Chronic and acute kidney disease.

Dr. Marie replied:

I'm sorry to hear that your little dog is not doing well. I'll see if I can help to answer some of your questions.

You are right that there are two types of kidney disease, acute and chronic. Sometimes it is hard to tell which type a dog has.

Chronic renal failure (kidney disease) is most common in an older animal. This is what happens when the kidneys just get old and don't work well and eventually shut down. We can also see this in young animals if they are born with a problem where their kidneys are not properly formed. In many cases, chronic kidney failure can't be reversed because there is nothing that can be done to fix the kidneys. Sometimes we can buy some time with IV fluids, but not always.

In a young animal, acute kidney disease is much more common than chronic. Acute kidney disease means that the kidneys have been damaged by something. In most cases, if we can remove the damaging factor we can nurse the kidneys back to health. But, if there has been too much damage to the kidneys then there are some dogs that do not survive. Unfortunately it can be very difficult to tell how much damage has been done.

Some cases of acute kidney disease are easy to figure out. For example, if a dog drank antifreeze, then we know that the antifreeze is toxic to the kidneys. But, sometimes we don't know what the toxic insult was. I have seen dogs that can get kidney disease as a result of the toxins that can be produced during a bout with pancreatitis, so it is possible that this is what is happening with Pidan.

The treatment for kidney disease, whether acute or chronic is the same and that is to flush the system with intravenous fluids. This is why he is getting IV fluids at the vet hospital. He may need this for several days.

His appetite will be an indication of how he is feeling. When dogs are sick with kidney disease, because the kidneys are not relieving toxins from the body properly, the dogs will often feel nauseous and will not want to eat. I will often have people ask me what kind of food they can feed to get the dog to eat, but usually the problem is not the food, but rather the toxins. So, the key to getting Pidan to eat is to keep up with the IV fluids to help the kidneys repair. Your vet is likely also giving him a medication such as famotidine which will help with some of the nausea that is present.

Your vet will advise you on which food is best for him to eat. k/d is an excellent food for kidney disease, but your vet will have to decide which is most important - feeding for kidney disease or preventing pancreatitis (i/d). They will guide you on this.

I have seen lots of dogs recover from kidney disease with good treatment. The best advice I can give you is to trust your vet. It sounds like he is in good hands.

Dr. Marie.


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Dr. Marie replied:

I am not really a fan of home cooking for pets with kidney disease. One of the most helpful things we can do is to feed a prescription kidney diet. It's not just about the protein level in the food. The companies that make these renal foods are constantly testing and refining the diets so that they give the best benefit to an animal's kidneys. They have just the right balance of omega fatty acids, vitamins, etc.

The only animals that I recommend home cooked diets for during kidney disease are those who have known food allergy issues and for some reason or another can't eat a commercial diet.

Don't believe what you read in online forums about commercial foods having fillers and other unhealthy things in them. They really are a good treatment for kidney disease.

Regarding the weight loss, the commercial renal diets do tend to be higher in fat than other foods (because they are reduced in protein). This will hopefully help Pidan to gain some weight.