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My dog has kidney failure but is active. When is euthanasia right?

Updated On September 23rd, 2025

Pet's info: Dog | Labrador Retriever | Male | unneutered | 7 years and 3 months old | 68 lbs

Hi, we have a dog in kidney failure. Had him in the vet hospital getting fluids for 2 days. Vet said he was not getting better and take him home for the night and bring him back in the morning and put him asleep. But he eats, drinks wags his tail, jumps up on the flower bed etc. He is not him self but happy to see people also. Numbers that are suppose to be high are low and numbers that are suppose to be low are high. The vet said he cant figure why hes so active with his numbers. Please help

2 Answers

Most Helpful Answer

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Answered By Sara Farmer, DVM

Veterinarian

Published on March 29th, 2019

I don't really have any insight into his lab work without being able to see the results, but it sounds like you're not ready to consider euthanasia. You may want to ask your vet if there's anything else that can be done for Baxter - depending on the cause of the kidney failure he might benefit from more intensive 24 hour care at a specialty hospital. Since he is still eating and drinking you could also ask about hospice care - he may be comfortable for a little while longer with fluids at home. At some point it sounds like you will need to make a decision regarding euthanasia - these links might help: https://www.petcoach.co/article/the-decision-of-euthanizing-your-pet/ https://www.ahelpproject.org/ https://www.iaahpc.org/images/BarkArticleSpring2014Goldberg

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    Answered By Jennifer Summerfield, DVM CPDT-KA

    Veterinarian, Certified Dog Trainer

    Published on

    I'm sorry to hear that Baxter is in kidney failure. If he's currently eating and drinking, wagging his tail, and acting fairly happy, then you can certainly hold off on putting him to sleep for as long as he's feeling good. With chronic illnesses like this, some dogs can act surprisingly good for a while even when their lab work looks terrible. So I would just make your decision depending on how he seems to feel. When the time comes that he doesn't want to eat or wag his tail or move around much, you'll know it's time to think about letting him go.

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