Bloodwork And Urine Show Kidney Problems

[Guest greykat]

I haven't yet talked to the vet, but since I was mixing in a smidge of the prescription wet food, I stopped doing that (since the bag actually says not to mix the wet and dry). I've just done dry, and I've kept the amount the same. Max is doing better. Still drinks and pees more than he used to, but he seems to be monitoring himself. He sleeps through the night, so I think he must be careful about his intake after his last outing at night. I know he normally does this during the day, too. Not sure how he knows what to do, but he's a great boy. I've been taking him out often (since I'm on vacation), and he is doing well. He doesn't seem to pee as much each time now- just his morning pee is high volume. He's sleeping well, he isn't panting as much as on Thursday, and he seems pretty happy (especially when he gets his rawhide twists). He's super curious and happy when I take him out. I wish his splint could come off, but oh well. In four weeks he will hopefully get to do his normal playing and walking again.

 

Anyway, just a quick update! I hope everyone has a great 4th of July!! My husband and I just went for a short bike ride, and now we're hanging with Max and chilling in the a/c.

[Guest Energy11]

Hope Max continues to improve!

[Guest greykat]

FYI: after being on the prescription diet for a month, I took in another urine sample this morning. I paid the extra to also have a UPC done, so I will write when the results are in. Fingers and toes crossed!! I'm also hoping I'll get the green light to switch him back off the Royal Canin Urinary SO diet. He's not enjoying it anymore, and it is really smelly. Plus, the ingredients are awful- rice and corn, chicken fat...ugh. I am looking at possibly switching him to Orijen (he was on Eagle Pack Holistic Select before, but I want to find the best food possible for him, and Orijen gets rave reviews).

 

Anyway, on another great note, his leg is finally getting back to normal!! He had his splint removed two weeks ago (FINALLY), and his pressure sores are healing nicely and he's walking great. Taking it slow, but he's doing stairs now and walking all over the house. He's so happy, and we are delighted!! Four LONG months later, life is finally returning to normal!

[Guest Energy11]

We are VERY happy for you guys!

[Guest ss556]

Hoping all continues to go well.

[Guest greykat]

Hi everyone,

 

Sorry it's been so long. The UPC results weren't good- 1.1 and the vet said it should be lower than .5 (I think). Anyway, I was told by the one vet to keep him on the Royal Canin diet (it apparently did succeed in removing the crystals, but the protein was still at 3+). I saw Max leak urine in his sleep on Wednesday evening, and I panicked. I couldn't reach my vet on Thursday morning, but since I know they don't do ultrasounds, they don't know greys that well, and I needed answers quickly, I decided to go to an out of the way (1 1/2 hour drive) greyhound vet we really like and get an ultrasound done there. That is scheduled for today.

 

I will write more when I return. I did hear back from the regular vet today via email- he had contacted OSU w/ the UPC results, and they recommended trying Enalapril for hypertension. Since I got this via email from my vet, I haven't been able to talk or ask questions. I don't really understand what hypertension has to do with this. I will ask when getting the ultrasound today.

 

Am nervous and hoping for some answers today. Wish us luck, and I'll write more details this evening.

 

Thanks!!

Kat

[Guest gretzky]

I haven't read through the whole thread so forgive me if this isn't relative to your issues.

 

We monitored Wonder's UPC for almost a year. It was usually in the 1.0 area. We changed food to a low phosphorus, lower protein kibble. UPC got a little better but still fluctuated between .6 and .9 most of the time. When it again hit 1.2 we started Enalapril 15mg twice a day. It has now been consistenly .2 or .3 on every recheck for a year. Bonus that Enalapril is on the Target $4 prescription list. It doesn't come in 15mg so we get 10mg and give 1.5 pills. Costs me $10 a month.

 

Good luck with the ultrasound. Hope it turns out to be as easy as starting the meds.

[Guest greykat]

I haven't read through the whole thread so forgive me if this isn't relative to your issues.

 

We monitored Wonder's UPC for almost a year. It was usually in the 1.0 area. We changed food to a low phosphorus, lower protein kibble. UPC got a little better but still fluctuated between .6 and .9 most of the time. When it again hit 1.2 we started Enalapril 15mg twice a day. It has now been consistenly .2 or .3 on every recheck for a year. Bonus that Enalapril is on the Target $4 prescription list. It doesn't come in 15mg so we get 10mg and give 1.5 pills. Costs me $10 a month.

 

Good luck with the ultrasound. Hope it turns out to be as easy as starting the meds.

 

THANKS!! Oh, I do hope so!! I let myself get into a panic a lot, and I always feel doomed. My poor husband and dog think I'm nuts. Anyway, I'd love to think this is manageable with meds and diet and that Max can stay with us for years!!! Fingers and toes crossed that my dog is like yours!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

I'll keep you posted.

