Debbie, our RB Ernie died of kidney failure. The "bad" phase lasted for about a month. During that time, he lost quite a bit of weight and gradually quit eating. He drank quite a bit though. In his last week, he would not eat at all. We tried to tempt him with everything we could think of. He continued to drink. He became very thin and his face looked sunken. For the last few days, all he really did was sleep and drink a bit of what we brought to him as his kidneys shut down. He chose a spot in the living room and no longer came to our bedroom.

However, for several years before this, he would have periods of time where he seemed to be declining, but would always rally again as and did not completely stop eating or drinking nor did he lose the weight like he did when he was dying. From the time we knew his kidneys were starting to fail - until the end - was about 3-4 years. He died just short of age 18, in March 2003.

Towards the end, there was no doubt in my mind that he was dying - I could see so many changes in him and the biggest was the drastic loss in weight as he became a bag of bones and very weak.

I think this is the sort of thing you are asking for Debbie. If Tubby is progressing like our Ernie - it sounds like he is rather early in his failure, but of course that is only a guess. What I saw was very dramatic. I also chose to have no medical intervention for him. (Sub-q fluids, labs, electrolytes, blood monitoring, etc) Having this may well have prolonged his life for a period of time - I have no idea about that either. The night he died, he got up and walked to my bedroom and woke me up. I was stunned to see him but of course got up and loved on him intil he walked back to his place in the living room. He was gone in the morning, peacefully laying exactly as he did when he slept. It was his time.

I hope that you have lots of time left with Tubby and can enjoy every single day. Just lavish him with love, take lots of pictures and enjoy him, knowing what a happy and wonderful life he still has with all of you. I know you and Terry pamper and comfort him all that you are able and this is exactly what he deserves