Should my dog get IV fluids for high kidney and creatinine levels?

Yes, IV fluids is recommend in dogs that have kidney disease, especially if the BUN and creatinine are elevated. Other medications may be prescribed as well. Your vet will probably want to recheck bloodwork to see if the levels have improved after IV fluids.

Thank you for submitting your question regarding Linda. I would stop feeding any treats and keep her strictly on the kidney diet. She should have her blood pressure checked and a urinalysis done to look for extra protein in the urine. Both are common with kidney disease. There are medications that she can take that will help both conditions if necessary. This will slow further progression of her disease. Depending on her results, I will add a potassium supplement (if her potassium is low) or a phosphate binder (if her phosphorus is high). These things will help her to feel good for as long as possible. Always ensure she drinks plenty of water. I hope this information helps!

I expect Crazy is very ill with these values. If this value just happened due to a toxic episode or infection aggressively treating with intravenous fluids and medications for several days may prevent permanent kidney damage. That would require hospitalization. If this is a chronic problem that has been progressing the outcome is not good. You can give fluids and a prescription kidney diet but in my experience these dogs unfortunately do not get better. I hope you can treat Crazy and that he responds. Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach to help you care for Crazy.

Pets with renal disease need to eat a special dog food aimed at reducing the work load on the kidneys. Hill Science Diet and Royal Canin both make special formulas for this condition. Some of these pets need intravenous fluids for up to three days. Some of them need supportive care in the form of subcutaneous fluids, anti-acids and antivomiting medications. If she is leaking protein in her urine, she also needs a medication to stop this. Consulting with you local veterinarian will give you the best guidance as to what Soffiya needs based upon her physical exam and clinical signs. Best of luck and please feel free to post any additional questions.

Hello and thank you for reaching out to Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach. With an elevated kidney value (creatinine) and fluid in the abdomen, I would be worried about protein loss (albumin) through the kidneys, resulting in decreased oncotic pressure within the vessels of the body. This is called a protein-losing nephropathy (PLN). This can result in fluid leakage out of the vessels and into the abdomen. But, without knowing what the type of fluid is in the belly, it is difficult to know what the true cause is. The best option would be to have a sample of this fluid analyzed, and an ultrasound of his abdomen to be performed, and a urinalysis + urine protein:creatinine ratio performed. A creatinine of 4.1 is quite high, so Ludo likely has a component of acute kidney injury. He would benefit from further workup by a veterinarian to best understand his underlying disease process, and therefore what his prognosis is. I hope this is helpful - best of luck with Ludo!

If your vet isn't worried about Kodiak, I would not be worried either. Slightly elevated creatinine can also be due to dehydration, so it could be that he may be dehydrated caused this elevation. A slight elevation isn't a cause for worry when other values are normal and there aren't any other concerning physical signs. To get him to drink more water, I'd consider adding canned food to his diet. It has a higher moisture content, and you can mix it in with his dry food. You would have to cut back on his dry food to a little to account for adding in the wet food, so ask his vet for the correct ratio. The other option is to add a bit of low sodium chicken broth to his dry dog food to get extra moisture into his diet. I hope this helps.

More information would be required in order to help assess Max's case such as his signs and symptoms (including any blood in stool), any change in thirst/appetite and body weight as well whether the bloods were taken fasting more than 12 hours or after feeding. Ipakitine is a phosphate binder and is used to protect the kidney from high blood phosphate levels and monitoring of this would be important.