I have had some awful news from an owner and now friend of one of my puppies ( now 5 years old ) DDB, my one and only litter from this breed.

He has had weight loss for a few weeks now and wasn't himself regarding his daily walks, he was taken to the vets last week and the vet ran bloods the count being 20 when it should be around 5. The vet suspected cancer of the kidneys and kept him in Friday to be put on a drip for 48 hours. He was going to be scanned Monday morning however the vet called today to say he scanned him early and good news it wasn't cancer but he had kidney failure and he won't live too much longer possibly a week to a month.

They are going to prescribe special food but also said to feed with plenty of meat to help put some weight back on him as he has dropped from 11.5 stone to 10 stone and he is a huge dog.
I don't have any experience of kidney failure so was hoping by asking on this forum that maybe there would be someone with a bit of experience ( hopefully good ) that could give us some hope. The vet says its hard to treat with him being a big dog but would be easier to treat if he was a JRT, or YT size. He isn't showing any other symptoms other than weight loss, less energy and the blood results, he isn't drinking or urinating more. Would this mean maybe this is the early stages or am I just being hopeful?

Please share any experiences with me and I will be able to pass them on to his owners.

You and the owners must be devastatded. No personal experience but this site is very good.

http://www.dogaware.com/health/kidney.html

HTH

>I don't have any experience of kidney failure so was hoping by asking on this forum that maybe there would be someone with a bit of experience ( hopefully good )

>The vet says its hard to treat with him being a big dog but would be easier to treat if he was a JRT, or YT size.

I do have experience, and it happened this year.  And the dog was a Yorkshire Terrier.  She was only 7 years old.

My bitch had seemed "off colour" but I could not put my finger on exactly what it was.  I had bloods taken on the Monday.  I phoned the following day, chasing for results.  But by the time the vet had got back to me I knew it was the end.  She was trembling from head to foot.

Acute Renal Failure.  It was just after hours but my vet waited until I got to the hospital.  I told her how much I loved her while she was given peace.  My vet said it was very brave of me to do the right thing while still in shock.  But he said that too many people leave it because they want extra time to come to terms with it.  So apologies but your friends vet would be delaying the inevitable IMO.

This was in January.  And yes, I still cry for her.

Thank you both for your replies, its not looking good for him then :( :( :(
Jean I am so sorry you lost your girl this way, its so hard xx.
My head is in pieces this morning as I can't stop thinking about these problems and then find my old 14 year old x breed has started to fail quick, she was strutting around yesterday but this morning her back end seems to be giving up! The worry and upset is unreal. I'm going to make a trip to see my pup maybe tomorrow but may have a very hard decision to make myself very soon too :(

My boy ate something poisonous a few months ago and it caused his kidneys to start failing, he was in acute renal failure but the vet kept him in on a drip for over 72 hours and managed to flush the toxins out. He made a full recovery and was very lucky. I was devastated because everything I read on the internet was negative so hopefully this will give you a bit of positivity! My boys kidney levels returned to normal and he doesnt need to be on a special diet, he regained the weight and you'd never know he was ill...fingers crossed for you

But your boy had a different reason for kidney problems.  In the OP's case (and my own bitches) the dog was showing signs of kidney failure and had not ate anything poisonous.

Sorry, but I just felt that sometimes people can be given false hope. 

It's a long, long time ago, but my very first dog died of kidney failure, aged just over 4. He had a few weeks when he deteriorated gradually, then the day came when he was in obvious pain and unhappy and we had to say goodbye.

Long story which I wont go into but my then 15 mth old pup was diagnosed critical kidney failure due to infection. He was on a drip for 4 days and vet said it was unlikely he was going to pull through given his count was in the 70s. Well he did thank goodness. He was given the prescription renal tinned food, which is basically meat flavoured rice with added nutrients, which he refused after 2 days.The vet said for me to do home prepared diet which I now do. He was also on blood pressure tables for heart failure as these also reduce the pressure in kidneys. He has now been able to come off these.

Has he been given Ipakitine? It's a phosphorus binding agent so his kidneys don't have to work as hard. Powdered egg shell works in a similar way.

The best form of protein for a dog to have with renal problems is egg whites its low in phosphorus and has all the right amino acids, no yolk its high in phosphorus. He would be better off being fed high carbs for calories rather than giving meat to put weight back on. 20% fat content beef mince is the best option for meat or raw green tripe. My dog was at 10.5 kg and went down to 9kg but is now back up to weight. He used to be fed raw and had around 320g of meat/fish per day he now has between 50-100g meat/fish per day depending on what the meat/fish is, just to show you how much meat intake has to be reduced. Bones of any sort are also out. They do need fat as well I give mine raw cold pressed coconut oil, but goose fat, chicken fat, sunflower oil are fine. Don't give olive oil its too high in VitD.

CoQ10 has been shown to be a very beneficial supplement given at 1mg per 10lb of dog weight and giving oil such as salmon or any other which is high in Omega 3 & 6. Ignore any that say also contains omega 9 making it sound better, dogs cant utilise it.

The dogaware website as mentioned is an excellent site they could try some of the recipes on there if he goes off the prescription food. I've also read NaturesDiet senior/light trays is ok for renal dogs, mine has it occasionally and has had no problems. Pure Vegi Plus without added meat is also ok but would be very expensive to feed DDB lol

Hope some of that helps, any questions please ask as you may have gathered I've done loads of research into prolonging the life of my dog lol

Sorry forgot to say egg white should be cooked it makes it easier for the dog to digest

Thank you Schnauday I will pass all this info on to the owners x

What an excellent informative post Schnauday , CD at its best!