[Guest greykat]

Hooray! The ultrasound didn't show any kidney or bladder problems. The vet felt that everything was normal for a 10 year old grey. For the UPC at 1.1 and the leakage of protein into the urine, the vet thinks there may have simply been some trauma to his kidneys at some point in his life that may make his results stay this way (I suppose as his new "normal"). Anyway, she recommends starting the Enalapril (she loves it) and also thought a diet change would be logical (I want to get him off the crappy Royal Canin Urinary SO ASAP since it just looks like it's all corn).

 

Next step- get the prescription filled, and start talking to a hollistic vet about good diet options. To play it safe, I will look for low phosphorus options w/ either lower protein OR simply grain free and high quality protein. I'm curious about Orijen- I'll see what the hollistic vet recommends.

 

SOOO happy today! Oh, and as far as the leaking in his sleep last week- she said if we see more similar instances that he may have an infection or local irritation and that we should try some antibiotics first. So far, I only saw him leak the one time, but we'll keep an eye out and see what happens.

 

Since he hasn't had any accidents in the house, the vet doesn't think we should be worried at all.

 

Hooray!!

Kat

[Trudy]

Ryan's last protein creatinine ratio was above 6. He was put on Enalapril when that value was over 9. It isn't being used as a hypertensive, it's being used for the kidney's - it can help decrease protein loss and possibly slow the progression of kidney failure.

 

Ryan eats Solid Gold Mmillennia - it's lower in protein and phosphorus - not as low as an Rx diet, but not nearly as costly either.

[Guest greykat]

Ryan's last protein creatinine ratio was above 6. He was put on Enalapril when that value was over 9. It isn't being used as a hypertensive, it's being used for the kidney's - it can help decrease protein loss and possibly slow the progression of kidney failure.

 

Ryan eats Solid Gold Mmillennia - it's lower in protein and phosphorus - not as low as an Rx diet, but not nearly as costly either.

 

Thanks so much! I can't wait to get Max started on Enalapril now that I know what it can do! And thanks for the tip on the Solid Gold Millennia. I'll check it out! I don't like the Rx foods mainly because they seem to be low quality (at least the Royal Canin he's on now appears to be nothing but corn and filler), but the price also is painful (and getting food from the vet is far less convenient...and impossible on Sundays)!

 

 

[Trudy]

Before we started Ryan on the Enalapril, we did a blood pressure study to make sure he'd be ok taking it. Hard to do for a dog that gets stressed when he walks through the door to the vet. So we came armed with a marrow bone to occupy him and the vet gave us some blankets on the floor of the OR and we hung out for about 45 mins with the door mostly closed - Ry's bp reading would spike each time the vet came in the room to check on us

[duncan41]

Hooray! The ultrasound didn't show any kidney or bladder problems. The vet felt that everything was normal for a 10 year old grey. For the UPC at 1.1 and the leakage of protein into the urine, the vet thinks there may have simply been some trauma to his kidneys at some point in his life that may make his results stay this way (I suppose as his new "normal"). Anyway, she recommends starting the Enalapril (she loves it) and also thought a diet change would be logical (I want to get him off the crappy Royal Canin Urinary SO ASAP since it just looks like it's all corn).

 

Next step- get the prescription filled, and start talking to a hollistic vet about good diet options. To play it safe, I will look for low phosphorus options w/ either lower protein OR simply grain free and high quality protein. I'm curious about Orijen- I'll see what the hollistic vet recommends.

 

SOOO happy today! Oh, and as far as the leaking in his sleep last week- she said if we see more similar instances that he may have an infection or local irritation and that we should try some antibiotics first. So far, I only saw him leak the one time, but we'll keep an eye out and see what happens.

 

Since he hasn't had any accidents in the house, the vet doesn't think we should be worried at all.

 

Hooray!!

Kat

 

I just re-read this entire thread and I am struck by the fact that it has come full circle! He's 10..........he's getting older and things change. I am very happy that your vet "doesn't think we should be worried at all". That's the best news!

 

[tbhounds]

Ask your vet about adding low-dose aspirin with the enalapril--PLN dogs are more prone to throw a clot.

[Trudy]

Ask your vet about adding low-dose aspirin with the enalapril--PLN dogs are more prone to throw a clot.

 

DO NOT do that without first making sure it is ok with the vet and s/he's sure it won't be a problem.

Giving Ryan aspirin could have killed him because he was so FULL of clots. And there's no way I'd even chance it now for anything - who knows how he's clotting now.

 

 

 

His values are low enough that I personally really wouldn't be too concerned about any issues.

[tbhounds]

Ask your vet about adding low-dose aspirin with the enalapril--PLN dogs are more prone to throw a clot.

