Renal Failure

Question
I have 15 year old Pom. Last week she would not eat and throw up a couple of times. Thursday night I started giving her burger which she kept down, but yesterday she did get sick. Friday we did take her to the vet and she was dehydrated. They did lab work and her BUN was greater than 130mg, Creat was 3.9, PHOS was 11.1, HGB 20.5 and MCH was 35.07. Should we be concerned that we are at the end stages of renal failure. She seems so peppy today. We are going to try pushing fluids, by offering her different choices and changing her dog food to KD. Is there stages to this disease? We are going to have her levels checked in two weeks. Any insite would be great.

Answer
Renal failure does have "stages" so to speak.  Veterinarians usually determine this by bloodwork and how the patient is doing (eating, urinating, activity, etc).  The values you gave do indicate renal failure, however, some patients respond favorably to IV fluids.  Have IV fluids been given to your dog for 24-72 hours and then repeat bloodwork?  This is called diuresis and this helps determine if your the patient will respond to fluid therapy.  The goal is to decrease the kidney values (BUN, Creatinine) and make the patient more comfortable (this is as close to dialysis as pets get).  I would definitely recommend this.

Subcutaneous (SQ) fluids can be given at home very easily also.  Most pets and pet owners do well with this type of fluid therapy and this can give pets in renal failure a good quality of life for weeks to months.  Talk to your veterinarian about this.

A diet low in protein, such as KD, is of utmost importance in renal failure patients.  Offer canned and dry.

Renal failure is a disease that cannot be cured, but the symptoms treated in order to slow the progression of the disease.  The key here is quality of life and you will have to be the judge of this.  Keep in touch with your veterinarian regularly and discuss any new symptoms that may arise between visits.  It is also wise to keep a journal of daily appetite and activity between visits.  Hope this helps.