Renal Failure

Hi,
I was wondering if anyone had any advice or experience in this area. My rabbit Daisy who is 7 and a half years old has just been diagnosed with this. The vets have recommended injecting her with fluids this week every other day to flush out her kidneys, making dietry changes so no foods high in calcium, timothy hay (she has anyway) and putting water in the veg and foods shet eats just doing anything i can to increase fluids.
she will have bloods again in a month to see if shes had any improvement and her weights being watched as shes lost weight

my question is does anyone have expereince with a bun who has dealt with this? in herself shes happy still eats loads etc and ideally i do not want to be giving her injections every other day for the rest of her life with fluids its just not nice for her so want to see what else i can do to help?

any advice would be great love daisy to bits xxxxxxxxxxx

Kelly11 said:

Hi,
I was wondering if anyone had any advice or experience in this area. My rabbit Daisy who is 7 and a half years old has just been diagnosed with this. The vets have recommended injecting her with fluids this week every other day to flush out her kidneys, making dietry changes so no foods high in calcium, timothy hay (she has anyway) and putting water in the veg and foods shet eats just doing anything i can to increase fluids.
she will have bloods again in a month to see if shes had any improvement and her weights being watched as shes lost weight

my question is does anyone have expereince with a bun who has dealt with this? in herself shes happy still eats loads etc and ideally i do not want to be giving her injections every other day for the rest of her life with fluids its just not nice for her so want to see what else i can do to help?

any advice would be great love daisy to bits xxxxxxxxxxx

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Hi there Kelly :wave:

I'm sorry to head about Daisy. It's so common in rabbits for them to have kidney failure.

If it was a sudden deterioration, the vet sometimes puts the rabbit on IV fluids for 3/4 days continuously. This can sometimes rectify the problem, although Fortekor (a heart drug but used in kidney failure) is often prescribed as it helps the kidneys.

Sub cut fluids (which is what you've been asked to give) can be administered at home. It's a maintenance thing though ...

If she's still eating lots, then she's a happy girl, and I would ask your vet about Fortekor and maybe the IV fluids?

Hi,

Yeah shes absolultly fine in herself, still eats all her foods - which is another thing - i am trying now to look at low calcium foods at the moment she has
spring greens, kale, cabbage and a mix of herbs in the morning then pellets at night - now im seeing some of those greens are high in calcium but spring greens for example are high in water intake which she needs lol ahhhh! any seeing if theres any low calcium pellets????

ah whats Fortekor??? they didnt mention IV fluids theyve just been administrating it though which i pressume is this sub cut thing which they said i can do and i just dont want to for the rest of her life i dont mind now and again but every other day giving her injections bless is not nice

xxxxxxxxxxxx

Kelly11 said:

Hi,

Yeah shes absolultly fine in herself, still eats all her foods - which is another thing - i am trying now to look at low calcium foods at the moment she has
spring greens, kale, cabbage and a mix of herbs in the morning then pellets at night - now im seeing some of those greens are high in calcium but spring greens for example are high in water intake which she needs lol ahhhh! any seeing if theres any low calcium pellets????

ah whats Fortekor??? they didnt mention IV fluids theyve just been administrating it though which i pressume is this sub cut thing which they said i can do and i just dont want to for the rest of her life i dont mind now and again but every other day giving her injections bless is not nice

xxxxxxxxxxxx

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Yeah I know what you mean about giving fluids every other day. Not nice.

Fortekor is a medication that helps kidneys.

Kale is high in calcium - try forage, celery, peppers, lettuce (romaine), cucumber ....instead. Have a look on the Internet.

Pellets are also high in calcium, as is HARD WATER! (perhaps get bottled water and look at calcium content?)

Hope something there helps you both

ah ok i will as about that

yeah weve taken out kale weve got 2 types of cabbage still then we hear cauliflower and cucumber so going to add them in slowly i think
yeah were trying to look into pellets she doesnt have a lot to be honest!

thanks for your advice!xxxx

Kelly11 said:

ah ok i will as about that

yeah weve taken out kale weve got 2 types of cabbage still then we hear cauliflower and cucumber so going to add them in slowly i think
yeah were trying to look into pellets she doesnt have a lot to be honest!

thanks for your advice!xxxx

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You're welcome :thumb:

Kidney failure is very common in cats too, we've a lot of those and quite a few rabbit with it.
We have used Fortekor/ benazacare ( same thing), along with sub cut fluids, vitamin injections ( specifically water soluble vitamin and more specifically vitamin B12. Also consider anabolic steroids, these help to stimulate appetite ( along with vitamin injections) and they help with anaemia, which happens with chronic health issues.

halfpenny said:

Kidney failure is very common in cats too, we've a lot of those and quite a few rabbit with it.
We have used Fortekor/ benazacare ( same thing), along with sub cut fluids, vitamin injections ( specifically warm soluble vitamin and more specifically vitamin B12. Also consider anabolic steroids, these help to stimulate appetite ( along with vitamin injections) and they help with anaemia, which happens with chronic health issues.

