Now I am considering to put him on painkillers to help him to sleep better but worried it might just make it worse. He just had a minor seizure last night shivering, shaking, twitching etc I know what you mean by "they will tell you with their eyes when they are ready to go". I have experienced that myself with my other cat who died of cancer two years ago. But my boy is still wanting to follow me around, wag his tail and tries to eat.
now, did you guys ever experienced your pet getting worse once going to vet for fluid therapy and other treatments for end stage of kidney failure? I just want him to be comfortable and happy. Please let me know your thoughts. I am desperate. :(
Hi. I am sorry you and Izzy are going through this. I have lots of questions ...
What is the medication the vet prescribed?
Do you have the first set of blood results from diagnosis? If not, ask your vet to give them to you when you go tomorrow.
Post the new set of blood results in full as a scanned copy and attach to your profile, if you can, otherwise just type them out in a post. It would also be very useful to do the same with the results at the point of diagnosis, for comparison.
Has Izzy had any IV Fluids or SubQ fluids ... I'm guessing not ... this is definitely something she needs now, so mention it to your vet and be fairly insistent. It sounds like your vet isn't terribly proactive for kidney disease, and possibly he or she is one you need to instruct. The IV and/or subQ fluids will start removing some of the toxins from the digestive system - it's the toxin build-up that creates the bad breath (it's not coming from the mouth but from her stomach).
What are you feeding Izzy? Please give full details, including routine treats.
How often are you feeding Izzy?
Is Izzy on any kind of antacid or/and anti-nausea medication?
Has Izzy had her blood pressure checked? If not, get the vet to do this tomorrow.
Okay. Get back with answers when you can.
Tony
What is the medication the vet prescribed?
Do you have the first set of blood results from diagnosis? If not, ask your vet to give them to you when you go tomorrow.
Post the new set of blood results in full as a scanned copy and attach to your profile, if you can, otherwise just type them out in a post. It would also be very useful to do the same with the results at the point of diagnosis, for comparison.
Has Izzy had any IV Fluids or SubQ fluids ... I'm guessing not ... this is definitely something she needs now, so mention it to your vet and be fairly insistent. It sounds like your vet isn't terribly proactive for kidney disease, and possibly he or she is one you need to instruct. The IV and/or subQ fluids will start removing some of the toxins from the digestive system - it's the toxin build-up that creates the bad breath (it's not coming from the mouth but from her stomach).
What are you feeding Izzy? Please give full details, including routine treats.
How often are you feeding Izzy?
Is Izzy on any kind of antacid or/and anti-nausea medication?
Has Izzy had her blood pressure checked? If not, get the vet to do this tomorrow.
Okay. Get back with answers when you can.
Tony
Hello....as I read all these comments tears come rushing down my face....I am so sorry to all who have lost their best friend. I have a little 7 1/2 year old Shorkie girl...."Yorkie/ShihTzu" mix...her name is Izzy.....at age 6 1/2 we were told her kidneys were not good....and told to cut back on the protein...give her a low protein diet and medication for life......we have tried our best to keep the amount of protein she eats down...but sometimes would have to give her a little to get her to eat her food....she loves to eat and drinks water all the time.......for the last 3 months we have noticed her breath getting worse and really strong smelling....she was to the vet for her yearly checkup in August...and I had them check over her teeth and said nothing looked serious....and to clean her teeth with her condition could only cause her undue stress and more issues......
Wednesday Night....she ate as usual, was happy, drank lots of water....however through the night she had gotten up and had 2 runny stools in the house on her pee pads.
Thursday - she had another runny stool....was a little sick, would not eat or take her pill in her pill pocket.
Friday - She had no stool at all....and ate one meal....and ate her pill in her pill pocket....the only way she will eat her pill is in a pill pocket, so that is what we have resorted to giving her. Water intake less....she doesn't want to really be around us much or picked up at all.
Saturday - she drank a little water.....and thru it up.....I managed to get her to eat some hamburger...and she took her pill in her pill pocket....I called the Vet and was told to watch her.....she did have one soft stool.....not much coming out when there isn't much coming in...
Sunday - it is just 10:30am....no water/poop/food yet....she is just laying down in behind a chair........
The vet told us when she was diagnosed that she was young for her age....just to keep her happy and give her lots of love.....she is spoiled rotten and my best buddy.......after reading your comments and symptoms.....it would appear that she is progressing along further and getting worse......I will take her to the Vet tomorrow and get them to do up the blood work to confirm this.....I do not want her to suffer, or have poor quality of life......another thing she does a lot more now is licking and sticking her tongue out a lot.......this is all so very sad........I honestly don't think after going through this I could ever own another dog as this is more than I can handle... :-(
Wednesday Night....she ate as usual, was happy, drank lots of water....however through the night she had gotten up and had 2 runny stools in the house on her pee pads.
Thursday - she had another runny stool....was a little sick, would not eat or take her pill in her pill pocket.
Friday - She had no stool at all....and ate one meal....and ate her pill in her pill pocket....the only way she will eat her pill is in a pill pocket, so that is what we have resorted to giving her. Water intake less....she doesn't want to really be around us much or picked up at all.
Saturday - she drank a little water.....and thru it up.....I managed to get her to eat some hamburger...and she took her pill in her pill pocket....I called the Vet and was told to watch her.....she did have one soft stool.....not much coming out when there isn't much coming in...
Sunday - it is just 10:30am....no water/poop/food yet....she is just laying down in behind a chair........
The vet told us when she was diagnosed that she was young for her age....just to keep her happy and give her lots of love.....she is spoiled rotten and my best buddy.......after reading your comments and symptoms.....it would appear that she is progressing along further and getting worse......I will take her to the Vet tomorrow and get them to do up the blood work to confirm this.....I do not want her to suffer, or have poor quality of life......another thing she does a lot more now is licking and sticking her tongue out a lot.......this is all so very sad........I honestly don't think after going through this I could ever own another dog as this is more than I can handle... :-(
Hi. First and foremost ... I am very sorry for your loss. Losing a best friend is one of the hardest things we humans have to endure. My condolences to you.
It's hard to say if something was missed or not, because it does depend what pre-screening tests were undertaken prior to the dental work and what the results of those tests were. Of course, there are added risks of anaesthesia with older dogs, which is why most vets advise more comprehensive pre-surgery testing.
There is also the fact that both kidney failure and congestive heart failure can start to occur at any age, but both are much more likely in an older dog. It may just be coincidence. The kidney failure might have begun earlier, although the dental work could have exacerbated it (due to bacteria flowing into the gut). My point is, the dental work wouldn't have prevented these illnesses progressing, once they had started to develop. It is unlikely the dental work caused them.
She was an elderly lady and you clearly gave her a wonderful and long life.
Run free Chloe.
Tony
It's hard to say if something was missed or not, because it does depend what pre-screening tests were undertaken prior to the dental work and what the results of those tests were. Of course, there are added risks of anaesthesia with older dogs, which is why most vets advise more comprehensive pre-surgery testing.
There is also the fact that both kidney failure and congestive heart failure can start to occur at any age, but both are much more likely in an older dog. It may just be coincidence. The kidney failure might have begun earlier, although the dental work could have exacerbated it (due to bacteria flowing into the gut). My point is, the dental work wouldn't have prevented these illnesses progressing, once they had started to develop. It is unlikely the dental work caused them.
She was an elderly lady and you clearly gave her a wonderful and long life.
Run free Chloe.
Tony
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