We have a 23 month old golden retriever, I just got the news from the vet yesterday that her kidneys are failing. Abviously this was very shocking news, the vet also said that she was going to die and there is nothing that can be done.

Does anyone know of some herbal treatment or anything that can help fix her kidneys or at least pro-long her life, she is getting pretty skinny so I dont know how much time she has left.

Aww bless thats horrible news, i wouild look on google for herble products for dogs i get tess herble calm down from a company called CJL good luck, im really sorry about your news.

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am sorry to hear about your dog. i don't know of anything im afraid, but wish you well in looking.

My heart is breaking for you more than you know. I am going through the exact same thing at this very moment. Timber is on IV fluid and I won't know any more til later tonight. Please tell me the outcome of your puppy, I'm grasping for a ray of hope. Does anyone else have ideas on how to save our puppies from this disease?

Very sorry to hear about your dogs and paws crossed for them both.

The treatment for this condition seems to be palliative only, IV fluid to flush out toxins from the kidneys and a low protein diet such as Hills HD.

There is now a genetic test for JRD and about 20 breeds suffer from it - there is a list and further info at DOGenes Inc. Homepage the site of the company which has developed the dna test.

So the best hope is to notify the breeders of your dogs, and if they are caring they will have the test done on the sire and dam so no further affected puppies will be bred.

My thoughts are with you both,

Sgurr

Thanks for the post,

We had to put our girl down on Tuesday, she stopped eating and was not doing to well. We switched to the hills, and by the time we found everything out it was too late for the iv. We ended up making her soft foods mixed with broth towards the end just to try to get her to eat, she would eat it but could not keep it down.

The strange thing where I am having the issue understanding this whole thing is, from what I understand JRD is genetic. After contacting the breeder she said she has never had this issue in 12 years of breeding. It could have been a freak accident and her kidneys just did not mature as she grew, I just dont know.

Anyways thanks for the post.

Kris

First of all sorry for your loss you must be devasted, but just out of interest was the pup born by cesarian section ?

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Kris,

First of all, heartfelt sympathy for the loss of your little girl.

I quote below from the Dogenes site - the company that developed the genetic test for JRD. Essentailly they say (before this quote) that the only definitive diagnosis for JRD is by a biopsy where malformed cells 'fetal glomeruli' can be detected and this is the indicator for JRD. There is a wide range of symptoms from asymptotic individuals to the extreme causing premature death so it is not always noticed in dogs with hardly any symptoms. But these individuals are carriers in the breeding population and can produce affected offspring such as your lovely girl.

Now the Dogenes quote:
What you see is not always what you get. For those breeders that deny that JRD is a problem in their kennel, you would see it if you had done biopsies on you dogs.

Below is a summary of an article by Dr. Kenneth C. Bovee

In October of 2003, Dr. Kenneth C. Bovee from the University of Pennsylvania published his findings in the Shih tzu from a 10 year study involving 143 dogs and 52 matings. His findings clearly show that the majority of breeding stock had some level of fetal glomeruli, and estimates from this study indicated that the prevalence of this defect (meaning biopsy positive fetal glomeruli) was probably about 85% in the breed, however the actual clinical cases that manifested severe renal dysfunction was low.

Other critical conclusion from this 10 year study was that animals with a low percentage of fetal glomeruli could produce those with renal disease and even the breeding of 0% fetal glomeruli (biopsy negative) adults resulted in offspring with 1-3% fetal glomeruli. The apparent low incidence of disease was a danger to the breeding population as seemingly normal adults could go undetected in the breeding population, and produce clinically affected offspring. Further, while using biopsy data to try and control this disease in the breeding population limited to some degree the production of severely affected progeny, this was not entirely successful in eliminating the transmission of biopsy positive offspring from the parents.

Further Dr. Bovee speculated, based on these findings that the mode of inheritance was not a simple recessive, and could follow a pattern of dominant with incomplete penetrance.

Thus the development of a genetic test was imperative to control this disease in this breed as well as others.

So to the breeders of your dog (and all the rest of the breeders out there) I say If you don't test, you don't know. And if there is a dna test available for your breed, you are morally obliged to use it if you breed - otherwise you are storing up heartache and distress for someone who has bought a pup from you in good faith

The reason I am getting up to speed on JRA is that I breed Springers. There are 3 dna tests for ESS at the moment. But there seems to me to be a pointer, that if Cockers are prone to a condition then Springers may well be too because they originally came from the same stock. Cockers are on the affected breeds list for JRD so I was looking at what was involved to get mine tested - ESS are not on the affected list at the moment.

A full answer Kris, not to distress you further but to try to answer your question as the breeder has never had the problem.

Sgurr

TimberCakes,

You are not forgotten, hoping the IV is working for Timber. Let us know please.

Sgurr

Thus the development of a genetic test was imperative to control this disease in this breed as well as others.

So to the breeders of your dog (and all the rest of the breeders out there) I say If you don't test, you don't know. And if there is a dna test available for your breed, you are morally obliged to use it if you breed - otherwise you are storing up heartache and distress for someone who has bought a pup from you in good faith

Is this a test that is availabe and breeders would do?
Because if so (i dont know as its not my breed) then im sure the breeder is liable as they have bred without testing,and produced "faulty" dogs which cant live up to their intended purpose of being a pet.

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Health testing for the future.