whwtfan

Skechers!

Unfortunately I believe the classes are no longer being run.

No, haven't received it yet but it is online.

We had our consultation with the specialist on Friday and are still waiting on some urine test results which I will be able to get on Tuesday. The specialist said that Millsy does not present as a typical chronic renal failure case. She mentioned a disease called glomerulonephritis, which Millsy MAY have. I asked her if it was treatable and she said in some cases it is but in others it leads to renal failure. Has anyone else been through this and can share their experiences or advice? Also, I read on the internet that to make a definite diagnosis of this disease a kidney biopsy would have to be performed. This scares the life out of me as the specialist made it clear to me that it is not a pleasant process and carries quite a risk. Can anyone share their experiences (both good and bad) with this? Thanks!

Thanks for sharing the recipe Burkes! I will print it out and ask the specialist if it would be suitable for Millsy. We haven't tried the Eukanuba brand yet. Wishing you all the best with your rotty!

Thanks so much to everyone who has given me advice or sent their best wishes! Millsy hasn't been too bad this week. He is still not keen on eating the tinned K/D food so we have been feeding him some chicken mince. Whilst I know this is not the ideal diet for him, the vet said that it is more important that he eats something and we keep his appetite going. I managed to get him to eat some of the dry K/D food last night and he had some more of it before (probably only about a quarter of a cup on each occasion) but I was pleased that he at least ate some of it. dogmad, whilst researching canine kidney failure on the internet, I read some of your older posts, about Chinese herbs, with interest. The herbs that my vet gave me are called PING WEI SAN. Can you remember the name of the herbs you were using? I am not sure if the herbs affected Millsy's appetite or if it was just a coincidence. Thank you for the contact details you provided for the Chinese herbs vet. Leanne, I'm sorry to hear that you also had a dog that went through this ordeal. My boy did come from a registered and highly-regarded breeder. There are absolutely no concerns there but thanks for the suggestion. We have made an appointment with an internal medicine specialist for Friday (Thanks KaseyC for the suggestion). Fingers crossed that I can get some more information about Millsy's condition and I can gain a better understanding of how to manage it better.

Hi Kasey. Sorry that was my typing error (it's been a long day!). The vet did say chronic renal failure. I also thought Millsy was young to have it but thought that younger dogs must be susceptible to it as well? Actually, the vet that I have been seeing was calling it acute renal failure but today's vet said it was chronic renal failure. Despite doing lots of reading on the internet, I must admit to being a bit confused about the two different terms. I know I'm hoping for a miracle but I would love for a specialist to say that this is what it actually is and this is how we can treat it to make him better. Thanks for your PM.

Thank you, persephone, KaseyC and Sheridan for your replies! I am certainly grateful for any advice you can give me. Millsy ended up having to stay at the vet to have the IV fluids done again so hopefully that has flushed the toxins out of his system again. He was there for six hours. Since being home he has eaten a small amount of K/D so that's a start. Hopefully, he might eat some more later. They also did another blood test and there was a slight increase. His UREA is now 33.2 and his creatinine is 348 umol/L (reference range is 44 - 159) persephone, thank you so much for your good wishes! I really appreciate it! Sheridan, it was the vet's advice to start the Chinese herbs. He also has an interest in Chinese medicine and he thought they could help with the nauseousness. Unfortunately, they didn't appear to have the desired effect so he was only on them for two days and hasn't had any for 2-3 weeks. I went to see the vet again straight away when his appetite decreased and he advised me to stop giving him the herbs. He hasn't had any of them since. I wouldn't give him anything without checking with the vet first. In fact, I have been bombarding the vet with emails and he has been kind enough to answer my questions and address my concerns. KaseyC, I saw a different vet today as my regular vet wasn't working today. I asked him for a specific name for the illness and he said it is suspected to be 'chronic renal disease'. Thank you for your suggestion to ask for a referral to see an internal medicine specialist. I followed your advice and have now got the contact details for the Melbourne Veterinary Specialist Centre in Glen Waverley. I will ring them tomorrow and make an appointment. The vet said that once I have made an appointment to let them know and they will forward Millsy's medical history to the specialist centre. I am willing to try anything I can to help Millsy. I may be clutching at straws and hoping for a miracle but at least I will know that I have done everything I can for him. Thanks again for your help!

HI all, I am a long time reader of these forums who seldom posts but I am hoping for some advice. My beautiful 8 and a half year old west highland white terrier was diagnosed with kidney disease on April 2nd. I (and the vets) thought he had gastro but he didn't respond to the medication and so a blood test was done. I am absolutely devastated and finding it very hard to cope. HIs blood test results were as follows - UREA 29.2 (Healthy range 2.5 - 10.0) and Creatinine - 0.36 (Healthy range 0.05 - 0.15). His USG was 1.016. The vet said that the disease is in its early stages and advised me to put him on the Hills K/D food. He also spent the day at the vets having IV fluids. For the first week, he loved the Hills food and couldn't get enough of it. I was feeding him small meals 4-5 times a day and he was looking really good. He didn't look sick at all. We also started him on some Chinese herbs for the nauseousness. A couple of days after being on the herbs, his appetite started to wane and he started refusing the Hills food and started vomiting again. I took him back to the vet and he gave him a steroid injection to try and boost his appetite and advised me to put give him metomide tablets for the vomiting for a couple of days. He seemed to pick up a bit but was still refusing to eat the K/D food on its own so I started mixing the K/D with small amounts of cooked minced beef or cooked chicken breast and that seemed to help. However, now he is refusing to eat anything at all and has started vomiting again. We are going back to the vet today but was hoping that someone on here could give me any advice or tips as to how I can get my boy eating again? His stomach makes lots of growling noises and he looked quite uncomfortable last night. This morning he had a drink but vomited it up again. I am getting really worried. BTW, I have not noticed him excessively drinking or urinating at this stage. Can anyone who has been through this offer me any help or advice? Thanks!

I have a little suggestion that might (or might not!) help! I used to have trouble viewing youtube videos as well until someone told me that you should pause it right at the start, before it begins to play. If you leave it for a few minutes,you will notice a small bar at the bottom of the clip, moving along towards the right. Once it has moved to the end, the video should play properly for you. It's hard to explain so I hope you understand what I'm talking about!!

Merry Christmas from Millsy!