Young dog with kidney disease and arthritis

[Newtothis]

Hi everyone, hoping you might be able to share some tips and reassurance…

We’ve had our sweet girl for 9 months, she turned 3 in October. It became obvious to us quite quickly after adopting her that she has pain in her back hips/legs.

After some trips to the vet we put her on metacam which was working really well. Unfortunately blood tests show her kidneys are not doing well, so we’ve had to stop the medication. 
 

She apparently has stage 2 kidney disease. We also had her blood pressure checked today and that’s high. Urine tests for protein in the urine are pending!  
 

We’ve been trying transform/travileve for pain relief instead of metacam but she’s still been in quite a bit of discomfort. So today she had her first librela injection.

We’re due another blood test in a month or so to check how her kidneys are and whether stopping metacam has helped. 
 

Luckily we have insurance and a helpful vet. But I’m a little worried at what this means for her - to have this many problems at just 3 years old. And obviously no ‘cure’ for any of them. All posts i see for dogs with these conditions are about hounds who are 10+ years old. 

I suppose I’m wondering if anyone has had similar experience with a young dog? Can these medications keep them happy and comfortable for years?

Or can you share other tips that helped with similar conditions over the long term ? 
 

We’re looking into turmeric supplements and physio/hydrotherapy. And a renal diet. 
 

Thanks in advance 🙂

PS. We’re aware of different creatinine/ blood pressure levels in greys and they have been taken into account for her results. 

 

 

 

[greysmom]

Greyhounds are more prone to kidney issues, but three does seem a bit young.  Unless there's some underlying condition I would really wonder if she got in to something environmental that damaged her kidneys.  Or possibly kidney stones or a tumor.

You might consider doing an abdominal ultrasound.  It's a low impact test that can show you a lot about what's going on in there - most specifically if there are any masses or physical abnormalities which may be impacting her health.

If the Librela isn't effective, there is also a relatively new nsaid named Galliprant which has fewer side effects.  Many greyhound owners have had good results using it.

Good luck.

[macoduck]

I think it would be worth it to have Dr Couto review all the records on your girl. It's been a while I have used him several times. I think the fee is $150.

https://www.coutovetconsultants.com/owners-adopters

[MP_the4pack]

I had a girl rescued from the China Canidrome.  They ruined her kidneys.  

I'm sorry to say I only got 18 months with her, she passed at age 6. 

I cooked a kidneys diet for her. Heavy on the rice or macaroni,  and veggies. Then chicken or beef. To make it more palatable I cooked the meat, then added water to the pot and cooked the carbs. 

Kidney disease makes them nauseous. When all the appetite stimulants can't get them to eat, that's when you say goodbye. 

 

I'm sorry.

[Newtothis]

Thank you all. 
 

We’ll ask the vet about an ultrasound and galliprant. And perhaps look into getting a second opinion from Dr Couto once we have other results back. 
 

On 2/3/2023 at 3:22 AM, MP_the4pack said:

I had a girl rescued from the China Canidrome.  They ruined her kidneys.  

I'm sorry to say I only got 18 months with her, she passed at age 6. 

I cooked a kidneys diet for her. Heavy on the rice or macaroni,  and veggies. Then chicken or beef. To make it more palatable I cooked the meat, then added water to the pot and cooked the carbs. 

Kidney disease makes them nauseous. When all the appetite stimulants can't get them to eat, that's when you say goodbye. 

 

I'm sorry.

Sorry you went through it with your girl too. I’m beginning home cooking her food today. The nausea makes sense as sometimes she looks at her food and almost seems to gag! She still has some appetite though - she’s eating her breakfast as I type. 
 

Fingers crossed we can get her sorted and see some improvement or at least stabilisation now she’s off the metacam. 
 

Thanks again for taking the time to reply. 

[EllenEveBaz]

No young dog experience here.  One of my older dogs had kidney failure.  He was diagnosed at age 10 and made it to 13.  The last 4 months he was noticeably sick but still enjoying the important things in life.  Before that, he soldiered on and lived a "normal" life for an older dog.  In many ways his disease made us closer.  It's hard not to have to take special care of a pet and feel that extra emotional tie.  

I found this website both helpful and overwhelming:  Dog Aware Kidney Disease.  I read it one little piece at a time and used it primarily for diet ideas.  I kept my guy on a homemade diet as long as possible.  The website author is not a vet and some of the information is probably outdated now, but it's still a valuable resource.

Can you tell yet how the librela is doing?  Keep us posted as you and your girl embark on this journey. 

[Johnfar]

I've lost 3 dogs to kidney disease over the years.  The first was a Borzoi which I raised from a pup who died within a month of diagnosis at age 5. The second another Borzoi (related at grandparent level) at age 8 1/2 who lasted 6 weeks post dx, and the third a Lurcher who lingered 18 months after diagnosis and died at age 14 1/2. In the case of the Lurcher she was on Metacam and similar drugs for many years due to arthritis in her front shoulder and we only treated her at full dose at times when her pain was acute; we did this because we knew that Metacam would probably shorten her life (the kidneys don't work as efficiently). Another pain relief issue we had with her was with using Tramadol, because of her kidneys not working too well there was a toxic build-up of the drug in her kidneys and liver which led to severe heart arrhythmia. Every dog experiences kidney disease differently and Greyhound blood values are remarkably different to other breeds, so finding a vet well-experienced in Greyhounds is important.  Despite trying everything they will eventually go off their food completely and then stop drinking; when the latter happens it really is time to let them go.

