Can A Dog Recover From Kidney Failure

As hopeful as you are, if your dog has been diagnosed with chronic kidney failure, your dog cannot be cured, so knowing at the early stage is vital to his health. If your dog has kidney disease or a long term kidney failure, there are medical treatments that can be administered to dog.

When your dog falls sick, a veterinarian will take various tests to find out what is wrong with your dog and the best treatment available. Knowing the preventive measures of kidney failure if your dog is safe will help him stay safer. But if your dog has already been diagnosed, finding out early, and knowing treatment options can help sustain your dog for the last few months of his life.

Kidneys in dogs are just as important as kidneys in humans, the kidney is a very important organ which is useful for regulations of blood sugar, salt level, water level, blood pressure, PH levels in the body of your dog. When your dog’s kidney is healthy, it will filter blood and water, help purify the blood by extracting harmful toxins from the blood or any body fluid and passing it out through urination.

Can A Dog Recover From Kidney Failure

Kidney failure which is also medically referred to as chronic renal failure or CRF happens as a result of the kidneys becoming faulty. Normally when the kidney works, it extracts harmful substance with water, but now it takes larger amount of water to extract these same amount of harmful toxins and in a few weeks, the kidneys starts to get bad and is not able to remove any toxins or waste products at all.

In reference to kidney failures, there are two major types which are acute kidney failure and chronic kidney failure. Kidney failures takes their time and happen very slowly which makes it very difficult to notice coupled with the fact that when the kidney starts to fail, the body finds a way to support it or the kidney tries to make up for the slacking itself which will extend the symptoms and continue to damage the kidney more.

And in the majority of cases, before the kidney starts to show signs and symptoms of failure it is already too late to be saved.

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Physical symptoms and signs of kidney failure in dogs

There are a few signs and symptoms that shows your dog may be a victim to kidney failure which includes; lethargy, lack of appetite, vomiting, weight loss, diarrhea, frequent urination, frequent need for water, blindness, bloody urine, seizures, depression.

Above are the signs that your dogs kidneys are failing or have already failed, however not all the symptoms will present themselves because the body will be trying hard to hold them together. So as soon as a few numbers of these symptoms manifest, you should visit your vets for a check up.

The two types of kidney failure has their own individual prognosis and symptoms, as stated below;

Chronic kidney failure in dogs

Chronic kidney failure or renal failure has no cure and no treatment, it happens so slow that it may take months or even years before a sign or symptom shows which makes it even more deadly. Chronic kidney failure usually occurs in older dogs and is impossible to cure in other words the final results is Death.

Acute kidney failure in dogs

This is quite different from chronic kidney failure because it occurs very suddenly and has nothing to do with age or there about, but is caused by different health issues such as urinary obstruction, a severe case of dehydration, a severe bacteria infection in the kidney, anti freeze, ingestion of harmful substance such as human drugs, bad plants are factors which can cause acute kidney failure.

A heart stroke, low blood flow to the kidney which can occur during surgery and also certain heart can be a cause for acute renal failure. If any of these is noticed early and treated, your dog can most certainly get well from whatever kidney disease.

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Medical causes of renal failure in dogs

While some factors can be classified as the major reason for renal failure in dogs, there are other few factors that may contribute to matter. Which are;

Trauma, Cancer, Parasites, genetic disorder, Age, inflammation, fungal infections, poisoning, bacteria infections, urinary blockages, heart stroke, wrong administration of drugs, lymphoma, kidney disease, autoimmune disease, diabetes has proven to be a possible cause of renal failure.

Medical diagnosis of kidney failure in dogs

Before a veterinarian will be able to diagnose your dog with kidney failure, there are tons of tests that will be carried out such ad a complete blood count, a urinalysis, a full blood profile.

The urinalysis will show an accurate account of the functioning of the kidney, a USPG which is known as urine specific gravity when low indicates a reduction in the functioning of the kidney. A urine culture test might also be carried out if your vet suspects a urinary tract infection might be the issue.

Another test will be carried out, to measure up the functioning of other internal organs in the body this is called blood biochemistry analysis. Also certain proteins  chemicals and enzymes level will be checked enzymes like blood creatine and blood urea nitrogen will show to be high in the tests if your dog has kidney failure.

Tests will also be carried out on sodium, potassium, albumin, globulin, calcium, phosphorus even the white and red blood cells will be counted. These tests will all be carried out to discover the extent to which the damage to your dog’s kidneys has been done if it can be treated and the best option of treatments available.

Another way to know if your dog is suffering from kidney failure is the size and shape of the kidney, if the kidney is affected by a disease, it will reduce in size. So an x-ray will be carried out to check the size and shape of the kidneys.

Treatment of kidney/renal failure in dogs

While medical treatment is ongoing, you do have your own role to play which is maintaining hydration, it is very crucial to the outcome of the treatment. When the kidneys loose large volume of water and these water are not being replaced will lead to dehydration which will be bad for your dog’s condition.

There might also be a treatment options which is administration of fluid subcutaneously which you can do yourself by instead of water you re-hydrate with fluid which may work like restarting the kidney and helping to expel toxic substance from the body .

Friendly diet for dogs with kidney or renal failure.

If your dog has been diagnosed, you need to find a diet that will be friendly with his kidneys. Your dogs diet should be low in sodium and protein and it should be high in fatty acids. Protein foods can be difficult to filter and might stress the kidneys so reducing the amount of protein foods will reduce the toxins that will be filtered and passed out by the kidneys. Feeding less protein foods will relieve the kidneys of unnecessary stress.

What is the estimated cost of treatments for kidney failure in dog

Depending on the prognosis and the area you reside coupled with the value of veterinarian in your region the cost for treatment for dogs with kidney failure differs. Special care, special foods, fluid treatment, supportive care and doctors fee altogether can range around several hundreds of dollars every month while if a kidney transplant is needed or a dialysis, multiple thousands of dollars may be involved.

Prevention of kidney failures in dogs

It may be almost impossible to prevent the development of a kidney failure, but there are ways to keep your dog healthy and have a smooth life.

In reference to your dog’s diet, you can decide to work with your vet on it or just do it yourself, endeavor to feed your dog healthy diets with quality and essential food nutrients. Feed your dog high quality foods and fruits in good portions.

You should also be careful with the way you drop things around because pets may mistakenly swallow harmful things including human drugs and other things. Plus also be attentive because other illnesses can result in renal failure.

As you know, age can also influence the functioning of the kidney, so when your dog gets older coupled with the stress from his kidney trying to work on unhealthy foods will lead to a possibility of kidney failure. So once your dog is older, ensure to feed him healthy diet to reduce the risk of his kidney failing.

In reference to the fact that chronic kidney failure is hardly noticed, you should endeavor to take regular visits to your veterinarian for regular body check ups so you would be able to know immediately when something is wrong before it gets worse.