Kidney Failure

[Guest scottg]

Hi Everyone,

 

Wondering if this has happened to anyone else, or if anyone has any ideas.. Sorry in advance for the long post..

 

On Friday my girl (Keeper) started having Diarrhea. Woke up Friday am before work and took her out.. She didnt have a BM. This is unusual for her, since she keeps to a pretty normal schedule.

 

I went to work and came home to 4 piles of diarrhea in the house.. Very liquid. I spent the rest of the night (until about 5:30am) going outside about every hour or so with her. The diarrhea let up on Saturday morning. I withheld food most of the day on Saturday, and then gave a little chicken and rice Saturday night.

 

I fed her chicken and rice all day Sunday and gave her a bit of her regular dry food Sunday night. She had normal BM's and seemed to be acting normally. Monday morning all was well, but Monday night, I noticed that she seemed to be a bit lethargic...Sleeping deeper/more than normal. It was a bit of an effort to get her to go out Monday night, and when I did, she didnt have a BM. She didnt really eat anything Monday night, except for some treats.

 

I figured that I'd take her to the vet on Tuesday if she still seemed "off". Tuesday morning I woke up and took her out - she seemed to be ok. She usually goes to doggy daycare on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and believe me, it's amazing - she can tell when it's Tuesday or Thursday - she is up and ready to go! This past Tuesday, she still didnt seem to be her normal self, and I was going to leave her home from daycare.. I took her out for a second time and walked down to the car - just to "offer" her the option.. I couldnt get her away from the car, so I opened the door and she hopped right in..

 

I picked her up from daycare on Tuesday night.. They said that she played in the am, but then laid around most of the afternoon. When we came home, she got right up into her chair and napped. I had a hard time taking her out Tuesday night - and I decided that a trip to the vet was in order.

 

Took her to the vet, explained the issues, and first they did an external exam, which didnt indicate any issues. They then ran some bloodwork, and found that she was in kidney failure. I believe that she was coming in at a 7 for her level. (She had the same blood test in August, and all was well). The vet explained that the situation was dire, and that she'd need to be admitted.

 

She's been with the vet since yesterday.. They've been giving her fluids and running additional tests. So far, nothing looks abnormal. They contacted a greyhound specialist, and some causes were offered (cancer, etc).. A chest xray was given, and everything looks good on that front. They also did an ultrasound of her kidneys and they said that they look good as well. Her WBC counts are normal. She also has a normal temp.

 

They're going to re-test her kidney levels tomorrow am - they wanted to wait a full 24h before testing again, since she's been getting fluids.

 

She really doesnt have an appetite at this point, and it's hard to coax her to get up - you can tell she's not feeling well. I was able to take her outside 2x today, and that perked her up considerably - if you saw her outside, you would not know that she was ill. Trotting around, looking for grass to eat, etc.

 

The vet did offer that she had a case of kidney failure in a dog just last week - and that it was caused by Lepto. She offered it as a possibility, and we're just waiting for the results. She also mentioned that the specialist said something about some obscure ailment (I can't remember the name) - they call it the great deceiver, as it causes all other sorts of issues.. That ailment is treatable, but they want to rule the big stuff out first. Hopefully more of the bloodwork will be back tomorrow and Saturday.

 

I'm praying that her kidney levels recover by tomorrow... I'm on my way back to bring her some chicken and rice to see if I can get her to eat some more...

 

In the meantime, I just wanted to see if anyone had any other ideas...

 

Thanks so much,

Scott

 

 

[Guest trevdog]

It's also possible she has an infection of some kind, the kidneys and the liver are both places that can be compromised due to infection. In addtion to lepto, are they doing any TBD tests?

[Guest Gert]

Hi, Scott.....I don't have any experience with kidney failure in dogs....but, I see it's your first posts so I wanted to say welcome!

 

 

Hang in there...I'm sure you'll get some ideas/advice soon!

[CaliforniaGreys]

Scot,

did your vet tell you what the Creat/BUN was?

[Guest Energy11]

Tick borne Diseases could cause similar symptoms. I would ask your vet to do a FULL tick panel. Also, if the dog is in Kidney Failure, right now, at least, I'd withhold chicken (high in protein). The vet has Kidney Diets that would be beneficial right now. Goldie is on one.

 

The fluids will really help, and hopefully, if the kidneys are failing, a reason can be found, fairly quickly. Once that reason/cause is found, you all can go from there. Goldie was in terrible Kidney Failure at age four. Why? She had a UTI, that wasn't being touched by the antibiotic prescribed, and it got A LOT worse, causing her to go into Kidney Failure. Once she was put on the proper antibiotics, she rallied. But, to this day, she is on a prescription kidney diet, which helps keep her kidneys functioning well. Her kidney numbers, recently tested were normal.

 

Please do not dispair ... a lot could be causing this, and hopefully, things will improve! Love and hugs from here! Dee and The Five

[Guest madredhare]

I think it is pretty standard to test for Lepto when they are having kidney problems. This happened to my Tom right before Christmas last year. He started out eating Science Diet k/d, but soon refused that. He has always been a picky eater. He is now on Science Diet c/d and seems to like it okay. Hang in there. Hope things go well for you.

