Kidney failure in dogs can be a devastating experience both for you and your furry friends. The thought of possibly losing your beloved pet is enough to make you frustrated and depressed. But how can you find out if your dog has a failing kidney, and what are the ways of treating this chronic illness?
Symptoms
Kidney failure is a common disease not only in dogs, but in cats as well. It mostly occurs in aging animals. Early signs may be an increase in water consumption, and an increase in urine production. However, most animals don’t show these symptoms – not until 70 to 75 of their kidney function has failed. For more advanced kidney problems, your dog may show loss of appetite, diarrhea, vomiting, ulcers in the mouth, and a very bad breath.
Treatments of Dog Kidney Problems
For pet owners, kidney failure in dogs is a serious condition. With the proper treatment and care, you can help your dog lengthen its life for a longer time.
Dogs’ kidneys may also be ‘restarted’ through intravenous fluids to flush out the kidneys. Diuresis, as this process is called, may help to make the kidney cells function once more. If there would be enough kidney cells to function, they can help waste removal from the body again. Electrolytes, dextrose and potassium may also help. Proper nutrition and high quality food are used during dieresis to control diarrhea and vomiting.
Diuresis may resume kidney functions for a few weeks to a few years, or they may function again, but fail as soon as the treatment ceases. There’s also the possibility of kidney functions not returning anymore.
Animals with kidney problems usually undergo a low protein, low sodium and low phosphorus diet. This diet reduces mineral deposits in the kidneys, and generates less nitrogenous excesses, which can cause vomiting at high levels. Low protein diets mean a decrease of workload on the kidneys. In addition, phosphorus is filtered out of the body through the kidneys, so a low phosphorus diet can help a lot. A high level of phosphorus in the body leads to poor appetite, so certain medications which help bind phosphates inside the intestines can also help your dog.
Fluids should be continuously given subcutaneously (under the skin.) This process helps the kidney to restart itself, and should be done once a day or once a week. The frequency depends on the degree of the kidney failure.
Make use of medicines and drugs to stimulate the bone marrow so that it would give out new red blood cells to your dog’s body. Since the kidneys manufacture erythropoietin, that hormone stimulates the production of red blood cells through the bone marrow. Most dogs with kidney failure have anemia because this hormone isn’t being produced by the kidney, thereby it cannot stimulate the bone marrow, as well. There are some artificial or synthetic forms of erythropoietin which may mimic the real hormone to help produce red blood cells. However, some dogs may consider this synthetic hormone as a foreign body and make antibodies to battle it.
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