Caring for a Three Legged Dog or Cat
Tripawds is your home to learn how to care for a three legged dog or cat, with answers about dog leg amputation, and cat amputation recovery from many years of member experiences.
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Chico is 20 months post amputation (he only had a life expectancy of 12 months, so this is good). He was diagnosed with lung mets in August of 2013 and given 6 to 12 months at that point.
In early November he started being finicky with his food and I found a great food called My Perfect Pet that he loved. It was low glycemic which seemed like a good choice for a dog with cancer. It is made with human grade food, lightly cooked and then frozen. Terribly expensive, but hey, our babies are worth it!
On December 15th he had his chemo pill. Within days he refused his new food. He refused almost all food. I could get him to eat a small amount of chicken every other day but it was obviously not sustaining him. He threw up sometimes and he had very bad diarrhea that Imodium was not helping. In two weeks he lost 11 pounds.
We visited his oncologist on 1/3/14 (frankly I was amazed he made it to 2014). Lab tests determined he is now in chronic renal failure. So chemo has been stopped (which I was going to stop anyway because this all happened within days of his last chemo treatment with lumostine--which he had never had a reaction to before). His December vet visit showed an increase in his creatinine from .5 to 1 and in January it was up to 4. That's from the kidneys shutting down.
He was given two shots of steroids and sent home with 30 days worth of steroids to increase his appetite. I learned how to administer subcutaneous fluids and was given 4 days worth of the fluids to give him twice per day.
After 3 1/2 days I reported back that he was a changed dog. He was eating with gusto (although still wanting to be hand fed which I've been doing for many months now). He tolerated his drip just fine. But he still had diarrhea. It was decided to put him back on Immodium and to do three more days of the drip.
Less than two days later, he is eating out of his bowl and his stools are firming up!!
Does anyone have any experience with kidney failure? The vet said it can't be cured, but what can be done to help him not get worse? He drinks plenty of water so I don't think they'll want me to continue the drip (they prescribed it to get rid of as many toxins in his body as possible). Is this directly attributed to his chemo?
It's REALLY good to hear Chico is doing so much better!
As soon as I finish posting, I'm going to pm "agile Cow Dog Maggie's mom", as she has some real good insight in this. She's very knowledgeable on combing holistic, conventional and nutritional for kidney failure.....she's NOT a vet...but her sister is conventional and holistic vet...but always consult withnyour vet! Okay, disclaimers are over!
I can tell you from my personal experience when my older dogs had had "kidney issues", steroids and fluids do become their best friend and they certainly can give an extended quality time for sure! You probably will be able to reduce, if not stop, the fluid and go back on as needed.
I don't know about any connection between the chemo and the kidneys...others will have to chime in on that.
Is Chico about nine--nine and a half now? I tell you what, e is one amazingly strong fella'!! Despite all his challenges, he is aking his own statistics and living life to the fullest!! He's a very loved boy and he kows it!!
P.ease keep us posted and kow we are sending you positive energy. Just stay in the moment...Chico not worrying about a thing! Let NOTHING rob you of this i creible gift of time you and he are having!! GREAT TEAM,!!
Lots of love!
Sally and Happy Hannah
Happy Hannah had a glorious additional bonus time of over one yr & two months after amp for osteo! She made me laugh everyday! Joined April's Angels after send off meal of steak, ice cream, M&Ms & deer poop!
I have not had experience with CKD in dogs, but we have been dealing with it in one of our cats: Momo was diagnosed as stage IV in september 2012, at age 8. Up until recently, it was managed with diet and daily subQs. In December, he developed obstructions (or, rather, the stones he probably already had became problematic), and crashed. Following that, our situation became a bit more grim, b/c the stones make treating his kidneys hard, and the kidney makes treating the stones hard. We now do Subqs 2x daily, and also take prednisone--partially to serve as replacement kidneys, and partially to keep him SUPERPEETASTIC which lowers the risk of one of the stones in his bladder reobstructing a bit.
Depending on the stage Chico is in, you may or may not need to continue the fluids--or may just need to do so every other day, or every three days, or that sort of thing. If so, I recommend ordering your supplies. It is MUCH cheaper than the vet. I get the needles at the local farm supply store in 100 packs (like a few cents a piece; we use each one 2x), and then we order his LRS from Drs. Foster and Smith. I typically would order 8 bags and 4 IV sets, and it would cost me less than 2 bags would from the vet. We started on K/D diet, but after the obstructions, have since switched to C/D...although his stones are oxalate, meaning they will not dissolve on their own.
The prescription food tends to be lower in phosphorus (and I don't know about dogs, but some cats end up taking a binder, too), for one. Typically lower calcium and higher potassium. I think the idea of super low-protein food seems to be falling out of favor, however. You can make your own food, there are CRF diet recipes out there (I think Dr. Dodds has one, for example), but the phosphorus is the big thing to watch.
Some of the biggest considerations to keep an eye on (at least what we have learned):
Anemia
Anorexia
Mouth sores
Gastric upset
As Sally said, Maggie Moo's mom has a lot of experience with CKD in dogs...so while there is overlap, for sure, between the species, I defer to her on all the canine stuff 
"Let us think the unthinkable, let us do the undoable, let us prepare to grapple with the ineffable itself, and see if we may not eff it after all."
