Dave,

I'm sorry for you dog's diagnosis, but it may not be nearly as dire a situation as your vet has suggested. I have quite a lot of experience with feline kidney disease, but none with canine kidney disease. I expect, though, that there are many commonalities between the two. In any event, I think you will find a lot of critical and useful information in the following two links (even though the second link is specific to feline kidney disease). They should provide you with considerable information to discuss with your vet.

Calcium Disorders

Calcium and Feline Kidney Disease

As you will read in those links, you should have your vet take another blood sample and send it out for additional testing at Michigan State University. Ionized calcium should definitely be tested, and a malignancy panel may also be advisable.

I also strongly recommend a second veterinary opinion about your dog's condition, preferably from a veterinary nephrologist. If you google "veterinary nephrologist" and the name of your state, you should be able to locate nephrologists within driving distance of your location or at least find one with whom you can do a telephone consult.

I wish you and Kodak the best,

Laurie

My only experience with kidney disease has been a cat. Her issue was simply chronic kidney disease. She wouldn't accept the subQ fluids either (fed her wet food 50/50 with water instead). I was expecting a short time with her when we were where you are. When we did lose her, it was 2 -1/2 years later and she started having seizures that both vets felt certain (by the response to treatment attempts) were almost certainly from a brain tumor. Not the kidney disease at all - the vet said her last lab had near normal kidney function.

You just don't know, so I would get a second opinion. For me, the decision would be more about what you can do for the dog. I wouldn't want to put her through surgery only to have her in pain and healing in her final days/weeks. If you might be looking at 2-3 years and you can afford it, then it would be hard not to. I think you have to keep asking questions so you have as much information as possible so you can make the best decision possible.

Good luck!

So sorry to hear about your Kodak.

I am not a vet but went through something similar with my dog last year. He was 7 years old and a routine blood screen revealed he had significantly elevated calcium level. Vet said he probably had cancer. He did not have abnormal kidney values.

I opted to test for parathyroid disease; don't know if your vet mentioned that a benign parathyroid tumor or enlargement can cause high calcium levels. It's not necessarily cancer. I would check your dog's PTH (parathyroid hormone) and pth-rp (parathyroid hormone related peptide). If the second one is high, it is most likely a cancer/malignant tumor. If the pth-rp is not elevated and the pth is either normal or high, it is likely a benign parathyroid tumor, which can cause kidney damage.

Turns out my dog had a benign parathyroid tumor. He had surgery to remove it in September 2013 and is doing great now. My surgeon said that, If a parathyroid tumor is removed, kidney damage may possibly be only temporary.

I hope you can at least pursue the pth and pth-rp tests as they will I think at least point you in the right direction. I don't believes there is anything that can be done diet-wise for high calcium-at least my vet didn't talk about that.

Good luck with Kodak!

Thank you all for the information so far! It's been a busy week, hope I get some time this weekend to sit down and read the links you posted.

To address Mike specifically -- my vet said that if she didn't have elevated kidney levels, things would be a lot different but felt that because both were high, that the damage had already been done. Of course, I don't know though. Mind if I ask what your parathyroid removal cost? She estimated to me it costing between $2500-$4000. Even if I spent the $230 for the PTH test and that was the reason, I wouldn't have that kind of money for the surgery on the "hopes' that the kidneys were still OK. :(

Dave,

I strongly recommend you find another vet for a second opinion. $230 for a PTH test is obscene! As you will see at the following link, the Malignancy Panel at MSU (which is the lab most veterinarians in this country use for this particular set of tests) only costs $65. Your vet can also order a prepaid, insulated mailer from MSU for only $16. That means that your vet intends to charge you $149 for simply acquiring the blood sample and preparing it for shipment to MSU. Ridiculous!

If I were you, I would call around to all of your area vets and ask how much they would charge for a Malignancy Panel to be sent out to MSU's lab. Then take your dog to the low bidder and have that test done. The test will provide critical diagnostic information without which you can not make a properly informed decision about your dog's veterinary care going forward. You simply don't know what you're dealing with right now.

Laurie

Here is a link that might be useful: Malignancy Panel at MSU

I am sure the elevated cost is due to your vet's sending the blood to his/her regular lab and they are sending it on to some place like the one above⦠everyone gets their piece of the pie for sending things on. Definitely saves money to send it directly, but remember most vets charge a blood draw fee and its standard practice to charge 2.5x a the cost of the test itself⦠so if you want to avoid ALL those charges you may have to pull the blood yourself.. but at least sending it yourself will save a lot of money⦠you still may need your vet to interpret the results (part of that cost is absorbed in the increased fees I just mentioned). Either way⦠hope that's the cause and not a tumor⦠which is the most likely OTHER cause of an elevated calcium like that.

WOW! I'm certainly glad that 2.5x the cost of a blood test isn't the "standard" price charged in my area for a blood draw and prep! If I lived in an area with that sort of pricing, I'd seriously consider moving. WOW! WOW! WOW!