Kidney Failure

[Matt Glomski]

I am curious how many people have had a dog die of kidney failure?

And what feed were they on when they went down hill and died?

What time of year did they die?

How long did it take for them to go down hill??

I think alot of this is genetic, but I am curoious if it isnt a little more than that.

I had one male die of Kidney failure and I noticed him slowly going down hill for about 3 months. He got Skeleton skinny before I put him down. He DRANK ALOT of water for a couple months. It was in the summer and I ran him alot. He was on Purina Pro Plan Adult.

[Big Dog]

I fed mine Purina Pro Plan, he was always a finicky eater, but over the last 6 months I just couldn't seem to get any weight on him. He always drank a bunch of water when you let him out. He would not eat much even after running, so I went to canned pro plan, he ate that for awhile but eventually stopped. He got skinny as hell toward the end and then lost all of his energy. He couldn't even stand up to pee by the time I had him put down.

[Bev]

Matt, when he was getting skinny, did he still have an appetite? Big Dog already said his dog was a picky eater, so I'm trying to gather some info as well. Normal appetite and normal stool while all this was going on?

[danny vansickle]

this was the first thing i thought of when cash ded,kevin feeds pro plan year round,now,he has been cutting back to the adult on some,but as far as cash,i am not shure.

i feed pro plan performance from dec. to march,while running to get ready for the world,after that i cut back tored flannel,but i think i will go to dog chow now.

[wvduece]

had one die a couple years ago was on joy high energy 24/20 went down in about 4 months lost his coat color at first went from a beautiful red n white coat to a dull rust color he eat good just wouldnt put on any weight couldnt give him enuf water lost all of his weight barely could stand up took him weith me one morning to show another guy that i run with set him on the ground he looked pitiful he wandered off in the weeds n still opened up on a rabbit but didnt have enuf energy to go anywhere i loaded him up brought him home n he died in about 3 or 4 days just think of him that weak n still had the desire to try to run a rabbit i kept himon my front porch n let him die on his own. i dont belive i will ever do that again lost a min pin 4 years ago too to kidney failure she got cataracts on her eyes her hair fell out nothing but skin n bones would eat every thing ya gave her she acted like she was starved to death allthe time the vet told me she couldnt digest her food the way she was suppose too thats why she was hungry all the time developed into a dibetic had to give her insulin shots twice a day the dogs can get pretty sick n still try to keep going jb

[Jack]

I have had coyote hounds die from kidkey failure, but never a Beagle. With bg hounds at the the time we gave them a full cc of Ivermectin under the skin where they could'nt reach it to to dig at where the shot was gave. I think it may have burn for a bit. Every one here did it that way. We all had dogs die of Kidney problems. I fed Dog Chow than and now. I still use Ivermectin, but only 3 tenths of a cc and no problems that could blame on the Dog Chow orIvermectin.

[Newt]

I bought a bitch about three years ago that had Kidney problems. I didn't realize it at the time. I tried her out, liked her field ability but noticed that she lacked stamina. I called the owner who is a reputable beagler and he assured me that she was exhausted from running several hours in a hare trial. I bought her and was tickled. However she never recovered her vitality and later after observing her symptoms I figured out her problem. Any time she was overly excited she would quit eating for a couple of days. Finally she started losing weight and just quit eating. I took her to the Vet and she lived another ten days.
I fed her Diamond 26% protein, green bag. I have no idea if it was genetic or caused by external factors. I'm inclined to believe that most breeders won't be honest about their problems, but that is just me. I asked the breeder about another hound, half sister to my bitch, that had died soon after she made FC. He quickly assured me that it was an unrelated problem. Remember he assured me that my dog was just tired from a hare trial. Losing the money was not nearly as painful as losing the bitch. She was outstanding and would have bee a bargain if she had been healthy. I doubt if I would have been offered her at any price if she had been healthy. She would have been a Field Champion.

