My dog has kidney disease, drinks less, and is restless. Is this normal?

If you guys suspect Zoey is having kidney problems, I recommend to have her examined by the veterinarian within the next 24 hours. if kidney disease is caught early, it can often be successfully managed with a special diet. Here is a link about kidney disease with excellent information: https://www.petcoach.co/article/kidney-disease-causes-signs-diagnosis-and-treatment/ Please feel free to post any additional questions.

KG is lucky to have you!! It is wonderful that you have already taken him to your veterinarian for a check up. The urinalysis and bloodwork should have indicated if KG has any kidney failure (high creatinine or BUN or SDMA with a low urine specific gravity). If all of those were normal- it is highly unlikely that he has kidney failure!! Other things that can cause a dog to drink LOTS of water are diabetes (2 kinds) and psychogenic polydipsia (a fancy way of just saying they like to drink water) and a few others. Your vet can work through the blood work to rule many of these out as well as do a water deprivation test (this must be supervised by your vet!) to determine what is the root cause of KG’s behavior. Thank you for using Pet Coach!!

Thank you for contacting Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach with your question about Romeo. Drinking more water and urinating more can both be signs of kidney failure. Keep in mind, however, that it is hot out and he's drinking more due to that, which would increase urination. With kidney failure, you would also see weight loss, a loss of appetite, and lethargy. From what you are saying, it doesn't sound like kidney failure, more likely due to the hot weather. At his next annual exam, you can get blood work again to check his kidneys. I hope this helps!

Hi. This may be normal after spending a lot of time in the hospital. Most pets don't sleep or get as much rest as normal in the hospital. I would monitor tonight, let him rest, and if it is the same tomorrow, I would contact your veterinarian tomorrow. Good luck, and I'm sorry Memi isn't feeling well.

I am so sorry to hear about Lola. It is so hard with senior pets to know when it's time to say goodbye. I know how hard it is as I lost my 15 and a half year old guy last year. The blood work values you report are very concerning. The question is if there is something that has acutely changed to make her become a lot worse, or is this simply progression of underlying chronic kidney disease. There are other disease processes that can complicate chronic kidney disease like infection, pancreatitis, high bood pressure, infectious diseases, etc. Really what your pet needs is to be hospitalized with intravenous fluids, supportive care (anti nausea medications, etc.), and to try to figure out if there's an underlying problem exacerbating the kidney disease. This will require more tests such as an abdominal ultrasound, urine culture, and potentially other things as dictated by the case. I would not give up hope until trying these things because you won't know if this will help her until you try. The opposite would be true if a pet in this situation were hospitalized for two to three days and there was no improvement in the blood work or symptoms. Then, if all the treatment options are exhausted, and the pet has poor quality of life a different decision may be reached. As dogs do not tolerate chronic kidney disease as well as cats being diagnosed for a year without progression is excellent. Sometimes having a consultation with an internal medicine specialist can really help. Your family vet would likely be able to provide a referral if you and he or she thinks this would be a valuable step. I hope this helps and that Lola feels better soon. Thank you for using pet coach.

I’m sorry to hear this is going on with your dog! A urinary tract infection can certainly make Red lethargic and not feel like himself. The trembling is probably due to her discomfort from the infection. She may also be having a flare up of her back injury as well. It’s hard to say if Red’s kidneys are involved at this point. The only way to know for sure ifnher kidneys are compromised is to run a blood test to check her renal values. This would probably be a good idea to do if you are concerned. I hope this helps. Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach. Best of luck.

There are many possible causes but age related kidney failure or interstitial nephritis would be most common in an otherwise well dog. Diet manipulation and monitoring of salts in blood can minimise the progression of disease