Greyhound With Chronic Kidney Failure

[leopard_print]

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Sorry for jumping straight in as I'm new but we're desperate for advice.

Our boy is 9 years old and was diagnosed with chronic kidney failure 18mths ago. He also had a spleen tumour at the time and had it removed. His blood test results have always been stable but he has frequent infections. His latest one nearly killed him. He's now on antibiotics for about 2 months which seems to be working. My problem is his appetite, he is on Hills k/d dryfood but its so difficult to get him to eat it. He hates the tinned version too. So we used to put other stuff with it and he would normally then eat it. For the past 6mths his appetite has got worse and the vet popped him on ipathekine which is supposed to help. it did for the first few days but now he's back to before. He will eat certain things...certain things he shouldn't eat really. At the moment he is polishing off dental chews and those air dried chicken strips.

Any advice much appreciated, cheers

oh and we have tried the royal canin kidney diet too

 

[banana]

Hello - I have a 9 year old cat with chronic kidney failure and she is also on the Hills Kd diet.

She also doesn't like it much and so we made the decision to mix it 50/50 with a wet cat food that she does like, we felt it was more important that she has quality of life rather than quantity with no quality or happiness at all.

She hasn't really been ill since diagnosis - apart from one issue last week when she wee'd on the utility room counter and becamse constipated for a couple of days, I then only allowed the kd diet for a few days and it got her back on track - I think she had stolen some of the other cat's food which made her crash...

It so sad to see our pets so poorly, you have my sympathies ((hugs))

Welcome to Dog Forum - I am Anna x

 

[leopard_print]

Thanks, its so frustrating. We think the same...better to live a shorter happier life than a longer miserable one. Nice to meet you Anna

 

[eingana]

I'm a firm believer in a shorter and happier life too. My old cat Tiffy who died this time last year had chronic liver failure for about 4 years before she died and she just didn't like any of the food that the vets recommended. On top of that, if I separated her from the other cats to make sure that she had her food and not the standard food she just stopped eating altogether, and I'm afraid I'm not going to distress an animal so much that they just give up eating so she had lots of what she fancied and I accepted that it would in all likelihood shorten her life.

Have you asked your vet what they would consider to be the least inappropriate things to add in to the food to stimulate his appetite? For kidney failure it tends to be lower protein things, but generally things which are higher in fat are less damaging, so I'd be adding a bit of fish oil, or butter or even a bit of grated cheese to his food in your position, if they are the things that he likes. I know the vets would want you to keep him only on the special food, but if he's not eating it then there's no point in letting him waste away, is there?

 

[lurcherman]

spot on, its sad when we as good owners have to make the right decision, and thats what it is the right decision, the dog must come first everytime. best of luck.