Is Your Dog at Risk?
Did you know that dogs don’t show signs of kidney disease until 75% of the organ is already damaged?
Before you panic, let me explain:
The kidney is one of the most important organs in all mammals, including dogs. It supports normal body functions and is connected with multiple other body processes in a way that one issue leads to another.
Generally responsible for filtering waste from the bloodstream, kidneys require special care in order to prevent the decrease or even loss of kidney function. This is because the cell tissue doesn’t regenerate once it goes bad, similar to brain cells or neurons.
Kidney disease is among the most common health issues globally, and dogs are just as prone to this condition as we are. Most of those affected do carry on with their daily lives as before, but there are ways to stay vigilant and take care of your pet’s kidney health.
Search your dog for recommended symptom signs, especially if they’re getting older.
What Causes Kidney Disease in Dogs?
The causes of kidney problems in dogs depend on many factors. As your dog gets older, their kidneys will naturally begin to underperform – therefore not filtering dangerous waste from their bloodstream properly anymore. This is called chronic kidney disease, where additional issues could build up over time.
Toxins, dehydration, anemia, weight loss and low energy due to chronic kidney disease can all lead to organ damage, loss of immunity, and other internal problems. However, identifying and monitoring a case of canine chronic kidney disease opens opportunities for better care.
A faster and less forgiving case is acute kidney disease. Without timely treatment, this can be fatal to dogs. In contrast to slow kidney failure, acute cases occur suddenly, often triggered by outside factors. Exposure to hazardous plants, foods and materials for instance could lead there.
Actually, vets often don’t understand why or how some of these infections and allergens influence kidney disease in dogs. We know this can be difficult to manage, but other expert suggestions here will help you act on time to maximize chances and levels of recovery.
How to Know the Signs Early
When the kidney damage is long overdue, it cannot be addressed under any veterinary treatment. But if detected early, kidney disease doesn’t have to influence your dog’s daily living, mood and mobility at all. So, the more you wait, the fewer available treatments there are.
The kidney disease signs are extremely subtle and can be mistaken for other conditions, so it is recommended you engage with expert advice eitherway. If your dog is more thirsty and drinks more water than usual, it can be a sign of reduced kidney function. Along with more frequent urination, they’re the first signs to look out for.
And although these are your go-to ‘early’ signs, that doesn’t mean the disease is incipient. In most cases, the kidney has already begun degenerating a long time before the owner’s notice.
The progression of the disease and onset of presented symptoms vary based on breed, genetics, lifestyle and more. In some cases, specialists say, 75% of the dog’s kidney needs to be damaged for clear symptoms to occur. Anyway, larger breed dogs are known to show kidney disease signs earlier compared to smaller breed dogs – 7 years old compared to 10 or so.
Lots of studies with slightly different results have shown that German shepherds, bull terriers and English Cocker spaniels are prone breeds to kidney failure.
Check Other Symptoms Like:
- Dehydration (check for dry nose, mouth, gums)
- Weight loss and/or loss of appetite
- Low energy and activity
- Trouble sleeping
- Nausea or vomiting
- Blood in the urine
- Protein in the urine
- Bad breath
Pro tip: if you notice multiple signs but haven’t visited your vet yet, the best you can do for your dog is keep a track journal of daily hydration levels and meals. You can note down any other symptoms as well. Measure symptoms on a scale from 1 to 5, depending on how bad they are. The details will come in handy when you do eventually visit your vet. But hopefully your dog’s kidney will function for a long time and your notes will only serve as relief and clear your worries.
Tackling Kidney Disease in Dogs
If you’ve constantly noticed serious signs but you’re still unsure, have your vet run a few tests. The results will decide the stage of kidney disease based on the universal IRIS scale. If it’s bad, your dog can undergo dialysis – an effective medical procedure that directly supports kidney filtering. Not all dogs are compatible with this treatment, which makes dialysis inaccessible for most dogs in need.
System hydration could also be directly supported through subcutaneous and IV fluid administration. For acute kidney disease fluids are even administered daily and for chronic kidney disease weekly.
Other medications and supplements are available to soothe nausea, vomiting and high blood pressure and control mineral levels. There have also been kidney transplants in dogs, depending on severity.
More recently, vets have experimented with alternative treatments like acupuncture and herbal supplements. Some dogs are well responsive to such methods which could become ingenious, non-invasive at-home options real soon.
Whatever the treatment, it is important that your dog gets to enjoy moving freely and natural supplements can help with that. Some clever ideas for prevention supplements include probiotics and prebiotics to support gut health, gel powders with vitamins, salmon oil to fight inflammation, antioxidants and amino acids to protect the dog’s muscle mass when there’s a risk for low appetite or loss of weight.
Simple Prevention: Effective Solutions To Implement
Even if medicines can significantly help to keep kidney disease under control, your dog’s wellbeing won’t be the same. Luckily you can implement simple but effective solutions to prevent bad cases of kidney disease altogether.
Keep your dog away from plants like lilies, foods like grapes, raisins and onions, drugs like ibuprofen and aspirin, and hazardous materials like antifreeze liquid, disinfectant and cleaning solutions. If you want that peace of mind, you can go ahead and eliminate all risks to puppy-proof your home from these items. So, if your dog is getting into your kitchen or bathroom cabinets, you might want to lock those up. A cheap camera could help you keep track of your dog’s surroundings when unsupervised as well and make video-backed diagnoses easier.
Another great prevention method is diet change. Not only does it keep the kidneys healthy, but it also improves any dog’s quality of life. Use less protein but from more quality sources (chicken, turkey, eggs) so there is less demand on the organs. Remove most high-phosphorous foods like dairy, bones, and fish and replace them with anti-inflammatory Omega-3 fatty acids.
Make sure your dog is always hydrated by treating them to ice cubes and adding unsalted organic broth to dry meals in their bowl. Additionally, ask your vet for diet prescriptions or check more vet-approved homemade diets for protecting the kidney. Do check your dog’s weight along the way.
You can opt for more early testing methods like genetic screening, parasite injections, and dental checks to build your dog’s medical file and speed up a potential diagnosis later on. Discuss more details specifically based on the dog’s age and breed with a specialist.
If you found this relevant, you might want to go on with 9 Dog Health Problems Every Pet Parent Should Know.
