Dogs reaching their senior years are more susceptible to kidney issues. Although their bodies repair worn out tissues and cells, the rate of repair often goes down with age.
A young dog will not be vulnerable to kidney issues because its body replaces cells and tissues at a faster rate. Kidney diseases vary in a number of ways. For acute diseases like toxicity, signs for kidney issues occur all of a sudden and to some extent may be severe. On the onset of chronic kidney diseases, the signs are not usually specific. It makes it hard to tell whether your dog is doing well or having health issues. The best thing to do at such puzzling moments is to take the dog to a veterinary clinic for diagnosis.
What causes the disease?
Quite a number of factors can lead to a kidney infection in your dog. Age as discussed earlier is one of the factors that result in kidney infections. Therefore, if you have a dog that shows sickly behavior in its senior stage, you need to take it to a veterinary hospital for a medical checkup. Other causes of kidney disease are viral, fungal, and bacterial infections. Whenever your dog has any of these infections, you are to seek treatment immediately before they spread to the kidney tissues. Parasites are also one of the reasons your dog is likely to get kidney disease. Therefore, ensure your dog is clean throughout and free from parasites. Other cases may involve cancer, inflammation, and toxic reaction to poisons.
Signs of kidney disease
Inevitably, when your dog catches a kidney disease, you are going to see quite a variety of signs. Some of the signs may not be particular as in the case of chronic infections. Some of them can be seen in other disorders like pancreatic or liver disease and urinary tract issues. The signs to look out for in your dog to determine whether it has a kidney disease include monitoring water consumption manner. Too much water consumption is one of the signs that show your dog has a kidney issue.
This actually ties in with an increased volume of urination due to too much consumption of water. In some cases, it may be the opposite. The volume of urination may be relatively low. Other obvious cases such as blood in urine, low appetite, diarrhea, vomiting, and lethargy, unkempt hair coat, and weight loss will definitely indicate that your dog has kidney problems.
Determining a diagnosis
When you take your dog to an animal hospital for a medical checkup, the vet will carry out various blood tests. A blood test reveals whether kidney disease is present in the dog. If it is, a veterinary will gauge its severity and factors that may have led to it. Additionally, urinalysis comes in handy to determine the cause of the disease and its severity.
Once the vet determines that your dog has kidney issues, he will give the appropriate medication depending on the condition of the dog and the type of kidney disease. The medication for acute and chronic cases can vary. You need to pay attention to the medical instructions and ensure you follow them to restore the health of your beloved furry friend.