Pet of the Month – May 2016 – O’Riley!

by admin on May 2nd, 2016

Category: Pet of the Month, Tags:

With O’Riley already suffering from Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) his owners were used to him having the occasional flare ups of IBD causing him to not be his normal bouncy self. But when they noticed he was drinking more, urinating more and having more frequent bouts of vomiting as well they brought him in to  see if anything  else could be contributing to this.

Blood tests showed O’Riley to have higher than normal levels  of urea and creatinine, substances which the kidneys excrete, indicating O’Riley’s kidney function was declining. A urine sample was taken to help confirm the diagnosis  and also to check if he had excess protein in his urine (‘proteinuria’) as animals with kidney disease who develop this will benefit from additional medications. A clinically silent urinary tract infection was detected, a common complaint for animals with kidney disease, which obscured the protein results. This was addressed with a course of antibiotics  before repeating the urine test. O’Riley was found to have proteinuria and started on a medication called an ACE inhibitor. An ultrasound scan of his kidneys was also performed to check for any structural abnormalities and his left kidney was found to be small, a common finding in Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD). A renal diet which restricts the amounts of protein and phosphorus, which the kidneys struggle to excrete in kidney disease, was tried but due to O’Riley’s concurrent IBD this treatment had to be abandoned. His phosphate levels were found to be too high and so an additional medication known as a phosphate binder was started. O’Riley also had regular checks of his blood pressure, as hypertension (high blood pressure) is another common result of CKD. When O’Riley’s blood pressure was found to be elevated he was also started on Amlodipine to help reduce this. Blood tests to check on his kidneys a month later showed improvements with lower levels of urea, creatinine and phosphate.

We are delighted to report that apart from an isolated occasion when his kidney disease made him feel unwell and which a brief stay in our hospital on intravenous fluids helped rectify, six months on O’Riley continues to do well.

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