My dog's kidney failure symptoms returned after stopping cortisone. Help!

Hello, and thanks for your question. I’m so glad Henry seems to be doing a bit better! His appetite tells you a lot about how he’s feeling so that’s an important thing to monitor. It’s certainly possible that the antibiotic shot was more effective than the vet expected - and a kidney infection would be good news, since that’s more treatable than a majority of other kidney problems. Is it at all possible that Henry could have been exposed to something toxic and the vet care helped him turn a corner? I would definitely recommend rechecking his kidney values with your vet. Rechecking those values in bloodwork will be the best way to monitor how much improvement he may have made, and this is particularly important since he improved after the antibiotic. Kidney infections sometimes require a longer course of antibiotic therapy than a single shot would provide, so your vet may advise repeating the injection, or adding oral medication, to hopefully help Henry continue to improve. They may also talk about recommendations for continued fluid therapy - fluids are so important to help keep the kidneys happy! Hope this helps and you continue to see improvement in Henry!

Poor girl. I would certainly consider at least getting her checked again and fluid therapy (IV or subcutaneously). If her values are not too bad, she may be able to be managed at home with subcutaneous fluids that you yourself give. That is if you are up to the task. Also I am not sure if she is on a prescription kidney diet. If not, then she needs to be transitioned right away. The vet can also prescribe some anti-nausea medication for her to help with her condition. And lastly, I would highly recommend a supplement called Azodyl, which is a natural way to help lower your pets kidney enzymes. Their toxic levels in the bloodstream are directly correlated with how sick your pet will feel, so focusing on lowering these values can improve your pets condition greatly. Here is a website link with more kidney therapy options --> https://veterinarypartner.vin.com/default.aspx?pid=19239&id=4952670 I hope that these additional treatment suggestions help Chloe stabilize and perhaps hold off the euthanasia talks for a while. Best of luck moving fowrard and take care. : )

I'm sorry to hear your dog isn't doing well. No, this isn't normal - if he has been diagnosed with kidney failure then I recommend keeping him hospitalized and on IV fluids until his kidney values improve and he's feeling better and regains his appetite. Sometimes we can turn kidney failure cases around, and sometimes we can't - it really depends on their response to our therapy. Your vet may have not been open for the weekend and therefore had to discharge him Friday, but I recommend looking for the nearest 24 hour emergency vet location if he's still doing poorly, and then potentially transferring him back to your vet Monday morning.

Im so sorry to hear this news. It is so difficult to face these decisions, I know. It may be that he has cancer in his bone marrow that is preventing him from making neutrophils. It is also possible that the primary cancer is somewhere else (for example a brain tumor) and the low neutrophils are what we call a "paraneoplastic syndrome," which is just a fancy way to say that cancer is a jerk and it will make other things go haywire for no particular reason. Again I am so sorry. It sounds like trying him on steroids is a perfectly reasonable course of action at this point. If that does not help, it may be time to consider euthanasia. You clearly have Shadow's quality of life as your main focus, which is very important. I am so sorry for your heartache. Thanks for reaching out to Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach.

Thank you for your question regarding Kaner. I would recommend finishing off the course of steroids as directed for two reasons. First off, you want to complete the treatment regimen for which they were prescribed so the underlying disease does not recur. Secondly, it is necessary to taper steroids. When a dog takes them orally, their body doesn't need to make them. The gradual taper off signals the body to start making them again. If you stop steroids abruptly, the dog can become sick. The side effects are definitely frustrating, but will decrease as the dose is reduced and finally stopped. As far as diabetes, it is unlikely given the length of time Kaner has been on the steroids. I see this side effect much more frequently in cats. I hope this information helps and that Kaner is back to normal soon!

It certainly could be something simple such as an upset tummy so I would try not to over think anything just yet. Try starving him for 24 hours and feeding chicken and rice. With his recent history if you feel that he is dehydrated or going downhill go to the vet sooner rather than later. Hopefully it is a touch of gastroenteritis completely unrelated to his recent illness, but here is some information for you regarding the adrenal gland. The adrenal gland makes natural steroids, when we give steroid medicine this can suppress the adrenal gland releasing natural steroids. It takes a while for this suppression to happen, but it is certainly possible with prolonged use of higher dose steroids. The dog is okay until the steroid medication stops, then it has a steroid deficiency which leads to fatigue, sickness amongst many signs. The adrenal gland isn't damaged in this case, just suppressed. Nevertheless it can make a dog very ill, it is known as secondary adrenal insufficiency. Usually this is avoided by slowly tapering a dog off steroid medication so the gland starts functioning properly again. This is certainly something to bear in mind, but I would be more inclined to go down the route of gastroenteritis first. Don't hesitate to go to the vet with Bodie if the vomiting is not settling down. If you feel there is little improvement you can certainly mention adrenal insufficiency. Best of luck!

Hello. I am so sorry about Chhotu. It is possible that he is uncomfortable, but it is difficult to say without an exam to see what else may be happening to him. Renal failure is a terribly progressive disease & we really do not have many good methods to treat it. One thing that can help is daily subcutaneous ( or several times weekly ) fluids to help lower the nitrogenous waste products that will buildup in the blood stream with kidney failure. This alone may make him feel better. We have to be very careful with pain medicines because many of them are metabolized through the kidneys, which are already compromised. The Ketosteril is just amino acids, so it has no real medicinal value, but probably cannot hurt. I would visit with the veterinarian who did the intravenous fluids about take home subcutaneous fluids & ask about potential pain medications. Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach.