D'Elle Posted March 16, 2015 Report Share Posted March 16, 2015 Sue -- I am so sorry to hear this. I had a very beloved cat who had chronic renal failure. I found a support group online for people with cats with renal failure, and it saved my cat's life, and kind of saved mine as well. They were from all over the world and very knowledgeable and what I learned there gave Beau three good years of life after the vets told me they had nothing more to offer. You can learn from others what has worked for them and they also will know online sources for supplies that are the least expensive. They will have video tutorials on how to give subcutaneous fluids. All kinds of things. And you will get a lot of support. I know there's one for dogs as well, and you will find it if you search. I would not go with the veterinary renal diets, myself. They are not good quality protein and have a lot of stuff in them you may not want to be feeding. Home made is best, and add in what you need to give as supplements. You can get gel caps and put stuff like the alum. hydroxide in them and wrap them in cheese or something to get them into the dog. I did a CBC every two to three months so that I could monitor levels and adjust accordingly. It is not a death sentence! It can be managed. I sure do wish you the best of luck. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
D'Elle Posted March 16, 2015 Report Share Posted March 16, 2015 I think my head is about to explode... Sue, I know the feeling. That is how I felt when I first started treating Beau. It gets better. I learned a lot, and you will too. Once you get the hang of it, it really is not hard to do what you need to do to maintain a good quality of life for your companion. I do recommend joining an online support group for this. They will be very helpful to you and sometimes will also be there at 2AM when you are discouraged or frightened and just need to write it all out and get a response. At least, that is how it was for me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alligande Posted March 17, 2015 Report Share Posted March 17, 2015 Hmm, I can't locate it now but I read one source that did not recommend baking soda (calcium bicarbonate). I think my head is about to explode... I know the feeling, when Brody got sick I read so much online about an appropriate diet, I also thought my head would explode. I ended up working with an animal nutrionist who does distance consults as a side job which really helped me feel confident I was feeding him well for his condition. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sue R Posted March 17, 2015 Author Report Share Posted March 17, 2015 Okay, about the baking soda - what I read was that the updated version of the book, Home-Prepared Diets for Dogs and Cats, contains an error, recommending baking soda as a calcium source when it is sodium bicarbonate, not calcium bicarbonate. So it wasn't that using it was bad but that it wasn't a substitute for another calcium (phosphorus-binding) source. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sue R Posted March 17, 2015 Author Report Share Posted March 17, 2015 Laura Carson has given me quite a bit of information, having dealt with two dogs with kidney failure, and also recommended a very useful site called DogAware.com. That site has a lot of good information, understandable and well-organized, including dietary information. So, I'm signed up for K9KidneyDiet on Yahoo, and also referring to Laura's recommendations and advice, as well as that on DogAware. I've already caught a urine sample (first catch - I feel like I'm fishing) to take in for analysis today, and not just to check for infection as last week's sample was, and am taking her in this morning for a fasting blood draw to check both the values we did last week and also do a CBC to check for any anemia (which is low likelihood at this stage but which will give us figures for this stage of the game). Thank you all for your input! I'm trying to get it all together and proceed with a diet plan to help keep her as healthy and comfortable as possible for as long as is possible. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GentleLake Posted March 17, 2015 Report Share Posted March 17, 2015 This showed up in my inbox today, FWIW. http://www.dogsnaturallymagazine.com/canine-diets-for-kidney-failure/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sue R Posted March 17, 2015 Author Report Share Posted March 17, 2015 The diet I am going to try, based on the information in DogAware.com, is formulated for a 40# inactive dog - Megan weighs about 35# and is active, so I may have to make adjustments in amount, but I'm starting with this as the basis: For one day's food (split into two meals) 6 oz of meat, 6 oz of veggie/grain (winter squash/white rice to start), 1 large egg plus 1 large egg white, 1 oz of liver or kidney, 1/2 t ground eggshell or 1000 mg calcium, 3 1200 mg fish oil capsules, Vitamin E, and 1 1/2 tablets Renal Essentials. This diet is formulated with raw meat and eggs, both of which our dogs are accustomed to, and I can use our own ground beef and vary that with chicken, perhaps. I am still researching the use of a vitamin supplement. The test we ran last week, which was not fasting, indicated that Megan should be in the very early stages of this although she has probably lost about 75% of her kidney function. Most of her numbers were very good, other than her BUN and creatinine. I took her in this morning to have a fasting blood draw done to repeat the test, to get more accurate figures of some of the components. I also had a sample drawn for a CBC for a baseline (or as close to a baseline as we could have at this point). I took in a first-catch urine sample for analysis but the tech had a mishap and I need to collect again tomorrow and drop that off on my way to town. Once all her numbers are in, we will have a much better idea of what we are dealing with. Considering her age and general health, and the estimate that this condition is in its early stages with little ill effects so far, plus putting her on a reduced-phosphorus diet and increasing her water intake, I think the odds that she will have a normal and happy lifespan look good. That's what I keep telling myself. