My MinPin, Bugs is a female 14 year old. In 12/10 my vet said her creatnine/bun numbers were up (1.83/36) so I started her (as advised on a supplement). Long story short, the numbers did not improve. I decided to switch her over to raw (again my vet's suggestion) and had the blood tested again. The numbers are better (1.3/34).

Although Bugs is doing well and her kidney numbers have improved, we do have some issues. When I first started raw, Bugs did seem to be a little more energetic and very enthusiastic about eating (although she has always loved food whether it be raw or kibble). Since then, she seems to have gone downhill in some ways. In fact lately she looks at the meat given and if it requires “work,” she will just walk away. The other day she walked away from some venison and knowing that she needed to eat, I took it, cut it up and she then ate it very well. Some of the other issues are:

Terrible diarrhea (although she has always had horrible poop even on kibble). Now it seems even worse. I have taken her back to chicken only and there does not seem to be a significant improvement.

She seems very lethargic, sleeps more than ever.

She used to sleep through the night. Now it is an extreme rarity for her to sleep through. She gets up to poop almost every night. There have been a few nights when she throws up almost like a dry heave.

With the raw I always get her to eat, but it seems like every 2-3 days she goes through a day where when we get up in the morning I can tell she does not feel well. She shakes a lot so I put her jacket on even if the weather is perfectly comfortable. On these days, she will not eat at all for a good part of the day. I try everything trying to get her to eat something because she is already on the thin side. Usually in the afternoon, she comes around and will eat fine, but the first half of the day she just looks miserable.

There are times when she will be sitting next to me sound asleep and all of a sudden she spring up and out of her bed as if she had been shocked or something has hurt her and she runs to get away.

She seems weak. I notice she loses her balance very easily. Today she walked up two stairs to our deck, just lost her balance, and completely fell over backwards.

. . . and this is very strange. Bugs is like Velcro to me. So much so that sometimes it kind of gets to me; I can’t go anywhere without her beside me. On two occasions within the last 2 days I have lost her. I have a moment of panic wondering where in the world she is, I can’t believe she is not by my side. Both times I have found her upstairs, one time asleep on the floor right in the middle of the room and today she was sound asleep in my bed. This is never happened in the past.

I just took her to the vet and had her checked out. As mentioned the blood work was good. My vet did a thorough check and said she was in good shape. I mentioned some of these things, but maybe I didn’t really voice enough about all of the details of some of these symptoms. What do you think? She is 14, I know she is older, but literally sometimes I think she is just slipping away . . .

I did mention to my vet that Bugs’ eyes are often very glassy and she just looks like she doesn’t feel good. The vet said this could be allergies. I wonder, do you think an allergy could be a cause of all of these symptoms?

I am so concerned and will present these issues again to my vet, but would appreciate an opinion. On my recent CBC panel her thyroid came back as follows: (comments were given by an acquaintance on my "raw" group.)

Test Result Range Notes

AST (SGPT) 61 5-107 Normal



CK 244 10-200


High because of the fight to get blood. Nothing to worry about, but she may be bruised up a bit!



BUN 47 7-27


Stress/dehydration. With a CK that high, she was a bit over the top – again, I would not worry about this number!



Creatinine 1.5 0.4-1.8 NORMAL!



Glucose 140 60-125 Stress. Again. Nothing to worry about.
B/C Ratio 31.3
Na/K Ratio 26 27-40 A blip. Nothing to worry about – may also have been affected by the fighting for blood.



Total Protein 6.5 5.1-7.8 Normal



T4 1.2 1.0-4.0


This one is interesting, actually. It’s at the very low end of things.



MCHC 36.3 32-36 Nothing to worry about.



Eosinophil 15 2-10%


Allergy or parasites. No biggie, but something to be aware of.




Auto Platlet 744 164-510 Stress from the draw. Or she’s pregnant. Your call.

Urinalysis

Specific Gravity 1.017 NORMAL.
Glucose Negative
Bilirubin Negative
Ketones Negative
Blood Negative
PH 5.5
Protein Negative No protein!
WBC 0-2 0-5
RBC 0-2 0-5
Bacteria None Seen
EPI Cell Rare
Mucub None Seen
Casts None Seen
Crystals None Seen
Urobilinogen Normal

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