Canine renal failure occurs when your dog's kidneys stop performing their duties of removing wastes and regulating fluids in the blood.
This condition can occur suddenly, or get progressively worse over a long period of time.
You may be wondering what the differences between the two are.
Acute Acute kidney failure in dogs is a life-threatening condition.
The kidneys suddenly stop removing toxic wastes and regulating fluids and urine.
If your dog stops urinating, he can die quickly.
Loss of kidney function can also cause a quick case of heart failure, hypertension, and death.
Even if it's not fatal, the condition can progressive into chronic failure.
Chronic Chronic failure occurs over a long period of time.
It usually affects elderly cats over ten years old.
As the condition gets worse, your dog may start vomiting and drinking and urinating excessively.
This chronic disease also causes rough coats, bad breath, anemia, seizures, and sudden blindness.
Causes One of the most common causes of canine renal failure is ingestion of toxins.
This includes herbicides, pesticides, toxic plants, and especially antifreeze.
Your dog's medication can also cause problems.
They include anti-parasitic drugs, anesthetics, antibiotics, hypertension medication, and aspirin.
There are still many more causes of kidney failure in dogs.
Cancers of the bones, kidneys, and lymph nodes are common.
Bacterial infections that travel up the urinary tract into the kidneys also cause problems.
Diagnosis If he suspects the kidneys are the problem, the veterinarian will analyze a blood and urine sample.
The specific gravity of the urine provides a great indicator of kidney function.
The urine will also have a high amount of sugar or protein in it.
The blood sample is useful for checking creatinine and blood urea nitrogen.
If the samples can't be analyzed in the office, they will be sent away to a laboratory.
Treatment Upon diagnosis of canine renal failure, the treatment will depend on the underlying cause.
Antibiotics and supportive care will hopefully treat a bacterial infection of the kidneys.
Like humans, dogs can also receive dialysis or even a kidney transplant.
These two methods of treatment are for advances stages of the disease.