Greetings all!

Our ordinarily healthy 15+ year old female australian shepherd (Cody)
recently had some health setbacks. I won't go into the whole health
story here, but suffice to say she had become increasingly uninterested
in food for some time, and eventually stopped eating completely around
a week or so ago. Cody also had been hacking for a few days as if she
were trying to clear her throat or lungs or something. We took her to
our vet (actually a substitute vet) and she got a blood test. Cody had
had a few bouts of pancreatitus in the past, and we suspected something
along those lines. The vet felt Cody's abdomen and it felt fine,
Cody's temperature was fine, and in fact Cody's general mood and
demeanor seemed normal.

However, she became seriously affected later that night -- she vomited
water, peed in the house, was disoriented and lethargic, her breathing
was somewhat labored, etc. Fortunately, by the next morning, the
substitute vet already had Cody's blood tests back, and the vet told us
that Cody had kidney failure.

So we took her into the vet's office immediately, and Cody was given
intravenous fluids for all of Friday, and until we picked her up at
noon on Sat. When we picked her up, the vet said that a blood test
taken on Sat morning indicated much improvement (BUN went from 64 to 48
and Creatinine went from 4.1 to 2.6), and in fact Cody's mood and
energy level seemed almost normal. We were given some lactated ringers
fluid to give her sub-cutaneously, and we were initially instructed (by
the vet tech) to give her 600cc twice a day, but then the vet herself
changed this to 300cc twice a day -- but she also indicated we could
give Cody more fluid than 300cc. This substitute vet didn't give us
much guidance to help us decide how much fluid to give Cody. The
substitute vet was okay, but not real firm on directions.

Cody has fortunately started to eat again, and we regard that as a VERY
good sign (she also appears to be urninating fine, by the way).
However, her energy level is VERY low, and she sleeps most of the time.
On the one hand, this may be normal for a dog recovering from this
illness, but on the other hand, she certainly seemed more alert and
energetic when we picked her up at the vet yesterday. She is going
back to the vet's on Tuesday afternoon (today is Sunday) for another
blood test, and we may schedule another vet visit perhaps on Thurs
depending on how things progress. We could bring her in to the vet's
on Mon (a day early) if we had to, but we kind of want to see how the
antibiotic (Clavamox) she is now on, and the fluids, and a few days
rest impact her condition. She is still hacking sometimes (never
producing more than some clear viscous fluid), but we are hoping the
antibiotic will cure that.

Questions:

1. Cody weighs about 54 pounds. What dosage of lactated ringers would
people in this newsgroup advise? We are thinking up bumping it up to
500cc twice a day starting tonight.

2. What is it that IV fluids at the vet's office can do that the
sub-cutaneous fluids we inject cannot do? If it is the case that we
took her off IV too soon, we will talk to our regular vet about that
possibility when we see him after the next blood test, but we'd prefer
not to put her back on IV if we can avoid it.

3. Anything else we should be looking for or doing as we try to build
her energy level back to normal?

4. We are brand new to the issue of kidney failure in dogs, and are
still uninformed as to appropriate methods of maintenance and
treatment. Which online sites should we study to quickly educate
ourselves on this issue?

5. There appears to be some dispute as to whether reducing dietary
protein is a good or a bad thing. Any veterinary consensus on this
issue in sight? Any opinions?

Regarding meds: As noted above, she is on Clavamox to treat any
infection that might be related to her kidney failure or the hacking,
and the vet also put her on Pepcid AC. She is still on her light
soloxine dosage, but is temorarily off her following regular meds:

Rimadyl for management of a bad disk in her back (intervertebral disk
disease)

Glucosamine/chondroitan supplement

Phenylpropanolamine (PPA) and estrogen for some urinary incontinence.

The fact that she is off Rimadyl means that she is stiffer than she
usually would be, so we'd like to put her back on that as soon as
possible. Is it a good idea to leave her off Rimadyl for a while or
can we put her right back on it(the substitute vet wasn't adamant
either way, as is her style)?

Thanks in advance for any and all assistance and advice!

Chuck

wrote in message
ups.com...
Our ordinarily healthy 15+ year old female australian shepherd (Cody)
recently had some health setbacks. I won't go into the whole health
story here,
.............what else has been going on? Any fevers, lethargy?

Fortunately, by the next morning, the
substitute vet already had Cody's blood tests back, and the vet told us
that Cody had kidney failure.

...........did she also do a urinalysis?

However, her energy level is VERY low, and she sleeps most of the time.
On the one hand, this may be normal for a dog recovering from this
illness, but on the other hand, she certainly seemed more alert and
energetic when we picked her up at the vet yesterday. She is going
back to the vet's on Tuesday afternoon (today is Sunday) for another
blood test,
..............how did that test turn out?

we kind of want to see how the
antibiotic (Clavamox) she is now on, and the fluids, and a few days
rest impact her condition.
...........did the vet consider something like Lepto? To treat this malady a
different antibiotic is necessary.

She is still hacking sometimes (never
producing more than some clear viscous fluid), but we are hoping the
antibiotic will cure that.

1. Cody weighs about 54 pounds. What dosage of lactated ringers would
people in this newsgroup advise? We are thinking up bumping it up to
500cc twice a day starting tonight.

..............I wouldn't and hope you didn't. Too much fluid can be a strain
on the heart.

5. There appears to be some dispute as to whether reducing dietary
protein is a good or a bad thing. Any veterinary consensus on this
issue in sight?
..................no! This debate has been raging for years.

Any opinions?
..........personally I think they need the protein. It's lowered phosphorus
that's important.

Regarding meds: As noted above, she is on Clavamox to treat any
infection that might be related to her kidney failure or the hacking,
and the vet also put her on Pepcid AC. She is still on her light
soloxine dosage,

.........dog is hypothyroid? When was the last time she was tested?

but is temorarily off her following regular meds:

Glucosamine/chondroitan supplement

.............I think that would be OK to keep on using.

Phenylpropanolamine (PPA) and estrogen for some urinary incontinence.

..........I don't know about this one, check with the vet.

Is it a good idea to leave her off Rimadyl for a while or
can we put her right back on it(the substitute vet wasn't adamant
either way, as is her style)?

........honestly I don't know. Just don't go to Deramaxx, which tends to
affect kidneys. You might look into acupuncture as an alternative to any
kind of pill.

..........Here's a page of links and discussion about kidney disease in dogs:
http://www.dogaware.com/kidney.html

I'd definitely suggest joining K9Kidney. They'll be able to answer your
questions.

..........hope your oldster is doing better now, eating is always good.

best of luck
buglady
take out the dog before replying