 

 

I did mention to ask the vet first----never give your dog anything before consulting with your vet---just saying

[Trudy]

I'm well aware that you said ask your vet - that's why it's in the quote. But so many people just give their dogs aspirin willy nilly so it was worth repeating and emphasizing IMO.

 

And since I have experience with a dog that pees out more protein than his body can make on Enalapril, again, I felt it was worth repeating as to why aspirin could be a very bad choice.

[Guest greykat]

One question- I finally got the enalapril script filled (thanks for the Tagret tip! Vet wanted to charge $48, CVS wanted to charge $56, but I paid $12 at Target!), but I am now paranoid about this blood pressure thing.

 

My vet had mentioned bringing Max in for a blood pressure check (this was weeks ago). He didn't elaborate. I had done the whole blood pressure thing once before with our female, Luna. Let's just say it seemed useless. She was panicked the whole time, the vet (a different vet) had trouble even fitting her with the right wrist strap, etc., and in the end, her BP was obviously high, and the vet wound up saying that he was on the fence but assumed her BP was high because of her nerves, and he put her on Proin anyway.

 

SO, back to my current situation. I emailed my vet back and expressed my concern about an accurate reading of BP (given my previous experience and the fact that Max is TOTALLY terrified and shakes uncontrollably at the vet's office). I asked if there was any way for me to do it at home, and he didn't reply. I let time pass, and I never went in for the BP check.

 

So I see another vet for the ultrasound last week, and she's the one who gave me the prescription for enalapril. She didn't mention anything about blood pressure. But now that I finally have the medicine in hand and I read the additional comments here, I'm worried about starting him on the medicine w/out doing the BP check first.

 

What do I do? I just don't know how to get an accurate reading. He's only ever relaxed when he's at home. And my vet's office is small and busy, so I can't even imagine finding a quiet spot to have him settle in and calm down.

 

Ugh. What could happen if I start him on enalapril? When I read the indications on the drug, it said it's for high blood pressure and heart issues, so is the BP check to see if his BP is too low? I'm confused about this.

 

Anyway, I'll call my regular vet tomorrow to re-ask about this and see what he says. I had hoped to start the enalapril now that I have it, but I guess it would be better to wait until I have my other vet's blessing...right?

 

Thanks!!

Kat

[Chicocat]

If it were me, I would wait to talk to your vet.

[Guest Energy11]

I take Curfew's blood pressures myself, using an infant BP cuff, and doing it by palpation. This is difficult unless you are trained. I learned this in Paramedic school, but, perfected the technique working two years at All Childrens Hospital, in triage.

 

You can order the infant BP cuff on Ebay, which is where I got mine, and see if you can ask paramedic or RN to show you how to Palpate a blood pressure. It really isn't that hard, once you find a good pulse point lower then where you place the BP cuff on your dog's leg. I know it sounds hard, but once you get used to it, you can monitor the BPs daily, if you want. I do his three times a week, and YES, his are markedly higher at the vets. Curfew is on 20 mg of Enalapril, which is working wonderfully.

 

Good Luck, and I bet you can learn this technique!

[Trudy]

Kat

See if any of your vets have a remote one. That was an option with my vet, but unfortunately, camping outside the vet clinic the day he was scheduled didn't work well since it was so cold. Or see if there is a way they can move it to another area that isn't a place you have to go through the front door to get to it.

[Guest greykat]

My vet said we could try doing a BP check from the car (which would hopefully make Max a little more calm). He also said I can go ahead and start the meds while we set up the BP appt. I gave Max his first pill today.

 

I'll let you know how the BP test goes! The vet said they try to take stress into consideration when evaluating a BP reading.

 

Thanks for all the advice from everyone!!

 

Kat

[Guest ss556]

I had a vet who would come out to the car to take Alan's BP. I tried to take it at home with an infant cuff, but I just couldn't get it to work for me, so I returned it.

[Guest greykat]

I am going to the vet's office on Tuesday for the BP check. He said he could do the check in my car (minivan). I plan to take Max early and then ply him with treats in the car until he thinks it's a good place to be.

 

The vet said they take stress into consideration when assessing the BP results, so that's good. And he also said I could go ahead and start him on the enalapril right away- that it would be okay to start before the BP test.

 

Wish us luck! Also, I scheduled an appt. with a new vet in the practice who does accupuncture and holistic diet. Max's neck problems only crop up a couple of times each year, but I wonder if accupuncture would be helpful even when he's feeling totallly normal. I'm just so curious to try it- I've heard such great things! And I can't wait to get advice on and change Max's diet. I feel like a kid waiting for Christmas- weird, I know.

 

Thanks, everyone! I'll keep ya posted!

[Guest Energy11]

Good Luck, and hoping for good things, and great news :-))