Renal Failure in Dogs

The inability of kidney to eliminate wastes out of the body is the simple definition of renal failure. The condition of renal failure is often confused with the urine being not produced in the body. In fact, the production of urine in dogs with renal failures rises more than normal levels. Renal failure is one of the dogs' disease, that is found in all the breeds, ages and genders. Let us understand in detail about this dog health problem.

Kidney Failure in Dogs
The problem of renal failure in dogs is categorized as acute and chronic renal failure. Acute renal failure is a severe form of this disease and occurs suddenly. Chronic renal failure, on the other hand takes longer time to develop. The list of dogs which are prone to chronic renal failure the most, is given below.

Beagle	Basenji
Cairn Terrier	Bull Terrier
Cocker Spaniel	Chow
German Shepherd Dog	Doberman Pinscher
Miniature Schnauzer	Lhasa Apso
Rottweiler	Norwegian Elkhound
Chinese Shar Pei	Samoyed
Soft-coated Wheaten Terrier	Shih Tzu

Symptoms
The different symptoms of renal failure in dogs are listed below.

• The consumption of water in dogs with renal failure increases.
• There is rise in the production of urine.
• Muscles of the body lose their tone.
• Dogs exhibit intolerance to the activity of exercising.
• The dogs start losing weight and their behavior shows signs of lethargy.
• Loss of appetite is also seen in dogs with renal failure. The dogs might turn anorexic due to kidney failure.
• Dogs with renal failures could also suffer from gastrointestinal ulcers.

Causes
The most common cause of kidney problems in dogs is aging. Different reasons behind kidney failure are cancer, inflammation, amyloidosis and parasites. Renal failure resulting from infection due to fungi, viruses, bacteria is also one of the causes. The accumulation of proteins in excess in the kidney is one of the major causes of renal failure. Here is some useful information on the topic of kidney infection in dogs.

Treatment
The treatment measures for renal failure focus on alleviating the problem rather than curing it.

• The dog could be hospitalized for proper care and treatment. To flush out waste products from the blood stream, intravenous fluids are administered.
• For controlling problems such as loss of appetite and vomiting, medications are given to the dog.
• A special diet which contains proteins in low amounts is given to dogs with renal failure.
• Owing to renal failure, the level of red blood corpuscles in the body may drop down; it could result into anemia. In order to correct this problem the option of blood transfusion could be used.
• Impairment in the process of phosphorus filtration by kidneys lead to its accumulation in the body. It results into the dog becoming lethargic and losing its appetite. This problem can be reduced by the use of phosphate binders. The phosphate binders help in binding excess phosphates in the intestinal tract and thereby preventing their absorption in the blood stream.
• The ratio of calcium:phosphorus in the blood need to be 2:1. The rise in phosphorus levels however, causes the parathyroid gland to raise the calcium level. The calcium is thus, removed by parathyroid gland from the bones, which in turn makes them brittle. To overcome this problem, calcitriol should be given to dogs for increasing the absorption of calcium from intestinal tracts instead of bones.
• Nowadays, the option of dialysis and kidney transplants is available for dog owners. The high costs of these procedures however, prove to be a constraint in their use.

Most of the treatment measures mentioned above are used in alleviating the harmful effect of renal failure in dogs. One should take care of his dog by understanding the various symptoms associated with this disease.