[QUOTE=Scoobstersmom;4617599]DBlain,
does your dog have kidney disease? My last yorkie had chronic renal failure and also chronic pancreatitis. He required a low phos and low protein diet for his kidneys, but most of the kidney diets have high fat. He couldn't do the fat because of the pancreatitis. It was very hard to find a food that ticked all the categories he needed. I occasionally fed him the low fat gastro diet by Royal Canin, but mostly I ended up home cooking for him because the RC food isn't particularly low in phosporous. He lived 3+ years after his kidney diagnosis with only occasional mild flares of his pancreatitis on a home cooked diet. A nutritionist may be able to help you plan a diet that will work. We did that, but he tired of the same meals every day so I ended up altering a couple of kidney diets that I found online by substituting low fat items for the higher fat items in the kidney diets.
Hope this helps. Diana[/QUOTE
Quite honestly the vet does not know if she has kidney problems, Lola is 5 and had blood work done for a dental and the lab the vet uses includes a new test called SDMA that seems to be a good indicator in detecting early kidney problems a year or so before the bun and creatine numbers are elevated. 0-14 is normal, 15-20 is early stages kidney disease, and over 20 is full blown kidney disease. In Lola's past bloodwork sometimes her creatine has been a point or two high but nothing her former vet was ever concerned with. In fact when the current vet's office called to clear me for her dental they said "bloodwork was fine everything is good". I asked for a copy of the bloodwork like I always do and there under SDMA it had a full paragraph on how 15 to 20 indicated early stage kidney disease. After I settled down from freaking out I did a lot of reading and then spoke with the vet. We decided that the next step would be a urine test today at the start of the dental procedure before the fluids they would be giving her would dilute the sample, they planned on palpating it out of her but were not able to since her bladder was empty, I thought three hours between her going potty would be enough but it wasn't and LOL trying to catch it myself is not proving to be an easy task
We are going to try again tomorrow and if not successful they said bring her in next week and two techs will chase her around their yard
As you guessed she has had a pancreatic attack in early December. It was a mild one and she recovered in two days and then we changed her diet to Royal Canine GD which as you know is higher in protein and phosphorous than a renal diet calls for. I really think it is too early to tell if she has chronic pancreatitis, but I have a hunch she does not, in looking back she had been eating a lot of store bought treats, my husband would let her lick his ice cream bowl (when it was not chocolate) once a week she had half a piece of bacon and a bit of scrambled eggs, we had been out to event a few days before the attack and I found out a friend gave her some hot dog pieces and then when her tummy seemed to feel bad I gave her Pepcid in some small pieces of cheddar cheese, when reading this all back it seems like a lot of harmful food but at the time the pieces seemed so small and not given all the time so I did not think it was bad, but the vet said just one meal could trigger it. So now of course her food is low fat and we have cut way back on treats, no bacon, no cheese, no ice cream and so forth. I have had her lipase and amylase numbers checked three times since December and they are low and her energy level is sky high, so all is good there. Will pancreatitis come back; who knows but with eliminating table food and high fat treats I think we will be OK. The one thing I did different since her Dec attack is to give her more boiled white meat chicken and sweet potato as a snack in lieu of the other stuff she had been used to getting, but now I have stopped feeding straight chicken.
So where do we go next, first get that urine test, then I think I want to find a food with middle of the row numbers pertaining to protein and fat, I think I will be more concerned with the protein level but will not put her on the renal diet (at least not yet). I will cut out chicken and other high protein snacks, she has never been a fan of cheerios or fruit or veggies so using that as a treat will not work but she will eat the very small milk bone trail mix and that is low in both fat and protein. She rings jingle bells to go potty and since 4 months of age is used to getting 2 treats when she comes in from potty, now I have a toy ready and lucky for me she loves to fetch so when we come back in I immediately start throwing the toy, this has kept her from going to stand by the cupboard where the treats are kept. In 6 months I will have her blood work tested again. The vet spoke to Royal Canine and they said to mix Renal Diet and GD diet, honestly I don't like that idea, I would rather find a food that better balances things out so I know what she is getting. I also like the suggestion of a nutritionist, but have no idea how to find one, so I will ask the vet when we discuss the urine test.
On a good note her dental went well, for a 5 year old 5.5Lb dog she has excellent teeth this was her first cleaning and based on a grade from 0-4 with 0 being the best they said she was a 0. They did find one tiny molar that was loose so they took that out but it did not even require pain killers and since she has been home she has been squeaking her new toy nonstop.
Sorry this was so long winded but wanted to fully explain, thanks everybody for your suggestions.
here is the info on the SDMA test, I am so glad my vet included this in the blood panel
https://www.idexx.com/small-animal-h...y-disease.html
]