[MP_the4pack]

12 hours ago, Newtothis said:

Thank you all. 
 

We’ll ask the vet about an ultrasound and galliprant. And perhaps look into getting a second opinion from Dr Couto once we have other results back. 
 

Sorry you went through it with your girl too. I’m beginning home cooking her food today. The nausea makes sense as sometimes she looks at her food and almost seems to gag! She still has some appetite though - she’s eating her breakfast as I type. 
 

Fingers crossed we can get her sorted and see some improvement or at least stabilisation now she’s off the metacam. 
 

Thanks again for taking the time to reply. 

There are a lot of meds to help with the nausea and appetite. Don't hesitate to use them. 

 

[Newtothis]

On 2/4/2023 at 2:36 PM, EllenEveBaz said:

No young dog experience here.  One of my older dogs had kidney failure.  He was diagnosed at age 10 and made it to 13.  The last 4 months he was noticeably sick but still enjoying the important things in life.  Before that, he soldiered on and lived a "normal" life for an older dog.  In many ways his disease made us closer.  It's hard not to have to take special care of a pet and feel that extra emotional tie.  

I found this website both helpful and overwhelming:  Dog Aware Kidney Disease.  I read it one little piece at a time and used it primarily for diet ideas.  I kept my guy on a homemade diet as long as possible.  The website author is not a vet and some of the information is probably outdated now, but it's still a valuable resource.

Can you tell yet how the librela is doing?  Keep us posted as you and your girl embark on this journey. 

This website looks really helpful, thanks for sharing.

 

It’s still early days with the librela (5 days since she had it) There have been signs it might be doing something (when she’s in less pain she will occasionally get into the sphinx position rather than sitting on the side of her bum… if that makes sense) but she’s definitely still in some discomfort.
 

Will definitely consider a specialist greyhound vet for a second opinion when we have a fuller picture of what’s happening.
I’ll try and keep you updated! Thanks again. 

[Newtothis]

On 2/4/2023 at 10:05 PM, MP_the4pack said:

There are a lot of meds to help with the nausea and appetite. Don't hesitate to use them. 

 

Certainly will use them if/ when the time

comes. For now she is wolfing her food down better than ever (maybe she didn’t like her old kibble!) 

[cleptogrey]

On 2/2/2023 at 10:22 PM, MP_the4pack said:

I had a girl rescued from the China Canidrome.  They ruined her kidneys.  

I'm sorry to say I only got 18 months with her, she passed at age 6. 

I cooked a kidneys diet for her. Heavy on the rice or macaroni,  and veggies. Then chicken or beef. To make it more palatable I cooked the meat, then added water to the pot and cooked the carbs. 

Kidney disease makes them nauseous. When all the appetite stimulants can't get them to eat, that's when you say goodbye. 

 

I'm sorry.

felix had kidney disease due to anaplasmosis, tick borne disease. Yes, carbs are the way to go. Rice, pasta, toast, cereal. dogs can do well with out kibble or meat, feed at least 2xs a day. watch your dog like a hawk, the toxins sneak up on them and they are poisoned from the inside out. advanced kidney disease can result in seizures. it's not an easy road to go down, sorry to read about it. oh, felix was on an anti-nausea med and eventually on prednisone to increase his appetite and improve his quality of life. he had a tad under 2 years once diagnosed. 

Edited February 8, 2023 by cleptogrey

[Newtothis]

Hi everyone

Just an update on how our sweet girl is doing, and some info for anyone who finds themself in a similar situation with concerning kidney values after using metacam / NSAIDs.

We've been off the metacam for 2 1/2 months. And she's been on a renal friendly diet for about 6 weeks. And istin for high blood pressure for 3 weeks.

Her latest bloods show her results are much better, with SDMA IDEXX of 17 and creatinine of 169. I think 169 is equivalent to 1.9 in US mg/dl values.

(side note: This is a good conversion site for trying to get your head around US/UK values: http://www.scymed.com/en/smnxps/psxdf212_c.htm )

The vet is saying these are still above normal but I'm going to discuss that next time we see her in light of the greyhound specific values IDEXX recommend using (very helpfully provided by someone in another thread https://www.idexx.com/media/filer_public/c8/dd/c8dd0ed2-7a4e-4cd8-b1a7-798fd5205d99/diagnostic-update-greyhound-specific-reference-intervals.pdf )

Her bloods were undoubtedly abnormal back in January. But as the values have all come down I'm hoping this points to it being more of an acute kidney problem caused by metacam + high blood pressure than true renal disease... We have another blood test in a month to see if it's changed again.

Either way she's happier and healthier than she was  6 weeks ago and is showing no symptoms of renal problems. Librela is working well for her arthritis too.

Thanks again all of you for your replies and hopefully this will all have a happy ending. (though my bank account might not be so pleased about it all)
 

Edited March 10, 2023 by Newtothis

[Time4ANap]

Glad to hear your girl is doing much better. Keep us posted on her progress.