I am so glad I found this thread!!! I have a 1.5 yr old American Staffordshire Terrier named Lola. In January I noticed she wasn’t looking/acting normal so I took her to the vet. She always drank a ton of water. At first the vet kinda touched her back and said she may have pulled a muscle and that they could do a panel to check her cell count. Or he said they could do a full panel to get more information. I opted to do the full panel. Come to find out it was a good thing I did. Her results were:
BUN 130 mg
CREA 7.5 mg
PHOS 15.7 mg
They weren’t sure if she had got into toxins or what. I left her at the vet so they could give her fluids and antibiotics. That was on a Monday. They re-tested her on Wednesday.
BUN 90 mg
CREA 5.2 mg
PHOS 8.2 mg
So, she stayed. They re-tested on Friday:
BUN 85 mg
CREA 7 mg
PHOS 10.7 mg
At this point they weren’t sure what was going on. So they did an ultrasound. The vet said her kidneys were abnormal and it was probably something she was born with. They also told me there isn’t anything else they could do at this point, take her home and re-test in a week.
They offered me nothing. Just told me to take her home and make her happy. Put her on the Hills K/D diet and make sure she gets water. I asked about subq fluids and the vet told me they only do that for cats. That it would be too much fluid under the dogs skin.
I researched on my own and found an internal medicine specialist. I was able to get an appointment within a couple days. They re-tested everything and re-did the ultrasound.
BUN 85 mg
CREA 7.0 mg
PHOS 10.7 mg
She is also has alot of protein in her urine and high blood pressure.
He agreed that she was probably born this way and diagnosed her with Stage 4 -Chronic kidney disease (CKD)- most consistent with congenital kidney disease. He said she won’t make it to 5 years old. That we are on borrowed time. He told me that he wasn’t sure how she was up walking around with the numbers she has. She acts completely normal! To look at her you would think there is nothing wrong with her. They advised to keep her on the Hills K/D. They put her on blood pressure medication, along with a probiotic Azodyl and a phosphorus binder, and Epakitin. Said to re-test in a week.
Re-test after adding everything:
BUN 80 mg
CREA 8.6 mg
PHOS 11.4 mg
They then added another phosphorus binder and we know do 500ml of subq fluids a night. She doesn’t drink nearly as much water as she used to. If she starts to drink everyone stops and is really quiet to make sure we don’t bother her. Like watching an animal in the wild. 🙂
Fast forward to her latest test results as of 3/16/16
BUN 72 mg
CREA 8.3 mg
PHOS 8.8 mg
They wanted us to recheck in a month. But my husband and I discussed it and decided to wait because if her numbers are better they will say continue what you are doing or if they are worse or the same, they will say continue what you are doing. I pay about $200 every time they test.
They offer no hope, no suggestions of supplements or anything else we can do. Just take her home and keep her happy.
She has good days and some bad days where she doesn’t want to eat. But most of the time she looks and acts normal. You would never know she has kidney disease. Expect that she is now alittle aggressive toward our other dogs and we can’t have them together anymore. I’m not sure if that is because she doesn’t feel good or just being moody.
I have tried to research foods, supplements etc. It is so overwhelming!!! I don’t want to give up hope for our pretty little Lola.
Thank you for listening.
