Wife said to me last night that she felt like we shouldn't make any major alterations to Fasb's life until he starts showing symptoms. The blood work indicates stage 3 renal failure, but.... he shows no symptoms of anything that we can see. He eats well, plays hard, is very active, still normal habits and personality. He isn't drinking more water than normal. He does go to the bathroom (bladder) more frequently than he did when he was a puppy, but we can't detect any recent significant changes. He doesn't seem to have trouble holding it for long periods, or even overnight. We have a good idea what symptoms or changes we're looking for, but we really don't see much.
We're hoping the lack of symptoms means he can be himself for awhile yet. We want to maximize Fasb's quality of life for as long as we can. Basically, keep him happy and healthy in the short-term and just let nature take it's course. We don't intend to let him linger through a long illness, so when he starts to feel poorly and not be himself and life becomes a series of doctor visits and shots and side effects, we'll help him move on.
Our vet - as always - is saying that we can manage his condition for years to come, but acknowledges it will be tricky. We don't have a good feeling about most of the suggestions he is throwing out, so we're wondering if we should keep Fasb's routines and treatments normal for as long as we can then deal with the issues. At his age, we feel like the next decline will be permanent and he'll never be himself again.
Basically, I feel like doing something major like switching from an NSAID to a steroid may keep his kidneys healthy for a little while longer but will probably lead to other problems which could actually shorten his remaining quality time, not extend it.
On the other hand, the vet is the expert. Normally, my inclination would be to follow his advice wholeheartedly.
Hard to know what to do.
