Kidney Failure

Good read.

Especially the last paragraph. Allowing a dog to come off water vs. taking water from him is critical, damn near the whole ball of wax.

Good read.

S

 

I bought a Fila Brasileiro once and she was fine upon arrival, vet checked and a super healthy looking dog. Less than a week later lethargic and half hearted in movement. Vet check showed failing kidneys at 12-14 weeks old. I called the breeder and the entire litter was either really bad off or had already been put down. It happens. The best breeder of any dogs I have ever met. Replaced or refunded every pup that was sent out, including shipping and crates. She did not duck the first dime.

When unhealthy kidneys are identified, like the above post suggests, it is a constant state of monitoring and a time will tell approach.

Best of luck with the two.

S

 

Many years ago I was of the thought process that the dog was watered when I fed and watered him. I thought being in control was a good thing. Over the years I had a few that missed the water mark and either ran hot or was flat in the latter portion of a treadmill race.

Like a lot of hard ran hunting dogs, deer dogs/fox dogs and the like, there are a lot of really great performing dogs who do not live along life due to kidney failure in the 5-6-7-8 year old range. It had nothing to do with the age of the dog but the abuse put on the kidneys while performing. Bulldogs included.

The most important thing to start with is healthy kidneys. A person pretty much has to go out if his way to damage healthy kidneys. The environmental factors are hydration, quality protein, and being empty when working. An extra dump or so during strenuous exercise/performance has chopped months/years off a lot of dogs lives. Shitty proteins that are hard for the dog to digest/assimilate put strain on the kidneys. The damage is usually accumulative over time. It is a 'you can pay today or you can really pay tomorrow' process.

S

 

I leave fresh water down every day or the dog while working. I add a lot of water to the two feedings. One feeding is a fatty/soupy really wet supplement based feeding and the other is a more normal meal, wetted, to maintain/dial in weight.

Most dogs will hydrate themselves adequately. With healthy kidneys they will drink and urinate themselves to a good water state while working.

I leave the water bow down daily. I wet the food always and then monitor the bowl each day. The first few weeks the dog will need more hydration than is given in the feedings. He will drink from the water bowl to compensate/hydrate himself. He will then piss and dump accordingly.

Around three to four weeks or hard work his body will begin to adjust to where the water mark should be for that particular dog. He will them piss and dump as normal but with less visits to the water bowl as he is being hydrated, somewhat over hydrated vis the feedings. He then pisses himself to his individual water mark.

Around weeks five weeks or so, sometimes 6 or so depending on the work load and the dog, the water bowl will go untouched during the day/night. A week or so of not being touched and the dog is as close as he should be as far as being wet or dry for performance.

A dog on weight at say 40lbs is 40lbs of muscle, fat, blood volume, organs, hide, bones and water. The keep will slightly adjust the muscle weight, the organs will be about the same, the bones will not change and the hide will be a constant. Their will be an initial drop in body fat as the dog is tuned. The organs, the bones, the hide, and the muscle stay pretty much the same. What changes the most and has the most effect is water content. Once the water content drops an gets close to point and even leans a little toward dehydration the blood volume (thickness) will change some.

The object of the keep is to hit his weight dead on based on the combinations of the masses that make up the dog. Missing the mark high and then pulling a pound of water off him the last day or so (dex/diuretics) is not the best practice, at least not long term. He can win and show well but he (you) will pay for it down the road with a shorter life span.

S

 

To really see a dog adjust himself, try this. Soak the snot out of his food with a lot of water over a couple three week period. Regardless if it is a raw mix or dry, just really put the water to him in his feeding. In a couple three weeks he will come off his water bowl because you are pretty much over hydrating him and then he in turn is bringing himself to a hydrated state.

Then feed him plain dry food for a couple-three days. By the end of that second day he will knock the bottom out of the water dish. His healthy kidneys and bodily function will 'correct the mistake' you put on him.

He will hydrate himself but pretty much the opposite of the keep. He will be adding water for the hydration point with the dry food adjustment and in keep he will be removing water to get to the same water mark.

It will amaze most people how much water a dog needs to regulate his hydration level when fed from a bag.

Remembering there are three states of water level. Over hydration (which is not all that bad as the healthy kidneys will fix this daily). Dehydration (unless the dog has access to large amounts of fresh water to regulate himself this is the state where although mostly unnoticeable, long term damage is being done). Hydration (the mark where the individual dog dials himself in based on healthy kidney function.

S

 

Babbling. My apologies. It comes as we get older. LOL

S

 

In the grand scheme of things dehydration has done in more dogs than just about anything.

The next biggest thing is working a dog with a couple of dumps left in him. The keep food has to not only be based on proper nutrition, easily assimilation and bowel movement but also has to be timed to allow for those things to happen with enough time to make a dump.

In the beginning as the routine is developed it may take 30 minutes or an hour of walking to get that dump. RAW feeders it is a little more difficult as the assimilates a higher percentage of the feed. Regardless the general rule is 'no dump-no work'.

In a few days with the feed timed out and his routine down he will pretty much shit on command.

Many a good dog has been lost because of the dump hanging around that ends up pummeling the kidneys. The kidneys are damaged and although the effects may not be during that particular keep but several years down the road the dog has 'unexplainable kidney failure'. Life span shortened.

Dehydrate a dog then work him really hard and it is 'Katie, bar the door' sometimes sooner, sometimes later but 'Katie, bar the door' still the same.

S

 

The issue is to remove excess water not dehydrate. As the water is removed the body travels from overhydrated to hydrated and more water is removed the body becomes dehydrated.

If water is removed to make weight odds are the dog ends up being dehydrated.

The problem then becomes these dogs are so amazing they perform in spite of their mishandling. Many a dog has been dealt a poor hand but made his owner look like a brain surgeon. Me included.

The end goal is to hit that dog's watermark and not venture into the areas of dehydration.

S