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8 year old with Kidney Failure - how to proceed?

I have a female Weimaraner at 8.5 years of age. She has been slightly overweight her entire life so we didn't think much of it when we moved to a place she could be more active and lost weight. She has a pretty sensitive stomach and throws up infrequently due to this. We took her on 08/17/20 for her teeth cleaning. They did blood work and found levels off the charts leading to kidney failure. Creatinine levels of 9.5, supposed to be under 1.4. BUN levels of 140 when it's supposed to be under 29. They basically wanted her put down immediately.
We took her for a second opinion. The second vet was able to locate a "raging UTI" that the other vet missed. There weren't any signs that something was going on. She is now on a cocktail of meds including anti-nausea, appetite stimulator, med to help her kidneys, and a antibiotic.
Her blood was tested again on 08/24/20 and found out levels have increased yet again.
Both vets have said if it weren't for the blood work you wouldn't know that she is sick.
Over the past week she has slowly stopped eating, doesn't drink water hardly at all, and wants to sleep all the time. She still has spurts on energy, though.

What worked for your pet when dealing with this?
Right now we are feeding her a homemade diet as well as she refused the Purina NF, and the Royal Canin kidney food.
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675347 tn?1365460645
COMMUNITY LEADER
I am sorry about your girl's diagnosis.
It seems of course, sadly, that there is no cure for kidney failure, but only management and palliative treatments for symptoms as and when they arise.
Has her blood Phosphorus level been checked? It's the high blood Phosphorus which can be responsible for nausea and loss of appetite. It is possible sometimes for symptoms to be relieved  by the use of the appropriate "Phosphorus-binder".
Sometimes  just plain calcium carbonate can help with that. It can be obtained from plain unflavoured Tums tablets, or from powdered eggshell added to food in an amount suitable for a dog's weight.

But it's wise to check with the vet, because sometimes other Phosphorus-binders are used.

Sometimes, if the Phosphorus levels are lowered, the appetite can come back a bit, and the nausea lessened.

My own dog developed mild kidney failure in  2011. She was asymptomatic except for peeing and drinking more, and happy at the time. You'd never guess she had kidney issues.
She did, however, take to the Royal Canin renal diet, both dry and canned, and I did some home cooking for her too.
The vet prescribed an ACE inhibitor.
In a few weeks and over the next few months her creatinine and BUN came right down. So it seemed a combination of diet alteration and ACE inhibitor helped her.
Sadly though, she passed away from hemangiosarcoma the following June.

I have heard that green tripe is well-tolerated by dogs with renal failure. I think it stinks a bit while cooking though!

Vegetables, pasta, boiled potatoes, rice etc are all okay and can be added to the food. Not much protein, but will provide energy.

My dog was allowed some boiled chicken breast, white fish, and cooked egg too. BUT she had very early-stage kiney failure which was different to what is happening with your dog.

Bless her, and I hope you can find some management which will give her more time, and help her symptoms.

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