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Jasmine
Jasmine is a 13 years old Dalmation and is starting to experience kidney failure. Is the a vet that specializes in kidey failure in the Houston Area.
I'm so glad for you and Jasmine! I know some dogs can stabilize for some time if they are diagnosed early enough, and Jas seems to be one of the lucky ones. Thanks for the update. :-)
Thanks for the information. We had Jasmine tested again(6 months later) by a new vet and her numbers actually look better. He explained that at her age numbers above the normal range are in fact normal for a 12 year old. As you explained, there is already damage done, but not to the extent that the orginal vet made us believe. The new vet, Glenwood Animal Hospital on Grant, said to continue what we were doing and that Jasmine was doing very good for a 12 (almost 13) year old. He explained much of what you did in your post. He also said that there were different ranges of numbers from normal to grey to oh-s,,t. Jas's number were above normal but below the grey area so hoepfully we have time left. Thanks again for the information.
Oh dear Lord. I am so sorry. My 13+ year old shepherd mix is now actively dying from kidney failure. I live in west Houston, almost to Katy, and have used Clay Road Animal Clinic for 18 years. Dr. Smith is a fabulous vet, and won't charge you an arm and a leg for treatment.
Here is a link to a 40 page article with concrete methods of dealing with renal failure in dogs. It has turned into my Bible for dealing with my dog. Print it out and take your time reading through it.
http://www.dogaware.com/kidney.html
The first thing you need to understand about renal failure is that the damage has already been done to the kidneys. There is no treatment that will cure it. The idea is to make dietary changes so that the remaining good tissue can do it's job as efficiently as possible for as long as possible. Unless there is an underlying condition that is treatable, you're in the same boat as I am.
You'll want to put him on a diet as low as possible in phosphorus - that stuff is deadly in dogs with kidney failure. Calcium is a phosphorus binder and remove it fromthe body. A plain old Tums tablet once or twice a day (depending on how badly your dog is doing) will help a great deal.
Add some pepcid or zantac, but keep a close eye out for loss of appetite. It's hard enough getting a kidney patient to eat anything at all, so they don't need any more "help" in the inappetance department.
About the only thing a vet can do aside from the nausea meds is try a couple of supplements. They're very expensive - about $130+ for a one month supply. They are Azodyl capsules and Epakitin powder. My personal experience is that those products were a waste of money. The Tums (calcium) was far more effective. Your dog may also need some electrolyte support in the form of potassium tablets.
Thankfully, renal failure isn't a painful condition, but it is a generally miserable condition. Nausea and vomiting are big problems. We were able to control that for some time with reglan (metoclopromadine) tablets, but they are metabolized in the kidneys. Once her kidneys got so bad they couldn't process it, she began showing serious signs of reglan toxicity. She got extremely agitated, restless, and then shook all over with fast respirations and pulse until it worse off. Really scary! Unfortunately, there isn't much else available that is cheap enough to use regularly. Dogs can take zofran (a nausea med developed for cancer patients) but the cost is extremely prohibitive. Dogs can also take over the counter dramamine, and that is metabolized in the liver. It wasn't as effective as the reglan, but worth a try. I've had to continually lower the reglan dose to the point it's so low it's almost ineffective. Dr. Smith sent us home with some prefilled syringes and it turns out that she can handle the injections much better than the oral meds. Go figure - makes no sense to me, but whatever works!
You'll need to add a multi vitamin because the diet can't cover all nutritional needs. The only one I could find with zero phosphorus is Nutri-Vet Senior Vitality.
As the kidneys get worse, you need to be prepared for what end-stage failure looks like. Your dog will vomit more and more until starvation becomes an issue. That's where we are at with our dog. The starvation thing really caught me unprepared. In the past 2 months, she's lost almost 20 pounds (normal weight is about 60) and is skin and bones and now her hair is falling out. It's breaking my heart not because we're going to lose her - but because she's not quite ready for euthanasia. She mostly lays on a pallet at my feet and we hand feed her little bits at a time, but still enjoys hanging around outside and other little things that have defined her life with us. (Oh boy, I've got the water works going again as I type this.)
Sorry to be so long winded, but there is no way to sugar coat this. Your dog is going to die. All you can do is provide the best comfort measures you can for as long as possible. It all depends on how much damage is already in place. Sometimes renal failure can be managed long enough that the dog dies of some other condition unrelated to it. You'll need to get your BUN, creatinine, and electrolyte levels from the lab work to help determine roughly what stage of failure your dog is currently at. Your vet should be able to explain all that to you and tell you more of what to expect as time goes on.
