My friend was grief stricken. Her body heaved with sobs, and in between she kept repeating: “He was so young. I never thought I’d lose him so soon.” No, she hadn’t lost a son or brother, but she had lost a friend. “It’s like losing a member of your family,” she cried. She was referring to the death of Jack, her beloved Golden Retriever puppy, who had contracted a condition known as Juvenile Renal Disease.

Regrettably, this and other kidney conditions are common threats to your dog’s health, and as we’ve seen, the effects can be devastating. The good news, however, is that with the correct type of dog care, much can be done to prevent and even cure kidney disease.

So what exactly do the kidneys do, and what causes them to become infected?

First things first!

The job of the kidneys is two-fold: they balance a whole variety of chemicals in your dog’s blood AND they filter out waste material through the urine.

When there are just too many toxic substances in the body, the dog’s kidneys can become infected. (We can define a toxin as a substance which is in the wrong place, or which is performing the wrong function.)

Common symptoms of kidney infection are drinking copious amounts of water, and frequent passing of dilute urine (that is, clear urine with no smell). This can lead to vomiting, loss of appetite, weight loss and a wasting of the muscles.

Many toxic substances are to be found in the plastics that dogs love to chew on, in unclean water and even in certain chemicals that are used in the processing of dog food. The resulting kidney disease can be debilitating at best and fatal at worst. (more…)