My JRT has been diagnosed with Chronic Renal Failure and Kidney Lymphoma. What are my options?I brought my little guy to the vet last week because I was concerned that he was rail thin and not keeping his food down. The vet did a series of X-Rays and Blood Panels and found that Doggee was suffering from Chronic Renal Failure and he has a large mass of his left kidney. The doctor won't speculate on a prognosis without further diagnostics (ultrasound) etc. But he told me that his best guess was that I should have Doggee put to sleep within a few days.
Of course, this is devastating. Like every loving pet-owner, I don't want to see my little baby go. Especially since in the last few days, having changed his diet to low protein/phosphorus/sodium content, he seems to be thriving. He gets excited when we mention "WALK" and also, he was ecstatic when we took his little pool out and filled it with water so he could go "fishing". He doesn't seem to be in any sort of pain, no suggestion of onset blindness.... Just the clinical signs of CRF i.e. weight loss, nausea/vomiting (controlled by medication for the moment), lethargy and uremic breath.
Has anyone has this sort of experience? I don't want Doggee to suffer in the least. The day he does, I will put him out of his little misery. But I can't shake the feeling that this shouldn't be the end of his life.
Update on Doggee:
We went for his ultrasound this afternoon and though he does have cancer and CRF, he's not in pain and quite a happy dog.
After looking at him today, our vet revised his prognosis from last week and decided that if we wanted to try, we could do fluid therapy (SubQ and IV) one week of one and one week of the other. He said that while the end is near and inevitable, while Doggee is in no pain, he didn't see any reason to extend his life without compromising the quality of it.
Also left us with classic signs of "an imminent ending" and to watch for them. So in the meantime, we feel blessed that we can hang on to our beloved baby for even just a few more days or weeks.
Cheers for all your support and answers!
Posted by Beau*
Sometimes the kindest thing to do is the hardest. If you think he doesn't seem to be suffering then you could see how it goes, but i think you should consider putting him to sleep like the vet said. The choice is yours so choose what you feel is right.
Posted by Genevieve
If you can afford the treatments and the dog can have a good quality of life for the moment then keep him. Do all you can for him. It's probably a good idea to set a financial limit from the start so you don't keep wondering when to 'pull the plug'. You are willing/able to spend up to $ X to sustain his life and good health. If at any time the treatments stop working and he begins to show discomfort then you know what to do. It's hard but you and Doggee are watching the sunset.
Posted by Single Worker 1230
I'm sorry to hear this. Wait for the ultrasound results. You can explore several options like chemo and/or surgery to remove the diseased kidney. However the CRF will not go away if you do this. In fact CRF can make treatment more difficult because the medication can be hard on healthy kidneys. You can talk to a veterinary oncologist. They have a lot of insight on how treat cancer in older dogs with other chronic issues. Good luck.
Posted by Launi ~Thundering ~ Wild Angels~
My daughter's Golden Retriever was diagnosed with 2 very rare and fatal kidney diseases at the age of 4 months.
She is eating the same kind of diet (we mix a little wet food with it) and is going strong at one year.
She tires easily and we have had up and downs with her not eating or drinking which means she as been vetted a few times.
The food is expensive, the vetting can get pricey but she is happy and thriving.
Until it is obvious she is in pain and has no quality of life we have no intentions of putting her down.
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