I have a 7 1/2 year old Min Schnauzer who was just found to have the beginning stages of kidney failure. For the past two years we have been having her urine tested because she is prone to bladder stones and infections, so that is how we found out so early about this. they have us giving her two different types of pills a day to help with this.

Has anyone gone through this at an early stage? How long can we expect her to live? I have not asked the vet this question yet as I was shocked to learn what he had told us.

Any advice or anything would be great. Thank you.

rebecca,
I am so sorry for your little dog's diagnosis.
My dog died of GME so I do not have any advice on the kidney condition.
I do know how hard it is to get all the questions asked and understand them.
There is always a question and sometimes there are no good answers the vets can tell you.
So it helped(?) me when I left the pet hospital and bought a "MERCK"Vet Manual(can I say the name?) from the book store. It is hardback and thin pages with lots of info of different things.
Maybe you can find something in there.Also one of our vets xeroxed some info from another vet book for us to read.
Good luck and spend everyday with your dog like it may be his last. (Maybe it won't be!)
I hope this helps...starry's mom

First off let me say how sorry I am and I know exactly what you are going thru. My furbaby Emily was 11 years old when she was diagnosed as being in the early stages of kidney failure.
I can't really give you a time line but in my case she was in the hospital twice and I had to make the dreaded decision all in 1 month. I thought that if she stayed on Hills K/D that she would get better but it didn't work that way for me.My situation was different because Emily had developed ulcers as a result from her not eating and I had about 5 minutes to decide to put her down or take a chance of her intestines rupturing. I really can't give you any helpful advise only the painful truth.
To be honest I don't think that anyone, not even the vet can give you the answers you are looking for. But I can say from my experience spend as much time and do everything with your baby, and take lots of pictures.
Hope this has helped you somewhat.
Once again I am sorry. You both are in my thoughts and prayers.