Kidney Failure Options

[Guest LindsaySF]

Hi all,

 

My perma-foster Chase turned 14 last month. She was surrendered to WAG in January at 39 lbs. I got the weight back on her (up to 51 lbs), but then she got a UTI/kidney infection and had to spend 2 weeks at the vet being treated with antibiotic injections and on IV fluids. The bacteria is gone, but her kidneys were damaged and she lost weight again. She's back up to 49 lbs, and her kidney values are slightly better, but she's still leaking protein into her urine.

 

Chase's vet said that dogs with her condition (suspected glomerulonephritis) are prone to throwing clots, and her thicker blood is rough on the kidneys (where blood is filtered). We've just started an aspirin regimen (81 mg "baby aspirin", 1/4 tab every day) to thin her blood and hopefully reduce stress on the kidneys. If we don't see good results from this, we are going to add a blood pressure medication. Anyone have any experience with an aspirin regimen or BP meds in a Grey with kidney failure?

 

I've also asked about sub-q fluids, I could do those at home, but the vet doesn't think Chase is a good candidate for that because she's got no fat reserves and dislikes being handled. I think it's worth a try anyway, but we'll see if the aspirin helps at all.

 

Thanks in advance for any advice.

 

 

 

~Lindsay~

 

[EllenEveBaz]

My Scout had glomerulonephritis and took Enalapril for many years with no apparent side effects. It's a designed-for-human heart medicine that helps lower blood pressure and actually has a beneficial side effect -- it's good for the kidneys. Previous threads about it in GT had many people listing it as helping their hounds with kidney disease.

 

Kisses to your perma-foster.

[Guest MorganKonaAlex]

I'm sorry to hear about Chase's condition. I've been following her story. High blood pressure seems to go hand in hand with kidney failure. Kona was diagnosed with it also. We did not try aspirin therapy. Kona was put on blood pressure meds, I did fluid therapy at home and we went to a home cooked diet. We had a dietitian at Angell Memorial design the kidney friendly diet. Kona perked up so much, she went back to her kibble. I then realized what I thought was her aging was the early stages of kidney failure. I think it was the fluid therapy that made the large difference. It bought her several months of quality time.

[maggiespet]

Nothing to add except prayers for Chase and hugs for you Lindsay. Thanks for doing what you do and for loving that old girl.

[Guest LindsaySF]

Enalapril is the BP med the vet suggested. She said we could use it concurrently with the aspirin regimen. I'm going to do a search for Enalapril and see what threads come up.

 

Thanks for the info guys, keep it coming! This is my first experience with kidney failure in a dog.

 

 

 

~Lindsay~

 

 

[Remolacha]

My old girl was on Enalapril and Lasix for heart problems, and both were very helpful without side effects.

 

Chase

[Guest Swifthounds]

I wouldn't hesitate to do the enalapril. If you're using baby aspirin, make sure you use the buffered kind and not the coated kind so it will actually absorb. You may have to hunt for it, it seems coated is te preferred form these days.

[Guest greytbookert]

I don't have much to add to the advice already given. Enalapril worked well with my friends dog and lots of people here have had good luck with it.

 

With Mama Ro, we did do a home cooked kidney diet to supplement the N/F food. She seemed to like it but there wasn't much that Mama didn't like

 

Sending good thoughts to you and Chase!

[racindog]

I generally resist all chemicals but the Enalapril I believe really helped my Aggie and If I had another kidney dog I would have them on it too. I seen there was a study done that showed that the Enalapril treated dogs actually lived longer and I seen NO side effects in years of use. Also fluids at home; Epikatin & Azodyl or whatever but I'm not sure they helped as much. And of course aspirin and fish oil and toward the end anything I could get her to eat. For a long time she loved raw green tripe which is excellent for kidney dogs. I would definitely have her on Enalapril.

[MaryJane]

I'm sorry to hear that there are some issues.

 

Fish oil has anti-coagulant effects as does flax seed oil. If you are giving either of those you might need to adjust the aspirin level down to every other day or even less. I only mention this because the effects of aspirin can stay in the body up to 15 days and greyhounds have that "issue' with platelets anyway ...