[Guest scottg]

Thanks Everyone for the well wishes and advice..

 

I'm not sure of her creat/bun level - Yesterday was a bit foggy for me, but I just remember the vet telling me that her kidney levels were at a 7. I'll find out tomorrow exactly what level she was referencing. Keeper is getting a new round of blood tests in the AM, so hopefully her levels are coming down.

 

They tried feeding her some prescription diet (wet and dry) and she really wasn't interested in any of it.. She did eat a bit of the dry out of my hand, though.. The vet then suggested that I bring something that she likes to eat - saying that it was better that she have something in her stomach, rather than nothing at all.. That's why I brought her the chicken and rice... She at that right up, so I'm at least happy that she may get some energy out of it.

 

Hopefully her levels will come down and she'll be more alert tomorrow. I took her out for a walk again this evening, and as I mentioned earlier, she perked right up.. Trotted around like she was fine. She just seems to tire out faster.. Once back in the office, she was ready for a nap.

 

I'll also ask about the full tick panel.. I do live out in the woods, so that's always a possibility. She gets her lyme shot, but I know that there are other tick borne illnesses out there... Hopefully some of the other tests come back tomorrow, as well.

 

I'll keep you guys updated.. Thanks again!

Scott

[Guest VanillaBean]

Scott,

Hopefully nothing more than a kidney infection. One of mine was in "kidney failure" at the age of 1 year. She had an infection which antibiotics cleared up right away.

 

[Guest trevdog]

Hoping for a good update today from you. I forgot to mention, did the vet say "acute" by any chance? If so that's usually a good thing.

[Guest Energy11]

Scott,

Hopefully nothing more than a kidney infection. One of mine was in "kidney failure" at the age of 1 year. She had an infection which antibiotics cleared up right away.

That is exactly what happened to Goldie at age nine. Bad UTI, went into kidneys, put her into Kidney failure. She is almost nine, and does eat Purina NF. She hates KD.

[Guest scottg]

Hi All,

 

Just talked to the vet.. She said that Keeper is doing about the same.. They retested her kidney levels and they have not changed. They also mentioned that her liver values were out of whack.. They retested, and said that her liver results came back normal. They're a bit confused, so they're sending out the blood to an external lab. Should have the results back later this afternoon. Hopefully the liver values are just related to an issue with their testing equipment.

 

I'm going to go up and see her in a bit and to feed her some lunch. Hopefully she'll eat for me...

 

The specialist that my vet called yesterday mentioned Addisions Disease as a possible cause (along with a host of other possibilities - cancer, etc). She is doing the test, and mentioned that she could give the steroid shot while she waited for the results - and if she showed improvement, they'd know they were on the right track. We're also still waiting for the Lepto test results. She'll have been on antibiotics for about 48 hours by later today, so I would have thought that we'd be seeing some type of improvement by now if it was an infection.. I don't know..

 

My vet also mentioned that if I wanted, Keeper could be transferred to an emergency clinic today - which would basically give her round the clock, close care for over the weekend. She mentioned that if I did not transfer her and she took a turn for the worse over the weekend, their only option for transfer would be to an emergency clinic in Philadelphia, which is about an hour away.

 

I'm at a bit of a loss at the moment.. Not sure if I should try and wait it out and leave her with my vet for the weekend, or if I should have her transferred to the local emergency clinic. The cutoff for transferred patients is 5pm today, so I'll need to make some type of decision by early this afternoon.

 

Trev - They did say that it was acute kidney failure.. When she had her bloodwork done for a regular checkup two months ago, everything was within normal ranges.

 

I was really hopeful that the call earlier was to report that her levels were getting better...

 

Thanks again everyone,

Scott

[Batmom]

No advice, unfortunately, but lots of prayers for your girlie.

[brandimom]

No advice at this end but I know you will get some from the other GT folks. Welcome Sending you good thoughts and prayers for Keeper (love that name)

[Guest SusanP]

Could some sort of poisoning cause such a sudden change in her kidney function? Is there any way to even test for that?

[Guest Energy11]

Me? I have a medical background, so if Keeper were mine, I'd take her home for the weekend. I can do just about anything, including fluids. But, with the emergency clinic being that far away, you might want to opt to keep her at the E-vets over the weekend.

 

I'd see what the new blood values are, and go from there. I wish I was there to help, truly!

 

Love, hugs and prayers from us there to you! Dee

[Guest scottg]

Thanks again, everyone. I'm sitting at the emergency vet that's close to my house.

 

Waiting for the blood test results from my original vet.. They sent them out, since they questioned their machine.

 

She also gave Keeper a steriod shot just in case while she waits for the Addisons test to come back.

 

The emergency vet wants to do another ultrasound on Keeper. My vet did one, but found nothing out of the ordinary.

 

Here is what is difficult -- if you could have seen Keeper at the vets office - looking very depressed, not wanting to stand up.. Once up and out of the crate, outside she perks right up - looks normal.

