I have spent the whole day yesterday trying to get to the bottom of why.
First of all, I should say she is almost 12 years old. Her birthday is June 2nd.
My heart sank when I looked up on google that her life expectancy is between 12 and 15 years. For some reason I have had in the back of my mind that little doggies live much longer.
She has gradually lost a lot of weight over the last several months.
I've been in denial, I think.
The kids have all said to me, "Mom. Don't you think Darla is getting skinny?" I mistakenly thought not being over-weight like so many older dogs become was a good thing and that we were doing something 'right'.
I have noticed that she doesn't scarf down her kibble like she used to and that has been gradual as well. So I started putting some beef or chicken broth with it and that got her to eat it right away. Then about a month ago, that wasn't really working either, and I started mixing some Little Champions wet food with her kibble. That did the trick too until the last ten days.
I took her to the vet yesterday morning.
I had to leave her for blood and urine testing. For an IV to rehyrdrate her so her kidneys don't have to work so hard over the weekend. Dr. Seat is pretty sure it is her kidneys. They are 1/2 the size they should be. Her heart, lungs,stomach, liver, spleen are all great. No tumors or anything out of the ordinary in those areas. Kidney disease makes them have a stomach ache so they won't eat because then they will be sick. And she has had issues with vomiting lately too. Kidney disease also makes them have bladder and urinary infections and that makes them prone to accidents as well. She has been having way too many accidents lately too. That is out of character for her.
There is a weight chart on the wall of the exam room. It goes from obese-over weight-normal-underweight-dangerously thin. She is now considered dangerously thin. She has lost a lot of muscle mass. It was very gradual and then the last ten days, drastic.
I picked her up in the afternoon. She was wiped out. She had been poked and prodded and had no energy left, except when they brought her out to me she wiggled with all her might and put her legs and paws to reach to me. Grab my heart!
She has a medicine to coat her stomach to help fight the nausea so she can hopefully feel confident to eat again. She is very hungry, but will debate with herself whether or not to eat. You can watch her do it. She has an antibiotic after a whopping big shot of it at the office. She still isn't eating very well at all. She won't touch any dog food, but she will eat some hamburger. That could be because she is protein deficient. The kidneys aren't putting the proteins back into her system. They are being flushed out.
Dr. Norm will have all the test results back on Monday. Then we will know a better direction to go. He said if we can get her stabilized and able to gain some weight and muscle back we should have many more good years with her. She would need to take a med once a day to help the kidneys function at their best. But if we can't, then.........well, we would need to consider putting her down.