 

Can you switch some of her food out with items that have less protein and phosphorous? Also, can you add more water into the food to get more fluids in ..

[MP_the4pack]

My beloved Pearl with both heart disease and hypertension also ended up with GN. She was already on enalapril. However, it wasn't bad enough to do anything more.

She was on enalapril for probably....6 yrs. No problem. She lived to 12 and succumbed to cancer of the spleen. Nothing at all to do with her heart, hypertension or kidney.

 

The little girl I babysit is in kidney failure and she gets the aspirin, I think enalapril and fluid once a week. She's a teeny tiny thing and very shy, but she's handling that well. She's been doing that for over a year now and her kidneys are holding on. Slowly getting worse, but still working.

She's 14.

Edited June 29, 2011 by MP_the4pack

[Guest gretzky]

What's her Protein/Creatinine ratio at? Wonder had ok kidney values but a high ratio. The enalapril and a low phosphorous/protein commercial kibble diet brought it down to almost normal (.2) and has held there for quite some time.

 

Enalapril dosage for her is 15 mg twice a day. I haven't checked recently but I beleive it only comes in 5mg and 10mg tabs. We get the 10mg and 90 pills (1 month) at Target is $10.

[Guest Fasave]

My Safari was on Enalypril and 1/4 baby aspirin, as well as, another high blood pressure med. The aspirin was for suspected blood clots and he did have PLE, PLN and IBD.

[AEB]

Oh Chase, sweet girl. I have been following her story. I will relate what we did with Sadie, as I have done in other threads. Search for Enalapril and you'll find threads that will give you some information.

 

We lost Sadie after battling kidney disease(suspected GN) for two years. We began by monitoring her values frequently. We gave her baby aspirin. But after some research I decided to stop (I don't remember why). Medication (Enalipril, which was well tolerated) was eventually added, and eventually increased. Eventually our vet suggested we needed to adjust her diet. We chose Iams early stage renal. She was 11 when all of this began. We cooked the wet portion of her diet.

She did well until sometime last year, early 2010, when things changed. She had lost some weight but it started going down steadily despite her eating. Our vet said it was a race between her kidneys and weight. We could no longer keep the weight on. She was dropping it like crazy. I can simply tell you that in our case her weight ended-up being more of an issue in the end. We got to a point where the vet said forget the kidneys, feed her whatever you can to get the weight on her. She just continued to lose so rapidly despite every effort. So just keep a close eye on her weight. Weigh her no less than every week. She could lose several pounds in a week and not be able to get them back on.

And the low protein diet of a prescription kidney diet . . . I am clearly not a vet but in the end it did Sadie no favors because of the weight problems. There are websites out there that discuss alternative ideas as to diet in a situation such as this. McSheltie has posted some good tips on diet in this situation. If I had to do it over again I'd feed her high protein, not the low protein commercial diet. Just low phosphorus. Again, there is information out there on this. Also, EFAs are supposed to be helpful. Good luck to you and sweet Chase.

Edited June 30, 2011 by AEB

[Guest LindsaySF]

Thanks everyone for your advice. Chase's next vet appointment is on Monday, so we'll recheck her kidney values then, and see if the aspirin is helping. We'll likely add the Enalapril then, unless something is off in the bloodwork.

MaryJane, Chase doesn't get any fish or flax seed oil. Thanks for the heads up about that.

 

I used to add water to her food, when she first came to me all starved she would eat anything. Once she gained some weight though she became more picky, and won't eat any food (even canned) with water added.

 

Chase gets NF canned food (blended with water, in a syringe) every morning, and 2-3 other feedings throughout the day (depends on if she eats or not). She also gets NF kibble, but she gets other brands of canned food to entice her to eat (Newman's Own and Mighty Dog are the current favorites). So she's not on a 100% kidney diet (she won't eat it), but most of it is the NF. Keeping weight on has been an issue, so I'll feed her whatever canned food she'll eat! The vet agreed and said getting her to eat is more important than sticking to the kidney diet. I also supplement with cooked meat.

 

 

 

 

 

~Lindsay~