 

I'm sitting in the emergency vet waiting room and keeper hasn't tried to fall asleep yet - and I've been here for over an hour. She's alert, head and ears up investigating all of the noises.

 

I've also had her out 2x walking around the parking lot.

 

I'm torn - I don't want anyone misdiagnosing her because she may be depressed from not being at home. She is super sensitive. She looked pitiful at the vets office I now she seems normal. I'm wondering if I should bring her home for the weekend to see what happens.

 

Maybe the steroid shot is working? I don't know...

[Guest SusanP]

Keeping her from being stressed and unhappy is important. Why not consult with your vet about the possibility of keeping her at home? The vet could help you decide if it is safe. If she is not hooked up to all kinds of IVs and equipment and if you are going to be with her all weekend and can get her to an e-vet should her condition worsen, it might make sense.

Edited October 9, 2009 by SusanP

[Guest TeddysMom]

Keeping her from being stressed and unhappy is important. Why not consult with your vet about the possibility of keeping her at home? The vet could help you decide if it is safe. If she is not hooked up to all kinds of IVs and equipment and if you are going to be with her all weekend and can get her to an e-vet should her condition worsen, it might make sense.

 

I agree. If she were mine, I would take her home so you could keep an eye on her. I'm sure she would be much happier.

[Guest scottg]

I think that I'll try that.. I'm going to wait a bit longer (I'm still waiting to see th e-vet anyway), and then I'm going to call my vet.. I'll ask if any new bloodwork has come back, and I'll also get her opinion about bringing keeper home for the weekend.

[Guest Energy11]

After reading your last post, surely does sound like she'd be better at home. As you said, maybe hang out for a while longer and see what the latest blood results are. Good luck and lots of love~

[Burpdog]

Sending lots of prayers.

 

Did you ever find out what the actual numbers are?

[Guest trevdog]

Acute according to my vet, is usually something correctable with the kidneys and can be an infection. Could Keeper have eaten anything she shouldn't have? My Dallas has had 3 trips to the vet with symtoms similar to Keepers. She had acute kidney failure once and recovered. 4 months later the same thing happened and she had liver damage. Soemhow she managed to get a buildup of bad bacteria in her system, her kidneys and liver were all out of whack and we thought we were going to lose her. No idea how this happened to her either, just somehow her food was causing her system to back up although she was pottying normally.

 

Did they take xrays? Dallas' intestines were all bunched up and not where they should be. Her spleen was very enlarged and all her blood values were way out of whack. What ended up helping her a bit was that the vet injected barium into her system thinking she had a blockage. She actually had a bunch of gas built up from all the bacteria in her system. By chance could Keeper have a blockage somewhere?

 

I'd check with your vet and bring her home to keep an eye on her. You can always rush her to the evet if needed and she may even feel better at home.

[Guest 4greytful]

OMG thats exactly what we are going through right now. Wednesday diagnosed with acute kidney failure on Tigger and they have sent out blood work to test for Lepto also as everything else has come back negative. He has all of the symptons including bloody urine, which really has me scared. Vet put him on amoxicillian and doxycycline while waiting for results and the improvement has been amazing. He has a sparkle back in his eyes and is moving around again, no longer vomiting etc. He also is now eating a little bit of Hills Prescription A/D canned food that the vet gave us. Very smelly and apparently very yumy. He hadn't ate or kept any solids down for days. You might ask about getting some of that if everything else fails. The chicken and rice didn't even tempt him.

 

Prayers for you!

Edited October 9, 2009 by 4greytful

[Guest Energy11]

OMG thats exactly what we are going through right now. Wednesday diagnosed with acute kidney failure on Tigger and they have sent out blood work to test for Lepto also as everything else has come back negative. He has all of the symptons including bloody urine, which really has me scared. Vet put him on amoxicillian and doxycycline while waiting for results and the improvement has been amazing. He has a sparkle back in his eyes and is moving around again, no longer vomiting etc. He also is now eating a little bit of Hills Prescription A/D canned food that the vet gave us. Very smelly and apparently very yumy. He hadn't ate or kept any solids down for days. You might ask about getting some of that if everything else fails. The chicken and rice didn't even tempt him.

 

Prayers for you!

What are your dogs eating? Both Tigger and Keeper? Hummm.... just a thought!

[Guest scottg]

Sorry to hear other going through the same experience..

 

She's in getting another ultrasound at the E-vet right now. Talked to my regular vet..she said her latest panel from this am is in.. Kidney values a little worse, liver values are good.

 

We are feeding her pro plan large breed. She gets Iams biscuits and those chicken carver treats (purina, I believe).

 

Just spoke to the internist who looked at Keepers ultrasound. She said that Keepers kidneys looked "bright" and that she may have some fluid in her abdomen. They're going to do a tick panel and check her BP. Then they're going to give me some under the skin fluids to take home, along with doxcy. I'll be taking her home. She said that it doesn't look too good, but you never know.

 

I know that she'll feel more comfortable at home, and I'll keep an eye on her and bring her back if necessary..

 

My primary vet also called to say that her urine culture came back and it is neg for infections..

 

Wish that I had better news.. I'll keep you guys updated.

 

Thanks as always..