Pet Forum / Miscellaneous / Animal Health / July 2008

This is very hard for me because he has been my one constant all these
years.

My 10yr 7mth old Golden was diagnosed with chronic kidney disease about this
time last year. He was put on subQ and every other month or so he had to go
for IV for a day to feel better. It worked until a few days ago. Leading to
this, he has been anemic since 3 months ago, and lost about 10-lb in the
duration (from 80 to 70-lb).

We went for two half day treatment of IV and he was still feeling bad. On
July 4th, I took him to an emergency hospital. A day later, his BUN improved
from 180+ to 175, and creatinine from 9.6 to 9.2. He now has ulcers under
his tongue from the kidney failure, and heart murmur and slight nose bleed
probably from anemia. He trembles slightly in the abdomen, but he's still
peeing, temperature was normal, awake and recognized me when I visited. The
hospital is giving him medication and a blood transfusion for his anemia
right now as I write. The attending veterinarian told me bluntly that his
prognosis at the hospital is not good at this point, but there are board
certified internists at Animal Medical Center in Manhattan that I could
bring him to if I choose to pursue this further, including dialysis which is
available there.

Financially I am doing well, and I can well afford it. I would really
appreciate advice on how far I should pursue this. Is it cruelty to let him
go on like this while I get the satisfaction of knowing that I would do
everything I can for him? This can be ended peaceably in a moment but it
will haunt me for the rest of my life. My inclinication is to transfer him
to Manhattan right after his blood transfusion, or should I wait another day
to see how he's doing after the transfusion and his 2nd straight day of IV
treatment (improvement after the first day was so minimal it's probably
wishful thinking)?

I have just now realized how serious this disease is. When first diagnosed,
his vet told me that this was a slow progressing disease and with proper
care, he could live until 15. So I never watched his diet (home cook rice
and chicken or liver) and took him often to the park and swam which was what
he loved best. He started not feeling well this time after a long day along
the river last Sunday.