Saturday 17 January 2009

More about Emma














Damien rang me last night with the blood test results. There is still a problem with one thing in her blood, a word which I am finding hard to understand (with his accent mainly....)but it is apparently urea, which is a waste product produced from protein metabolism and it is found in increased levels in the bloodstream when a dog has renal failure. This level is pretty high, but other levels that have been tested for are improved slightly.

So for now, she has to stay on the special diet of the tinned food for dogs with renal/kidney problems, and she mustn't have anything other than this food, and I've to take her back in two weeks to see him again and have some repeat tests.

Since Tuesday, when she started on this stuff, she has been good. No diarrhea, no sick, and pretty lively, took her for a nice walk round the park today and she was huffing round on the grass, something she hasn't done for a while, it was so good to see.

I called in the vets this morning to get some more tins, and they will order some more in for me for next week. Damien popped his head into reception to see if everything was ok, and I managed to ask him a few more questions about things that have been bothering me, they went completely out of my head when he was on the phone last night.

Oh well, feel quite optimistic about Emma now anyway, if she has to stay on this diet forever it won't be the end of the world I guess, but it is hard with all the dog treats she was used to before, but if it means that or her being ill, there's no choice to make. I am able to cut up the tinned food into little dollops and spoon feed her these as treats actually, and she seems happy enough with this. I think you tend to humanise them too much really, she's probably forgotten the other stuff already (says she, hopefully....)

6 comments:

The Quacks of Life said...

i'm pleased that she's a little better. give here a hug from me

oldcrow61 said...

Happy to hear that Emma is doing well on the new food. Hopefully it will all be sorted soon.

Betty said...

Good for Emma and good for you! You are taking such care of her and helping her in so many ways...what a fortunate little pet (and you, also, are fortunate for having her, eh?).

Jan said...

Thanks everyone, and thanks for the nice things you are saying Betty, glad to have a new reader. Hopefully things are getting better from now on with Emma, only time will tell now. Apparently if it is kidney failure, there is no cure and you can only prolong the dog's life and make it more comfortable. Let's hope this is the case, and she will live for the normal length for a Cav at least (around 12 from past experience) More would be good.

avalon said...

So pleased she is much better, at least you can relax a little now.

Tricia Ryder said...

This is good news about Emma, Jan