[Dailydrool] Barnaby's kidney failure

[Hinchliffe at aol.com]

Oh, I'm so sorry to hear about your dear Barnaby.  It breaks my heart  that 
you're both going through this.
 
There are many things that can be tried for kidney failure -- I'm an  
expert, unfortunately, since my Blueberry had it.  They all depend upon the  kind 
of kidney failure, and how advanced it is.  I know of dogs who are  active 
and living good lives four and five years after the vet had said there  
wasn't any hope.  Heartbreakingly, I also know of others for whom all the  
treatments in the world didn't work (like my Blueberry).
 
My first and most important piece of advice is to bring him to a kidney  
specialist.  No matter how wonderful a regular vet is, there are new  
treatments that they don't know about.  (There is no cure, but there are  many ways 
of controlling the disease to restore quality of life.)
 
So, above all, immediately (time is really critical), find a kidney  
specialist.  I found one at a veterinary school.  This was a woman who  ONLY 
treats kidney dogs, and who does research, so she has seen everything, and  knows 
everything.  There are so many things that can be done to at least  make 
him comfortable -- daily sub-q fluids that you administer (this is kind of  
like an i.v., but it's easy for you to do); special foods; lots of medicines  
that settle his tummy and make it easier for him to eat; nutritional  
supplements; etc.  The kidney specialist will tell you about all of  this.  Please 
go.  It was a long drive, but it was SO WORTHWHILE,  because I know that we 
tried everything, and gave her every chance we  could.  Even if I had had 
to travel to another state and stay overnight, I  gladly would have done it.
 
In the meantime, make sure he eats.  He won't feel like it, but you  have 
to keep his strength up.  The specialist said to give Blueberry  anything and 
everything -- human food, cookies, cheese, anything to tempt  her.  Cook 
him chicken, and let him eat as much as he wants.  If he's  not eating, get 
baby food and spoon it into his mouth, then hold his jaws shut  and stroke his 
throat to make him swallow.  Get a syringe and syringe into  his mouth 
Ensure (it looks like you're in France?  I don't know if that  brand name means 
anything to you -- it's a nutritious supplement/meal  replacement for people 
who are sick).  Make sure you have a good  over-the-counter human liquid 
antacid (get your vet to tell you the brand name  of the one that's best, 
there are some that have added ingredients that aren't  good for dogs; the one 
they recommended is called Alternagel in the states) --  syringe that into 
his mouth too, if needed.  Have your vet give him  anti-nausea shots and/or 
pills.
 
Join this online group for owners of kidney dogs -- it's incredible for  
information and support:
 
_Click here: K9KIDNEYS : for  owners of dogs with Kidney Disease_ 
(http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/K9KIDNEYS/)  
 

If you try everything and it still doesn't work, he'll let you know.   But 
in the meantime, try everything you can -- in my grief over losing  
Blueberry, at least I knew that we had done absolutely everything to give her a  
chance.  And for a lot of dogs, those chances translate into returned  health 
and longer life -- the ideal is for kidney disease to become a condition  
that's controlled, like diabetes.
 
Good luck.  Hugs to you, because I know how hard and heartbreaking  this is 
for you.  And hugs to your dear boy.
 
Fondly,
Beth H. (Duchess ATB and Blueberry ATB)
 
 
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.dailydrool.org/pipermail/dailydrool-dailydrool.org/attachments/20100921/4730a835/attachment-0002.htm>