A 40th day pregnant Corgi vomits twice and has no appetite - acute kidney failure

Mar 18  2016
I got a tel call at 8am from the breeder. The 2-year-old Corgi is heavily pregnant. Vomited once yesterday and today  yellow vomitus. No appetite. Why?

Blood test.
High blood urea and creatinine. Leucocytosis - a higher than normal number of total white cell count indicating a possible bacterial infection.

"Acute kidney failure," I gave the breeder the bad news. The sudden onset of uraemia causing vomiting led me to diagnose acute kidney failure in contrast to chronic kidney failure. 

"Why and how the Corgi suffers from kidney failure?" the breeder asked. "She is only 2 years old and this is her first litter."

"There are many causes," I explained. "Infections, dietary management, toxicity, kidney injury, kidney pressure on the ureters due to too many foetus (the Corgi was later found to have 10 foetuses). It is possible that there is a kidney infection based on leucocytosis."

I gave IV therapy and antibiotic. The IV therapy was continued at the farm for the next 3 days. The dog still vomited after drinking and had no appetite for the next 3 days.

Mar 20, 2016
The dog miscarriaged with 2 premature puppies born. I gave oxytocin as the others would be dead too. There were 10 puppies in total. Most of the 10 placentas came out the next day. The dam was more alert but had no appetite. "The IV drip for the next 3 days is critical. It is for dialysis to clear out the waste products of urea by the functioning glomerulus cells of the kideys to filter the toxic waste.  It provides the dextrose energy and fluid to prevent dehydration," I explained to the breeder. 

Mar 23, 2016
I phoned the breeder. He said that the dam started eating yesterday and is ok.  He was most happy. "Breeders will not be happy with the vet if the dam dies during Caesarean or treatment as they tend to blame the vet for being incompetent for achieving a poor outcome," I said.
"Well," he replied. "If the factory is shut down, there will be no production."
I had never thought of the dam as being a factory but this analogy is realistic.