I'm glad you've made a decision about diet that you are happy with. Probably the safest option. Are you insured? Some insurance will help pay out for medical diets from the vet, as I imagine it will get quite pricy.

I'm happy to hear that Floyd is still loving life I'm not surprised the vet couldn't give a better indication, it varies massively from dog to dog and how far advance the kidney failure is. All you can do is try not to get too depressed, do your best (which you clearly are) and love eveyr single day with Floyd (and there may be many of those to come!). I'm sure VB will tell you, but her Katie has been going strong for some time so don't give up hope yet x

I decided against insurance for Floyd. Long story, but I made that conscious decision not to. I'm not too worried about the cost though, I'll do what I need to without any hesitation. Thankfully I'm lucky enough to have some spare cash set aside for emergencies.

If you were to look at Floyd this morning, apart from a few bald patches on his tummy and leg, you'd swear there was nothing wrong with him. I'm glad about that.

Katie gets very sick days when she wont/cant eat. I will say this, if she is not eating after 48 hours, she is at the vets. They lose weight too fast with renal disease and it takes a good while to get it back to an acceptable level
I have learned that they can have treats like cooked chicken skin, not a lot obviously but it breaks up the monotony. Two/three feeds a day as opposed to one. Jars of baby food are very bland & i have hand fed that to Katie at times to try and kick start her eating again. She had a few bad days last week and had to go back onto Omeprazole for a week, its for her digestion. Can only keep her on it for a week at a time and then she has to come off it. Although Katie is insured, it does not cover anything to do with the urinary/digestive tract

Once you get over the shock, you get on with it, the dog knows no difference and the best advice I can give you is never look too far ahead - just enjoy your best friend.

Katie was diagnosed Jan 2011 and we still have her

So sorry to hear about your dog, my Yorkie had kidney disease she went to the vet for a dental and it showed up in the blood they took, we put her onto the kd I mixed both dry and wet. This was in July she died 3 months later she was a little trooper I still miss her she was 8. This was all 4 years ago before many threads like this where info is great.

Mizz66, sorry to hear about your little dog. Life can be very cruel at times can't it.



Floyd appears to be so well atm, it's really hard to believe there's anything wrong with him at all. He's chattering away and "killing" his toys terrier style. Long may it last. who knows, I might even do a tiny bit of agility with him tomorrow, tunnels and weaves etc.

VB, it's great to hear about food tips too. I offered him some cooked chicken yesterday and he turned his nose up at that. That's the first time he's said no to chicken, but he was expecting me to throw his NEW ball. I shall have to try a piece of cooked chicken skin, see how he likes that but he's not a foody dog anyway, he's always been difficult to get him to eat, right from the day we had him. He can be fussy, but we've put that down to this being his 4th home and he's probably been given all types of food prior to coming here.

Thanks for your help people, it's nice to be able to collect tips from others.