Check this
 

Check this doc Kidney Disease: Causes, Signs, Diagnosis and Treatment in Dogs and Cats

I'm so sorry your facing this. My Heidi was treated for 3 1/2 yrs before I lost her. We started on sub -q fluids twice a day then we were able to go to once a day. She was on several other meds too but I don't recall the names right now. I know one of them increased blood flow to her kidneys. I was told so many times that they didn't think she would make it but she was a little trooper and surprised them all. I lost her 11 days shy of 18 yrs. I also recommend getting a small gauge needle. Heidi never gave me any problems when I was giving her fluids. It was worth extra day that we had together. I'll say a prayer for you and your little one.

Zoey won't eat anything. My refrigerator is full of canned foods.
I have tried homemade renal diets, gave her Primal raw twice, left it also. She is afraid of food. Appetite stimulants have no effect on her.
She still wants to play, drinks plenty of distilled water that I rotate with Evian.
I just dont know what to do next. She has lost a pound and only weighted 5.5 lbs when eating like a piglet. At this point, I appreciate any and all suggestions. I dont sleep or eat, trying to find the right food for her. I realize kidney disease is fatal, but her disease is not the problem altogether, its her lack of food. Supplements and vitamins just sit on my counter. Thank you for allowing me to vent.

I have had success with Purina NF .. Hill's KD has always been a problem with pups. I actually have two pups on it now .. they both love the kibble and also the canned. One of them is notoriously picky.
It is very difficult to find food they like sometimes .. renal disease does a number on their appetite. You say you have tried appetite stimulants...I have always used Mirtazapine because it also helps with the nausea. If you have used that without success...have you tried something like Cerenia for nausea?

My Jaycee girl is 5 months into battling this disease, the same one that took the life of my mom.

I hate this. It's pure torture. my best friend in the world is laying here beside me, zapped from her sub-q fluid treatment today, after a night of vomiting.


Hoping it's a tummy bug this time.


I'm so glad to have found this thread.

I have 2 dogs in full kidney failure rite now & they are both on Azodyl & Epakitin & eat the RX food of their choice for the day. Foods are Feline NF & E canned & Canine KD canned & Canine NF & KD both dry. Yes dogs can eat the Feline with no problems. Sparky is my Lymphoma survivor & has always been a very picky eater & he goes back & forth with all the foods I mentioned but WILL eat if I test just a bit of each food till he tells me the one he wants, my other dog will eat anything I put in front of her. Both had very high values & tested approx 10 days after beginning these meds they went WAY down.

This is an old thread but I just want to say thanks to everyone who took the time to post. My sweet boy Max (will be 13 next month) was just diagnosed with mild pancreatitis and kidney disease. the kidney disease was a big surprise because he had just had blood work less than two months prior and it was all normal... we noticed increased water consumption & urination, and difficulty with food in the mornings and that's what got us back to the vet. Blood work showed elevated BUN but creatinine and BUN/C ratio are still OK. Abdominal ultrasound was all good, and his urinalysis was good (urine was not dilute).

We are only two weeks into this - have had antibiotics for the pancreatitis, subQ fluids, and are struggling with what he will/won't eat. Started Entyce for appetite but only 2 days in and seems like not much difference. He will have another set of blood work tomorrow to check on progress, and this time both husband and I will go to vet together so husband can hold him and I can learn to administer the sub Q fluids and do it at home (tried last time but he did not like being held by vet tech... so I had to hold him while vet tech administered). He is in good spirits, happy, loving, and playful.

Thank you once again for everyone who took the time to share tips on this thread. I have turned to yorkietalk for wisdom and guidance since i first brought Max home as a teeny furball... now a senior citizen. i have not posted a lot but have enormous gratitude for this community. Thank you everyone!

He has an elevated BUN and the vet is saying he has renal disease? Surely there is something else. Elevated BUN could be due to dehydration. Maybe there is some other reason the vet has diagnosed it as renal?

Entyce is great when it works...sometimes it does not. Ask your vet if you can try Mirtazapine.

Ah, forgot to mention Vet also did the IDEX SDMA test (which is mentioned either here on the thread or one of the articles that are linked) which catches kidney disease earlier, and that was elevated. Otherwise you are right, the BUN alone would not have been enough.

the pancreatitis was caught with another test - spec cPL

I will ask about Mirtazapine, thank you!

Ohhhh ok. :)

Hope the mirtazapine helps... if your vet approves it.

I just looked back at my notes from convo with Vet when she was giving me the results from the blood panel and discussing course of treatment - she did mention Mirtazapine as an alternative to Entyce, so if the Entyce doesn't work i'm sure she will be open to it


We just got back from vet and I was able to do the stick and administer the fluids while my husband held Max...I am relieved about that... now we can do it at home. Now we wait to see what this blood panel says...

Thank you!

That's great...much easier on them if you can do it at home. They usually tolerate it pretty well.

Keep us posted!

Sending best wishes for Max!

Keeping you, and Max, in our thoughts! (((hugs)))

I'm hoping that Max is doing well.
My yorkie (Charlie) is a 12 year old female who was diagnosed with a mild chronic pancreatitis in May of 2018. She has taken metronidazole 1/day since. Each time she was tapered off she would have a flare up.
In May of 2019 she was diagnosed with kidney disease and we had the university of Tennessee college of vet medicine create a homemade recipe that we could make for Charlie. She ate the food up until a month ago.
She quit eating. It started with just breakfast. She had a catheter on 4 separate occasions along with subQ fluids to flush the kidneys. The last catheterization caused her pain in her leg and that evening she had trouble walking. We added an appetite stimulant (mirtazapine) and within 2 days Charlie started eating again. She's back to walking normal.
We switched her food to something she'd eat. She seems to like the Royal Canin Renal Support D with morsels and gravy. Her last BUN after catheterization was 49 and Creatinine was 3.0. After 2.5 days of eating the Royal Canin Renal Support D blood work was BUN 48 and CRE 3.6. Those numbers are from last Thursday, November 7.
She's getting more sub Q fluids today and blood work. We're praying for more time.
The only changes we made that got her eating: We stopped the homemade diet ( We tried 2 varieties chicken and turkey based)
and started the Royal Canin Renal Support D morsels and gravy. We also added the appetite stimulant mirtazapine. I'm afraid to go back to homemade diet because her past 4 days have been good.
Stopping the homemade diet also stopped the culturelle probiotic and lignans that were given to her for atypical Cushing's.
There is a culturelle probiotic that has xylitol in it which can be toxic to dogs. To what degree and to what organs I don't know but I wondered if what we were using was mis labeled and actually had that in it.
Praying for you and Max.