Weird Liver/Kidney Issues

Hiya! My 12 year old Mini Schnauzer, Bailey, has been diagnosed with Renal Failure a couple of weeks ago. My Vet started him out on subcutaneous fluids (Normosol), Baytril, and Famotidine. After a week, we went back for more blood tests and she found that his kidney levels (BUN and creatine) were somewhat lowered from the initial diagnosis, but his liver enzymes were way high (300). So, we continued the same meds and fluid, but she added Denosyl SD4. She did an ultrasound and Xray, but didn't see any obvious tumors on his kidneys or liver. Yesterday we went back for the second week blood test and his kidney levels were elevated way high again and his liver enzymes were still way up also. She changed the Baytril to Doxycycline and told me to keep him on the other meds too. Then, she basically told me she didn't have a clue why his levels were so high.

Here's the thing- he definitely feels better. A couple of weeks he was sick to his stomach and hurting. Now, he's eating well (Hills ID), playing, not overly drinking water, and just generally being his old self again.

Has anyone ever heard of such a disorder where the kidney and liver levels don't come down even with the "right" meds? I'm concerned we're missing something important.

Thanks for any advice!

 

Since your dog is 12 yrs. old his problem probably is that his kidneys are just wearing out. There's nothing much you can do but keep them functioning the best you can.

When you take your dog in for treatment, it "restarts" the kidneys with various electrlytes and potassium. But once the treatment has stopped, the kidneys will start to fail again. You need to help keep kidneys functioning all the time.

1. A diet with as low of protein, low in phosphorous levels as possible. A decrease in protein will decrease the workload on the kidneys.

2. A phosphate binder. These drugs will bind excess phosphates in the intestine so they're not absorbed in the body. Kidneys that are failing can no longer filter out phosphorous so it just accumulates in the blood.

3. You said you dog was not drinking much and that is NOT good. Fluids are needed to be given at home. This can be done subcue under the skin. This will "restart" the kidneys. Depending on the degree of failure, this will be done once daily to once a week. It all depends. Ask your Vet to demonstrate and what to use in the fluid.

4. Drugs to regulate the parathyroid gland and calcium levels. Calcium and phosphorus must remain at about a 2:1 ratio in the blood.

5. Drugs to stimulate the bone marrow to produce new red blood cells. The kidneys produce erthropoietin, a hormone that stimulates the bone marrow to make red blood cells. Low red blood cell count means anemia. A drug, Epogen (Procrit) is given for this.

Just remember, LOW protein and HIGH fluid intake. Many dogs respond to this treatment and can maintain a good quality of life for up to 4 yrs.

The liver problem may be a result of a congenital heart abnormality resulting in an altered blood flow to the liver.

I suggest getting a second opinion from another Vet and see what their diagnosis is.

 

Welcome oh poor bailey, there are posters here who have had the same problems so hopefully they can help. glad to see Bailey is feeling better though

honeybear

 

regarding fluids, I agree with Sharon that Bailey needs to be hydrated and you can do the sub fluids at home. I had a diebetic cat and for about 8 months I agave him his fluids it relaly helped.

honeybear

 

Thanks, Guys!

I appreciate your responses! As I mentioned, he is getting sub q's every evening by me and he is drinking normal amounts of water as well, so at least that's some good news!

 

baileysmom: Remeber, low low protein in diet. Protein makes the kidneys work even harder. Hill's i/d is good for the vomitting and diarrhea, but still has quite a bit of protein content. Ask your Vet for a diet that has lower protein content.

 

with kidney failure animals usually feel pretty nauseous so that is why he is on the famotidine( which is pepcid). also in general you don't see the symptoms of kidney disease until 75 percent of the kidneys are affected. take him off the i/d and put him either on the hill's diet k/d or walthams low protein/low phosphorous food. some animals do not like the k/d and eat the walthams better. denosyl is an excellent drug for liver disease. maybe he needs to be on it awhile longer before you see a dramatic drop in his liver enzymes. sub q fluids are the closest thing there is to dialysis for animals. glad he is feeling better and good luck.

 

Denoysl contains milk thistle which is highly recommended for liver disease...my dog has been on milk thistle (I did plain milk thistle instead of denoysl) for nearly 2 years and her counts are coming down - not drastically but with each blood panel they are lower and her counts were in the thousands.

Sadie eats Hill Prescription CD food as she also has some kidney issues. And this has helped her. I mixed her canned CD foos with dry CD and warm water to make it soupy and she likes it like that. In the beginning I'd add a little bit of cooked chicken to entice her to eat it.

We did have a liver biopsy done on Sadie (she had stones removed from her bladder and urethea along with a fatty tumor free floating in her stomach and had bile removed from her gall bladder) so while they were in there they did the biopsy and it just showed degenerative liver disease.

Something you want to watch is your dog's urine and poop color...with liver disease jaundice can set in and the urine and poop will run an orange color. We've been lucky and so far nothign there.

Also with Sadie's liver disease she tends to fill up with body fluids as when the liver isn't functioning properly it's not creating the correct proteins so the body starts to live off muscle tissue and fluids build up. Recently she had up to 2 gallons in her and getting rid of it was quite the event.

Good luck and remain diligent. Watch for any little changes in your dog's behavior, habits and body.