Hi there ..Thank you so much for your wisdom & advise. I will start the Tums tomorrow & get Julie the Cran Assure. I will do whatever it takes to save my baby girl, if possible.
I am so sorry that you lost your baby. I just hope that when my Julies time does come, I will be as strong as you were/are with your Sandy. Gee, your dog & I share a name, so I will always have your Sandy in my prayers. Your story touched home with me.
Please take care of yourself & I wish you better health & hope your better today.
Sandy
I so wish I could help you, but I have no experience at all with cushings. It doesn't surprise me to hear that the treatment for Cushings can make the kidney issue worse. When dogs have complicated illnesses, this is one of the more heartbreaking situations that can crop up.
Kidney failure can be dealt with for a long time when it is diagnosed early. The idea is to keep the undamaged kidney cells working properly for as long as possible since they can't regenerate like liver cells. Once a kidney cell is damaged, it's done for good.
One of the most important things you can do is to avoid phosphorus in the diet. Add calcium in the form of plain old Tums tablets. Calcium bonds with phosphorus and sweeps it out of the body so the kidneys don't have to deal with it. Check with your vet about low phosphorus foods and calcium doses.
My dog who died of kidney failure took two to three Tums a day. I just popped them down her throat, but you can always crush them and mix them with food. My dog was diagnosed so late that her nausea prevented her from eating consistently, so I became a really good dog "piller." The calcium along with Cran Assure (concentrated cranberry juice) gel tabs really helped prevent the uncontrollable urinating accidents.
I'm hoping Ghilly will wander in and comment on the lab numbers you mention since she has vet tech experience. You might want to post your question on the Ask a Vet forum here at Med Help for more assistance on analyzing those numbers along with the cushings issues.