Good News, Bad News

Which comes first?

In this case it was the bad news.

I have sick kidneys.  I found out a month ago and it has taken me a while to ponder it enough to be able to write about it.  I constantly feel like I want to drink water but then I have to pee all of the time!  I have tried so hard to start with an empty bladder when mom leaves for the day.  I try not to have accidents in the house, but sometimes I just can not hold it!  It is embarrassing and the boys tease me about it.  I feel ashamed.

Mom tries every day to make sure I am happy.  I have to give her credit - she has tried really hard to make me feel better - better about not feeling good and better about peeing in the house.  At first I thought she would be angry when she came home to the puddles.  She was never angry!  I think she got annoyed that I peed on the big rug sometimes instead of the washable one by the door.  I agree it was a poor choice on my part, but sometimes I missed.  Anyway, she keeps telling me there is no shame in what I have been forced to do.  She understands I am not trying to be bad and that I am sick and cannot help it, but I still feel bad anyway.  Mom tells me, "Heidi, there is no shame.  Pee on the pad - that's what it's for."  The big rug got so dirty that she rolled it up and moved it.  Now, I don't have to worry about that anymore.  I just pee on whatever is by the door.  It is so much easier, lol.

Oh, the good news!

I forgot about that for a minute.  Mom drove me to see our veterinarian.  He looked at my insides with an ultrasound machine and mom drew blood to send out to a lab for a CBC and serum chemistry tests (see the post SMILE - Pre-Anesthesia for a Dental Cleaning for an explanation about the bloodwork).  My vet did not see anything bad on the ultrasound and the only thing wrong with my bloodwork was the kidney values, BUN and creatinine, which are elevated.  This is expected with kidney disease (aka renal failure).  So, for now, all I have to do is eat a special food and recheck my bloodwork every few months.  The food is a special prescription diet which actually tastes really good.  I heard "prescription" and thought it would be awful and mom would have to force feed me.  Thankfully, that was not the case!