Maggie’s doing pretty well. Yesterday at the vet she had her usual laser(one more treatment then on to probably monthly maintenance or more if needed). I got a lesson yesterday on giving her subQ fluids. I flunked the first time as the fluids were coming out instead of in! Needle probably up in dermal layer the Tech told me…so my second poke I got it right. Lucky for me, Maggie doesn’t even flinch at the pokes of an 18 gauge needle. After we were done, Dr. Adrian came in as I wanted to know how much I should do fluids at home. She said let’s run her blood work again on Tuesday as it will be two weeks since first blood draw. That way we can see where she’s at and what/how much fluids she should get. She’s also been on Azodyl (probiotic supplement that can help reduce urea nitrogen levels in the blood) and Epakitin(phosphorus binder) and Standard Process Arginex and Renafood for two weeks as well. I told her I need a prescription for Royal Canin kidney diet kibble. Maggie is preferring kibble as part of her diet now and refuses to eat her usual Honest Kitchen foods with raw meat added. Dr. Adrian suggested I wait until blood work to decide which kibble to get as they have an early stage kidney diet and an advanced stage kidney diet kibble. She didn’t realize Royal Canin had a prescription food(they sell Science Diet but I don’t want to use that on Maggie). I told her I go to http://www.dogaware.com/ for all sorts of medical information – of which she wrote the website down 🙂
Update on Maggie’s kidney disease….
I have also ordered the Canine Caviar Special Needs one on this list – zoom down to kibbles:
Saw a friend of mine yesterday during training practice with Haley and she said Maggie looked better than 3 weeks prior when she saw her. Stronger and in better weight behind her ribcage. What I noticed just before I started going to the vet with this condition was that Maggie was loosing muscle in her rear end – now I have since read that kidney dogs will start to “use” their own protein – muscle in their system. I’m sure that is what was(is?) happening. The Azodyl and Epakitin will slow that down along w/ low phosphorus foods. I also have her on Parotid SP supplement as that helped Maggie when she was so sick after amputation and didn’t want to eat.
Her appetite is better but not 100%. She is eating approximately 1/2 kibble(Acana Chicken/Potato as that is what I have right now) and 1/2 cooked diet I got off Lew Olsen’s website:
Recipe #1 Mix 1/2 cooked sticky rice (sushi rice) cooked in unsalted butter with 1/2 HIGH fat hamburger or dark meat chicken (lower in phosphorus than white meat). Add two cooked egg whites (no yolk) per cup. You can make as large a batch as needed and freeze for daily portions. Save the egg shells, and add back one teaspoon of egg shell (dry overnight, grind in a coffee bean grinder) per two pounds of food. The egg shell is good for calcium and also act as a phosphorus binder.
I’m feeling better now as it seems Maggie is getting more stable now. The Epakitin is a powder but she won’t eat supplements in her food, so I have been making capsules out of the powder(got a pill maker from Nature’s Farmacy a while back – putting it to use now!) I hate pilling her but she got “wise” to the pill pockets and won’t eat them now. So I have to pill her about 16 times morning and night. 🙁 Good thing she’s a good girl and compliant in all of this!
‘Til next time, Maggie says she’ll keep on hoppin’!
Tracy & Maggie