Jason if your hound is eating good and drinking water without throwing it back up its not kidney failure. One tell tale sign of kidney failure is a dogs breath will have a fairly powerful ammonia smell to it like cat ***** If the dog is eating it's gums are pink and the bottom of its eye lids are pink the hound should be fine
Eventually the vet put him down but he would get better for a couple weeks then start back dring 4 gallons of water a day he did that for a couple months before I took him to the vet and if you like the dog I would take him asap the vet told me any time a dog drinks a lot of water just being in the pen it's always kidney related