Canine Kidney Disease, Signs Your Dog Is Ill

Chronic kidney disease, which is also called chronic renal failure (CRF) is common in dogs, especially older dogs. How do you know if your dog has chronic kidney disease? Your dog will show you it is ill if you know what to look for.

Signs of kidney disease:

• increased water consumption or polydipsia
• increased urine production or polyuria
• loss of appetite
• lethargy and depression
• vomiting
• diarrhea
• very bad breath
• ulcers in the mouth

The signs of CRF are different from those of acute renal failure. Dogs with acute disease pass little or no urine and are severely ill. Dogs with CRF drink and pee excessively. Dogs with CRF develop increasingly worsening symptoms, but they may do so at such a subtle rate that we aren’t always aware of what’s happening until most of the kidney has been destroyed.

Confirm signs with blood and urine tests
When a pet has symptoms listed above, we want to confirm that it has CRF with blood and urine tests. Get these tests every 6 months if your pet is a senior because seniors are more at risk for kidney disease than are young dogs. For younger dogs, have blood and urine tests annually.

What's next?
In future Caring for Pet discussions, we'll cover what goes wrong with calcium, phosphorus, potassium, and the red blood cells in a pet with CRF, then we'll discuss which herbs, medications, and supplements will prolong life.

The more we understand CRF, the better care we can give our pets.

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Canine Kidney Disease, Acute and Chronic

In previous Caring for Pets entries, we’ve covered what the kidneys do, what causes kidney disease, and how dogs with kidney disease feel. Now, let’s consider the two major classifications of kidney disease, acute and chronic, because they are vastly different and require different approaches.

The difference between acute and chronic kidney disease
When kidney disease hits a pet with sudden, severe illness, it’s called acute kidney disease or acute renal failure (ARF). When kidney disease sneaks up slowly, destroying kidney function bit by bit and causing a progressive illness, it’s called chronic kidney disease or chronic renal failure (CRF).

Major differences between ARF and CRF include
• Severity and affect on longevity
• Urine production
• Instigating factors

Difference in ARF and CRF Severity and Longevity
Dogs with acute kidney disease can die within a few hours. In contrast, a pet with chronic disease may live for months or years. A pet with acute disease requires hospitalization with intensive emergency care, and the best indication of how the pet will do is how well it responds to treatment. A pet with chronic disease is managed at home with clinic visits every 3-4 months.

Many dogs with chronic disease have such a gradual progression of symptoms that the family is unaware the pet is ill until the pet is brought in for its annual physical exam with blood and urine tests.

Dogs can have both ARF and CRF if slowly progressive disease destroys so much of the functioning cells that failure of the entire organ occurs.

Difference in ARF and CRF Urine Production
With acute renal failure, no urine is produced (anuria) and no wastes are cleared from the body so that urea builds up within the blood (uremia). In contrast, dogs with chronic renal failure produce an excessive amount of urine and clear some waste products. The more urine a dog with CRF produces, the more it needs to drink; this combination of increased drinking and urination is called polyuria (PU) and polydipsia (PD) or PUPD.

Although dogs with PUPD and are able to clear some waste products, over time this clearance decreases and uremia develops. The dog’s brain and other organs will tolerate slow increases in uremia much better than they will tolerate sudden increases. Thus, when blood tests show uremia, we are better able to predict how the pet will do if we know the rate at which the uremia developed.

Difference in ARF and CRF Instigating Factors
Acute renal failure can be brought on by medications (lasix, NSAIDs like Rimadyl, Meloxicam & Etogesic, cepholosporins, aminoglycosides), toxins, heat stroke, shock, transfusion reaction, infection such as leptospira bacteria, and blockage in the renal system by stones or tumors.

Chronic disease can be brought on by long-term infection or medication use, genetic malformation and malfunction, cancer, and aging.

