Dog Chronic (long term) Kidney Failure Symptoms

There are two types of chronic kidney failure; the first is compensated where the other systems in the body are compensating for the kidneys failure which means there are little of no symptoms. The second type is uncompensated where the following symptoms may be present.

1. Urinating and drinking more

2. Lethargy( drowsy, lazy, sluggish)

3. Poor or no appetite

4. Pale mucous membranes

What Causes Dog Chronic (long term) Kidney Failure?

The cause for long term kidney failure or chronic renal failure as it is formally known is old age. As with most animals and creatures 'old age' is the name associated with the time when the body's organs come to the end of their lifespan after many years of wear, tear and general use and fail to work properly causing the inevitable death of the animal or creature.

Along with many other functions the kidneys act as a filter for the body, and produce a chemical called erythropoietin which acts as a message from the kidneys to let the bone marrow know that more red blood cells need to be produced, but in the case of long term kidney failure these two functions may stop working causing the accumulation of waste the kidney cannot filter out or redirect, and a lower red blood cell count also know as anemia and causing a pale looking dog.

The other side affect of kidney failure may be that the kidney is unable to or has difficulty reabsorbing water making a thirstier dog and a dog that will ultimately urinate more. This is much the same as when humans get older they will slowly begin to loose the ability to reabsorb water into their kidneys making them have to wake up several times in the night to urinate.

There are three different phases of long term kidney failure, these are categorised as mild/early kidney failure, moderate kidney failure, and severe end stage kidney failure. Although the boundary of these three stages or phases is vague it is generally thought that the first stage of kidney failure becomes present when the patient is needing to urinate more often than normal as stated above which indicates the kidney is not reabsorbing as much water as it should or has done in the past. The second phase is thought to be reached as the kidneys reach further deterioration and are unable to reabsorb essential proteins into the body and instead are urinating them away causing the patient to become frail and loose weight but without feeling unwell due to other compensatory systems in the body. As the last phase is reached the kidney functions will be at a severe rate of failure and decline resulting in the loss of the ability to create the chemical erythropoietin as discussed earlier and urea in the blood causes an unwell feeling for the patient. Rapid deterioration is thought to occur after this point resulting in the inevitable death of your dog due to 'old age'.

What Your Vet May Say or Do

The standard way of identifying long term or chronic kidney failure once the symptoms above have been recognised is to perform a blood and urine test, these test include testing the level of urea accumulating in the blood steam showing the kidney is no longer doing its job and showing the possible stage of kidney failure they have currently reached.

From this point different remedies will be suggested depending on the current stage of kidney deterioration. If the patient is within the first and second stage then normally a specialised diet for older dogs is used to reduce the workload of the kidney and maintain the correct body weight, as well as greatly improving the quality of life and lifespan of the dog.

If the kidney worsens due to other illnesses such as respiratory infections then the vet may introduce a saline drip for a short period to flush out all urea in the blood until the infection passes and the dog can eat for itself again, this drip will keep the patient from entering the final stage of kidney failure prematurely and eases he pain while having the infection. If the final stage is reached without the effects of other illnesses then the only other option is a kidney transplant for your dog, if this cannot be provided then a vet may suggest to humanely put him or her to sleep as the decline of your dog will be inevitable.



Other Possible Conditions

Dog Urinating and Drinking More Than Usual
Acute (Sudden) Kidney Failure
Dog Addison's Disease / Adrenal Gland Disorder
Cushing's Disease - Adrenal Gland Disorders
Diabetes Mellitus (Sugar Diabetes)
Dog Diabetes Insipidus (Water Diabetes)
Dog Hyperparathyroidism (Overactive Parathyroid Glands)
Dog Liver Failure and Liver Disease
Dog Tumor (Causing Elevated Blood Calcium Levels)