[windsplitters]

I just lost a nice female this past Saturday to kidney failure it hit her hard and fast lost her appitite and drank at least 3 times as much water as before it took its toll on her in about 2 1/2 weeks she had no signs before. I feed Black Gold 26/18

[SilverZuk]

I fed mostly Purina Hi-pro during the season, and dog chow in the off season (I run year around).
He died jsut over the age of 2.
He was always a picky eater, and his teeth were not good for such a young dog.

He started to get poor about a month before I had him put down.
The vet said, "kidney failure, must have got into some antifreeze".
I ruled that out. I looked at all other factors (food, flea control, wormers, worms, etc.).
I couldn't come to any conclusions, because all my other dogs have had the same thing and are still alive and healthy today (3 or 4 years later).

Once I thought back, the male always took more water than the other dogs I ran with.
They would hit the creek after a run, and we always laughed at how much he drank, and how you could sometimes hear him slosh afterward. I would say his kidneys were always weak, and I never picked up on it because he performed so well.
Fortunately I never bred him, so I don't have to worry about passing the problem on.

One thing I often suspect in kidney failure is diabetes.
No one ever checks for it, but I have read it is not uncommon in beagles.
Untreated, diabetes will damage the kidneys.

[ANTHONY KERR]

I lost one about 5 years ago to pancreas and kidney failure. I was running him at least 3 days a week during the spring and summer. Mostly late afternoons. He was drinking at least twice as much water as the other dogs. At that time I was feeding high protein old roy all year long. He just started quitting races and got so down he just laid around in the pen. Before I took him to the vet he would only eat canned food or scraps. One strange thing was that flies were attracted to his backside and ears. They would not even go near any other dogs, but would not leave Jack alone. The noticable symptoms seemed to take only about a month. He may have been going down longer than that and I just never noticed. I am not sure how old he was because the ARHA paperwork I got was probably not for the right dog, but that is another story filed away under experience.

[Matt Glomski]

Stool was the same. He always ate all his food until the end.

What I noticed was he lost endurance. Now that it is all said and done I look back and notice it. After 2 hours of running he would fall off and not get much ( i always wondered what was wrong). He would make it to a final cast at a hunt almost every time and would not run like I knew he could. I put him down in July and noticed all these other things about April. It was a slow downhill process now that I look back on it. When I put him down he was skin and bones. The last week of his life was when all the weight was lost. Also dry coarse hair at the end.

He ALWAYS drank more water than most dogs.

[buddy_line_kennels]

We had to put down Emma Oct 2 of 2007 due to kidney failure at the age of 5. A lot of her's was genetic. Her grandma passed from the same thing. Tony caught Wendy's at the age of 5 also and she had another year or two before she died. Before Emma was put on special kidney food, she was eating purina pro plan or black gold. We had to put her down on a Tuesday and she ate up until the Friday before.



We "caught" the problem in March right before the world last year and she lasted another 6 months.

I miss the little girl



amanda

[Newt]

Matt G the symptoms of your male are almost identical to the bitch I posted about. She was two years old, had no endurance after about two hours runnig. drank more water than normal, and slowly lost weight. She ate normal unless something was done to upset her such as shocking another dog for running off game. I suppose she had been shocked by the previous owner and knew what was happening. She never ran off game for me. It would take a couple of days for her to start eating again.

Maybe this thread will help other beaglers recognize symptoms of this terrible ailment.

[EARL BRUNER]

i have lost 3 to kidney failure in 35 yrs of raising beagles. two were on diamond years ago. one was on purina pro plan. all were related but all had litter mates still living at 13 plus.my vet said running in hot weather were harder on their kidneys than anything. i asked the vet why some and not others. he asked if i had owned at least 100 beagles in my life time and i said yes. he said only 3 lost to kidney failure to count my blessings.

[mike crabtree]

Ive lost 1 to Kidney failure, well she wasnt mine but she was here. She had little to no endurance, and would drink a gallon of water every day. It was sad to watch her go down hill she was a fine hound.