Canine kidney disease is not the end of the world; many dogs can live months or years with minimal illness if we handle their illness wisely. The more we understand about kidney disease, the easier it is for us to manage it. In previous Caring for Pets entries, we’ve covered what the kidneys do, what causes kidney disease, and how dogs with kidney disease feel. In upcoming discussions, we’ll cover signs and symptoms that a dog has renal failure, tests and treatment.

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Canine Kidney Disease, the Causes

What causes kidney disease?
Kidney disease can be caused by so many factors that it’s a marvel all dogs don’t have kidney failure.

Causes of kidney disease include:

• Bacteria, such as leptospira and ehrlichia
• Cancer, such as lymphosarcoma
• Genetic malformations and malfunctions affecting dozens of breeds
• Blocked bladder, urethra, or ureters
• Stones caused by improper food or the pH of the food
• Chronic infections, such as dental disease, Lyme disease
• Toxins and poisons, such as radiator fluid (ethylene glycol), mercury & lead, arsenic & thallium
• Pain medications, such as Rimadyl, Meloxicam, aspirin, & ibuprofen
• Antibiotic medications, including aminglycosides, sulfas, & cephalosporins
• Shock and coagulation problems, including DIC
• Transfusion reactions
• Heat stroke
• Hypercalcemia

In an upcoming Caring for Pets blog, we'll continue our discussion of kidney disease in dogs by describing two different forms of this disease: acute and chronic. Then, we'll discuss what goes wrong and how herbs, medications, and supplements can help.

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Canine Kidney Disease, How Dogs with Kidney Disease Feel

We're discussing a dozen aspects of kidney disease and have covered what the kidney does, now let's consider how dogs with kidney disease feel:

From the expression on the face and in the eyes of dogs with untreated kidney disease I believe they feel awful.

Dogs with kidney disease:
• are anemic and lethargic
• have stomach pain and vomit
• have painful mouth ulcers
• don’t want to eat and become emaciated
• feel thirsty and dehydrated
• can be too weak to walk outside to urinate and pee on themselves
• have itchy skin
• have edematous limbs
• have headaches as waste products reach high concentrations in the brain
• become blind because high blood pressure damages the retina
• have strokes and seizures

What can cause kidney disease, how can we test for it, and how can we treat it? In a future blog, we'll cover more aspects of kidney disease in dogs.

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Canine Kidney Disease, What the Kidneys Do

We're discussing 12 aspects of kidney disease in dogs, and let's look first at kidney function:

What the kidneys do
Dogs’ kidneys perform so many important functions that each dog has two kidneys rather than just one. In fact, one entire kidney and a portion of the second kidney can be nonfunctioning and our dogs would still be ok. Only when a dog has lost 2/3 of its kidney function do we see signs of kidney failure.

Kidneys work with other organs and the endocrine system to control
• electrolytes like sodium, potassium, calcium, and phosphorus.
• acid-base balance (the body’s pH) by regulating HCO3 (bicarbonate)
• how much fluid is in the body and in the blood
• blood pressure
• red blood cells and prevent anemia
• waste products, such as urea

In our next posting, let's consider how dogs with kidney disease feel.

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Canine Kidney Disease

Kidney disease in dogs
Kidney disease heartbreakingly affects many dogs we see in veterinary practice, especially geriatric dogs. Fortunately, we can slow the progression of kidney disease using diet, herbs, supplements and medications. Many dogs can be kept happy and healthy for longer periods than ever before.

To understand kidney disease, over the next few Caring for Pet blog entries let’s look at:
1. What the kidneys do
2. How dogs with kidney disease feel
3. What causes kidney disease
4. The difference between acute and chronic kidney disease
5. Signs a dog has kidney disease
6. What goes wrong with calcium, phosphorus, and potassium in kidney disease
7. What goes wrong with red blood cells in kidney disease
8. Which blood and urine tests are necessary for dogs with kidney disease
9. Which herbs, supplements and medications help dogs with kidney disease
10. What to feed dogs with kidney disease
11. How to get dogs with kidney disease to eat
12. Giving fluids and preventing dehydration in dogs with kidney disease

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