Advice re poorly old dog, please.

[Astrabees]

Our much loved dog (bitch) is 13. We adopted her from rescue when she was 10, she is a Staffie cross, long legged. She is the most lovely girl, we love her very much.
Earlier this year she had a benign lump removed from her left hand rear leg and made a good recovery. A few weeks later she went off her food and was clearly uncomfortable in her back legs. She would only eat small spoons of rice pudding. The vet gave her an injection (to be repeated monthly) and put her on Metacam. She made an amazing recovery. Put on weight and was enjoying her walks again for a fortnight, she was eating well again.
After 3 weeks she developed constant diarrhoea and was sick too. All this cleared up the day before her second vet’s appointment, when she had the injection again.
After that she lost her appetite again and today she won’t eat at all. She continues to vomit some days. Up until today she would eat with a lot of persuasion (spoon feeding and lots of praise from me and DH)
She is very sleepy, has lost more weight but still seeing and pooing, with some interest in her toys and barking through the fence at dog next door.
The only thing that is significant that might have started all this is drinking out of our garden fountain, which we have now fenced off.
She will be seeing the vet again but I am so worried about her, can anyone advise?

The mention of drinking out of the fountain made me wonder about parvovirus - we got rid of our small pond after we saw a rat drinking from it. Is she up to date with her vaccinations? The symptoms seem to fit (but could also fit many other dog ailments I suspect) www.pdsa.org.uk/pet-help-and-advice/pet-health-hub/conditions/parvovirus-in-dogs-and-puppies

Yes, she is up to date with all vaccinations including Parvo, so should not be that. I don’t think it is a blockage as she is still pooing when we get her to eat. Today she has been bringing up bile, two episodes.

Metacam can cause stomach upset is she still on that? And if the injection is librela look online it can have some nasty reactions in some dogs. Hope she feels better soon

She is on Metacam and the injection is Librela. I will check that out, she has been on Metacam before but the Librela is new.

We have been to see the vet today, she has taken blood to be tested but thinks it is most likely to be kidney failure, sadly no real effective treatment if that turns out to be the case. She has had an anti sickness jab to help her feel better today. Feel very sad.

I'm so sorry. We lost our dear old 16yo about a year ago, I know it's hard caring for an elderly dog. It sounds as though you're doing everything you can to keep her comfortable.

My previous dog had kidney problems my vets told me Metacam is not suitable for dogs with Kidney trouble he was on Tralieve (tramadol).
Metacam is known to cause upset stomachs in some dogs although both mine are on it now with no problems.
It’s a worry when they get older you want to do everything you can for them but also needing to know when to stop.
I send you my best wishes it’s hard.

If it's kidney failure ask what stage. There isn't a cure but there's lots you can do to help if it's not last stage.
Changing to a low phosphorus diet and changing medication and treating high bp. Initially we used a low phosphorus tinned food (with tripe on top, it absolutely stink but gets them eating) and saw a specialist who gave us some home cooked recipes too. Our Westie did very well with these changes plus some supplements for 1 1/2 years after diagnosis, but it wasn't initially final stage.
He was shaking a lot before diagnosis and off his food. But after we got him eating and changed his medication he was back to his old self for well over a year.

Thank you all for supportive messages. The test results were in yesterday evening and confirmed kidney failure. On the scale where her results should be between 2.9 and just over 9 she was 47 and on another her levels were 10 x what they should be. She is very poorly but continent, was excited to go out in the car to the vets and as affectionate as ever, though tired.
Long term she has no options, it is too severe. We discussed her going into the vet hospital for 2 days for intravenous fluids to flush out the urea and toxins, they will also get her eating again.
The vet advised that might (emphasis on might) get a good couple of months out of this, or that there could be no improvement or just a few days.
We decided it was worth trying this. DH said if it was him and not the dog he would like the option of a summer in the sun.
I felt so sad leaving her at the hospital this morning. Skye wasn’t too impressed either, but trotted off with the nurse after she gave her a little cuddle and told her she was a beautiful girl, she is a bit of a diva.

So sorry to hear that 😥
I think I might have some of the recipes that the vet specialist approved, if you would like them just message me. They really helped with appetite.

Thank you so much, Sarfar. Skye is in hospital at the moment and not doing too well. If she gets well enough to come home I will let you know as we will be spoiling her rotten for whatever time she has.

My sister had a very elderly dog with end stage renal failure and anaemia , he was too ill for a transfusion but for various reasons she couldn’t have him PTS and he had a fairly reasonable few months by having a weekly cocktail of injected vitamins ( no idea what) and a steroid injection every third week - our vet was even surprised at how well he did . Hope your dog improves @Astrabees

Not good news, I'm afraid. The vet ran some more blood tests yesterday morning and the levels had only gone down by a tiny amount. She was still refusing food despite anti sickness and appetite boosting medication. The vet and nurses had tried everything, including lots of encouragement and spoon feeding to no avail. We felt PTS was the kindest thing although it was difficult for us. We took her for a little walk and sat on a bench to talk to her for a while and then back to the vets where she was so pleased to see the lovely vet again and settle down on a rug in what was like a little sitting room that she had no idea what was happening and just closed her eyes. She was an obstinate and awkward dog in many respects but she just loved everyone and was a central part of our little family. DH and I cried, the vet cried and I was certain we had done the right thing. Skye was an old somewhat strange looking gawky staffie cross, and we will remember her forever. Thank you for your support and messages on this thread.

Really sorry.

So terribly sorry x

Sorry for your loss , it sounds like she was a real character 💐🐾

So sorry for your loss you cared for her so beautifully x

I'm so sorry 💔💔💔

I'm so sorry.