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carolync Posted April 10, 2015 Report Share Posted April 10, 2015 I was going to suggest the yahoo group, glad you found it. My 15 year old had elevated BUN and creatinine number that showed up in a senior profile in the fall of 2011, no outward symptoms. Was told he had 25% kidney function. I was following the yahoo group dietary recommendations and home cooking and I noticed an increase in energy level. His numbers have stayed stable since then. Hope you have the same luck as we have! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sue R Posted April 10, 2015 Author Report Share Posted April 10, 2015 For those who are interested, here is a follow-up on Megan's condition. We redid Megan's blood tests and a urinalysis on March 18th. The new blood tests were fasting and the results were similar to the previous week's test, with minor variations due to fasting/not fasting. The good news was that all values were good except the BUN and creatinine (both were down a bit due to fasting giving a better result). Her phosphorus value was good, as well, which is important as too high a phosphorus level in the blood is very bad for ailing kidneys. Her urinalysis was all fine except for the urine specific gravity which was at the low end of the normal range. It should, for first pee of the day, be at the upper end of the normal range. Being at the low end is an indicator that she is not concentrating her urine as she should be doing - in other words, too much water is being lost compared to waste products being removed. Using guidelines from the Yahoo group K9kidneydiet and information from www.nutritiondata.self.com (lots of food nutrition data from USDA and the ability to formulate your own "recipes" makes this a very handy site to devise meals that suit kidney failure dogs' needs), I have tweaked Megan's daily diet. She is getting (for her total daily diet, divided into two meals) 6 oz of our homegrown low-fat ground beef; 2 cooked egg whites; 3 oz of vegetables (pumpkin, green beans, asparagus, broccoli, carrots, etc.); 3 oz of a carb (right now, cooked brown rice or whole-wheat pasta); 3 1200mg capsules of fish oil; 1 CoQ10 100mg capsule; Vit E; her joint supplement (Dasuquin); and calcium to balance the phosphorus in her meal. Each meal also includes 1 1/2 cups of warm water, which she drinks before she eats the solids. That, in combination with now getting "wet" food rather than dry kibble, has increased her water intake significantly, which is a necessity with kidney failure in order to help flush out the waste products in her blood. I changed the meal from what I was originally trying in order to reduce the fat as a percentage of her calories (from about 43% to 36%, closer to the maximum of 33% as advised by K9kidneydiet). While this hasn't been an issue with Megan, pancreatitis is something they warn strongly against as something they see in kidney failure dogs that can easily be fatal. This diet supplies plenty of protein for a dog who is in Stage 2 but who also does not have issues with excess protein per se in her blood or urine. It is deficient for a dog in Stage 2 in terms of phosphorus. She should be taking in about 20 mg per pound of body weight, and this only supplies about 12 mg per pound of body weight. A dog that is much more advanced should be limited to no more than 10 mg per pound of body weight. So, how is Megan? We've hit a bump in the road - she went in for a dental yesterday and a "significant" heart murmur was discovered, only five weeks since her annual exam where nothing of the sort was detected. A second vet, the one who did the annual, came in to confirm this new finding. In case an infection has been a causative agent, or in case an infection is present and bacteria are "sticking" to the valve, she is on an antibiotic - but nothing else we are aware of points to any infection. Of course, she could not be anesthetized so the dental work was not done (an extraction of a long-broken molar, which is not causing her visible problems). Because of the murmur, she is now on a medication to relax her blood vessels so that her heart does not have to work so hard to pump blood throughout her body, and that will reduce her blood pressure (I don't have a reading on that so don't know if it was high at all). She is also on a medication to try to help reduce the urine leakage she experiences some nights and occasionally otherwise. She's 12 1/2, was spayed young (by her previous owner), and is drinking additional water, so some leakage is not abnormal. As for Megan herself, she is doing excellently - eating well, drinking well, and still eagerly participating in our normal three miles of walks/bike rides daily. Sometimes we do a little more and sometimes a little less, depending on weather and other circumstances, but we average three miles a day. Being the only one on leash, she sets the pace when we bike so I am not worried at this time that she is being overly challenged by our activity level. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sue R Posted April 10, 2015 Author Report Share Posted April 10, 2015 That's really good to hear, Carolyn! Our vet is quite optimistic that Megan could have a pretty normal life span as long as we feed wisely and keep her monitored for changes, and react accordingly. She will be going back in in two weeks for a check-up and some blood/urine values to be checked (BUN, creatinine, P, and urine specific gravity). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gideon's girl Posted April 10, 2015 Report Share Posted April 10, 2015 I'm glad to hear Megan is doing so well! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sue R Posted April 10, 2015 Author Report Share Posted April 10, 2015 Thanks! *She* does not seem to realize that anything is wrong, and that's a plus. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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