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I agree with halfpenny, especially about the potential benefits of an anabolic steroid. Not only can this help stimulate the appetitie (which can be reduced in cases or CRF) but the anabolic steroid can also help reduce uraemia (a raised level of urea in the blood, along with raised levels of other 'waste' matter usually excreted by the kidneys). Anabolic steroids might also help the retention of important electrolytes. Sometimes a potassium supplement may also be necessary if blood tests indicate hypokalaemia ( potassium deficiency).

If an ACE inhibitor (Angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor) eg Fortekor (AKA Benazepril) is prescribed then careful monitoring of the Rabbits blood pressure is needed when dosing commences as ACE inhibitors can cause a major drop in blood pressure in some Rabbits. Some Vets prefer to have the Rabbit as an Inpatient when first giving them this type of medication. That said, I have had many Rabbits on Benazepril and none had any adverse reactions. It is just something that needs to be taken into account when the Vet decides on the most appropriate treatment regime.

If chronic anaemia is a feature (often happens in cases of CRF) then an erythropietin (a hormone usually secreted by the kidneys.) could be given The hormone increases the rate of production of red blood cells.) Regular blood tests are needed to monitor renal function and to identify any changes in medication/doses that could be required.

This link contains some useful information about CRF in Rabbits

http://wildpro.twycrosszoo.org/S/00dis/Miscellaneous/ChronicRenalLagomorph.htm

Thanks everyone for the above
I cant remember what medication it was but they said its used in cats and dogs so might be what your mentioning - the university of Sheffield didn't recommend it jus saying theres not enough evidence but I will ask again

like she still has her appetite shes exactly the same the only thing I noticed was shes drinking more then we realized shes lost weight. So I want to see if I can manage it so this week shes having fluids their giving her 20ml every other day which I think is a lot????
and then I want to slowly change her diet just little things like ive taken out high calcium kale and herbs and added in cauliflower which she use to have and also cucumber to go with her spring greens and cabbage she has - then im looking at a low calcium pellet to slowly switch her into and then just trying to increase water like the gras making sure its wet and her greens I want to see if I can reduce it when she has her bloods again in a month if not then we will have to look at maybe administrating fluids but want to try and avoid that?

thanks everyone xxxxxxxxxx

i have given fortekor it gave my bun an extra 2years with me, not long enough as he was only 1 when diagnosed, but i believe without that he wouldn't of had those extra years

thanks everyone for ur reply

yeah shes absolutly fine in herself no change at all - i just noticed she was drinking more water so i hope ive caught it early

im making small changes to her diet slowly and looking at low calcium pellets they dont have many anyway! and switchin to low calcium veg also very slowly to not upset her

but shes still the same snatching treats eating all her timothy hay lol so its hard!!!!

ill mention that drug tomorrow when shes in for some fluids shes having them all week to hopefully flush them out then im going to try changing her diet and trying to increase water see if i can help her that way before we go down injecting her every other day with fluids!

xxxxxxxxxxxx

Kelly11 said:

thanks everyone for ur reply

yeah shes absolutly fine in herself no change at all - i just noticed she was drinking more water so i hope ive caught it early

im making small changes to her diet slowly and looking at low calcium pellets they dont have many anyway! and switchin to low calcium veg also very slowly to not upset her

but shes still the same snatching treats eating all her timothy hay lol so its hard!!!!

ill mention that drug tomorrow when shes in for some fluids shes having them all week to hopefully flush them out then im going to try changing her diet and trying to increase water see if i can help her that way before we go down injecting her every other day with fluids!

xxxxxxxxxxxx

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It sometimes happens that the bunny figures it out themselves that drinking more water helps them to feel better. I know it keeps them hydrated and helps them feel better so they eat. Since the additional water is helping the less than perfect kidney's to flush by-products from the bunny's system, I wonder if giving fluids also helps to keep those by-products from causing damage-something I should have asked my own vet.
Given that my bunnies generally reached an old age, some needed the sub-Q fluids. I also used them when a bunny was ill to prevent dehydration.
Amigo, who I lost last month, was on sub-Q fluids for many months. He did not even mind getting the fluids every day and sometimes twice a day.