If you want to get an expert opinion, or specialized testing for a possible underlying condition like Addison's disease, ask your vet for a referral to Gulf Coast Veterinary Associates. They only take referral patients - you can't just call and make an appointment. GCVA is located near the Galleria on Loop 610 West. Coming from I-10 or 290, go south and exit at Post Oak. Make a left u-turn under the freeway and start looking for the GCVA sign on your right. It's very expensive, and you'll need to make some kind of a deposit up front, but these vets basically practice people medicine on animals and can offer 24/7 ICU nursing care if needed. They've pulled off some true miracles for my dogs over the years.
Best of luck to you on your journey with Jasmine. Enjoy her as long as you can. :-)
Here is a link to a 40 page article with concrete methods of dealing with renal failure in dogs. It has turned into my Bible for dealing with my dog. Print it out and take your time reading through it.
http://www.dogaware.com/kidney.html
The first thing you need to understand about renal failure is that the damage has already been done to the kidneys. There is no treatment that will cure it. The idea is to make dietary changes so that the remaining good tissue can do it's job as efficiently as possible for as long as possible. Unless there is an underlying condition that is treatable, you're in the same boat as I am.
You'll want to put him on a diet as low as possible in phosphorus - that stuff is deadly in dogs with kidney failure. Calcium is a phosphorus binder and remove it fromthe body. A plain old Tums tablet once or twice a day (depending on how badly your dog is doing) will help a great deal.
Add some pepcid or zantac, but keep a close eye out for loss of appetite. It's hard enough getting a kidney patient to eat anything at all, so they don't need any more "help" in the inappetance department.
About the only thing a vet can do aside from the nausea meds is try a couple of supplements. They're very expensive - about $130+ for a one month supply. They are Azodyl capsules and Epakitin powder. My personal experience is that those products were a waste of money. The Tums (calcium) was far more effective. Your dog may also need some electrolyte support in the form of potassium tablets.
Thankfully, renal failure isn't a painful condition, but it is a generally miserable condition. Nausea and vomiting are big problems. We were able to control that for some time with reglan (metoclopromadine) tablets, but they are metabolized in the kidneys. Once her kidneys got so bad they couldn't process it, she began showing serious signs of reglan toxicity. She got extremely agitated, restless, and then shook all over with fast respirations and pulse until it worse off. Really scary! Unfortunately, there isn't much else available that is cheap enough to use regularly. Dogs can take zofran (a nausea med developed for cancer patients) but the cost is extremely prohibitive. Dogs can also take over the counter dramamine, and that is metabolized in the liver. It wasn't as effective as the reglan, but worth a try. I've had to continually lower the reglan dose to the point it's so low it's almost ineffective. Dr. Smith sent us home with some prefilled syringes and it turns out that she can handle the injections much better than the oral meds. Go figure - makes no sense to me, but whatever works!
You'll need to add a multi vitamin because the diet can't cover all nutritional needs. The only one I could find with zero phosphorus is Nutri-Vet Senior Vitality.
As the kidneys get worse, you need to be prepared for what end-stage failure looks like. Your dog will vomit more and more until starvation becomes an issue. That's where we are at with our dog. The starvation thing really caught me unprepared. In the past 2 months, she's lost almost 20 pounds (normal weight is about 60) and is skin and bones and now her hair is falling out. It's breaking my heart not because we're going to lose her - but because she's not quite ready for euthanasia. She mostly lays on a pallet at my feet and we hand feed her little bits at a time, but still enjoys hanging around outside and other little things that have defined her life with us. (Oh boy, I've got the water works going again as I type this.)
Sorry to be so long winded, but there is no way to sugar coat this. Your dog is going to die. All you can do is provide the best comfort measures you can for as long as possible. It all depends on how much damage is already in place. Sometimes renal failure can be managed long enough that the dog dies of some other condition unrelated to it. You'll need to get your BUN, creatinine, and electrolyte levels from the lab work to help determine roughly what stage of failure your dog is currently at. Your vet should be able to explain all that to you and tell you more of what to expect as time goes on.
If you want to get an expert opinion, or specialized testing for a possible underlying condition like Addison's disease, ask your vet for a referral to Gulf Coast Veterinary Associates. They only take referral patients - you can't just call and make an appointment. GCVA is located near the Galleria on Loop 610 West. Coming from I-10 or 290, go south and exit at Post Oak. Make a left u-turn under the freeway and start looking for the GCVA sign on your right. It's very expensive, and you'll need to make some kind of a deposit up front, but these vets basically practice people medicine on animals and can offer 24/7 ICU nursing care if needed. They've pulled off some true miracles for my dogs over the years.
Best of luck to you on your journey with Jasmine. Enjoy her as long as you can. :-)
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