-Douglas Adams, Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency
"May I recommend serenity to you? A life that is burdened with expectations is a heavy life. Its fruit is sorrow and disappointment. Learn to be one with the joy of the moment."
-Douglas Adams, The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul
I do not think it is due to the chemo, although if he was on an NSAID such as meloxicam that would make it worse. Most likely it is due to age although Leptospirosis is a possibility in some parts of the country. If the dog is anemic they can have a vitamin/iron supplement such as Pet-Tinic. Some dogs in renal failure have high phosphorus so a binder such as Maalox or Epakatin can help. I usually check a blood pressure because some dogs get hypertension.
A lower protein diet is important because many dogs will leak protein into the urine. If there is a lot of protein loss then I use benazapril. The urine should also be cultured in case of UTI even if there are no symptoms.
Dogs with renal failure can live over a year but must be monitored closely.
Pam
I dont' have any experience with that, but I just wanted to say I'm glad to hear Chico is feeling better!!
Hi Allison and Chico
Wow, that's an impressive turn around. I agree with others, you've got a strong doggie!
I personally don't have any experience with kidney failure in dogs, but I have 2 friends who have had terrific luck with holistic treatments for their cats, and one also did feline Reiki. Not even sure what that is, something about using healing touch / massage?? I mention it because that girlfriend called me as soon as Jersey Girl was diagnosed to tell me to seek out a Reiki healer because it helped her cat so much. Just offering up food for thought, that's all.
You mention you're in SoCal. Not sure where but if you're on the Westside of LA I can point you to a holistic vet several people have recommended to me. We haven't seen him yet so I can't personally recommend him. That's on the agenda for next week.
Sounds like you're doing a great job caring for your baby. What a lucky doggie!
Claudia
Thanks everyone!
Wow. I can't imagine doing sub-q fluids twice a day on my cats. They'd fight me for sure.
Yeah, Chico is about 9 1/2 now. He amazes me daily.
I'll look into Drs. Foster & Smith for the LR and tubing. I have a friend who is a pharmacist, she might be able to help as well.
I'm about 2 hours east of LA (Palm Desert) and although Chico's oncologist isn't holistic, he does believe in some of it. We were discussing Chico getting a medical marijuana card to help his appetite. LOL
The pred is just about as good as the pot for the munchies 
And out of all of our cats, we are "lucky" it is Momo. None of the others would have stood for it. He's still getting his fluids with an 18g needle, too (although I think we're going to switch to 20, as he's got a lot of scar tissue building after all this time).
"Let us think the unthinkable, let us do the undoable, let us prepare to grapple with the ineffable itself, and see if we may not eff it after all."
-Douglas Adams, Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency
"May I recommend serenity to you? A life that is burdened with expectations is a heavy life. Its fruit is sorrow and disappointment. Learn to be one with the joy of the moment."
-Douglas Adams, The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul
My pug Maggie developed CRF late in her tripawd journey.
Most vets will tell you that is has no relation to the chemo, but there is some relatively new data that shows some liver toxicity from using lomustine. Maggie was on lomustine for 6 months, but was not diagnosed with CRF until 3 years later. From April 2012: (Thanks to Spirit Rusty's dad Chuck)
Dr. Susan Ettinger, (who is part of Dr. Dressler’s cancer team) from her attendance at the 2nd World Veterinary Cancer Congress in Paris; “A new side effect for Lomustine is being reported: kidney toxicity. We don’t yet know how common it is, but I will be double-checking for this in my own patients.”
Tri-pug Maggie survived a 4.5 year mast cell cancer battle only to be lost to oral melanoma.
1999 to 2010
My oncologist had said lumostine was hard on the liver. Chico was also getting Metacam, but I stopped it voluntarily when he stopped wanting to eat. An older dog was on it for arthritis and he would get explosive diarrhea every couple of months on it, so I knew it was hard on their system.
So we'll take what we have now. I'll finish the subcutaneous fluids and REALLY keep an eye on him. If his eating drops off again, I'll contact the vet for more fluids (but REALLY prefer getting them from Drs. Foster & Smith--less than half the price). I'll just need a prescription to get the needles (what's up with that?)
Certain states need a scrip for the fluids, but not needles...and vice versa. And some need them for both. It's all very weird. Do you have a Fleet Farm or Farm and Fleet or Farmall or one of those? I get needles there, and they are also cheaper, and no scrip needed--at least in MN (but I do need one to order online). They carry most gauges and lengths.
My vet has no issue with me getting our supplies like that there; in fact, he was the one who encouraged us to do it because "Well, yes, I CAN sell them to you...but you'll payt through the nose." I love my vet.
"Let us think the unthinkable, let us do the undoable, let us prepare to grapple with the ineffable itself, and see if we may not eff it after all."
-Douglas Adams, Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency
"May I recommend serenity to you? A life that is burdened with expectations is a heavy life. Its fruit is sorrow and disappointment. Learn to be one with the joy of the moment."
-Douglas Adams, The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul
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