My dog's blood work shows minor changes. Is it dehydration or kidneys?

Thank you for submitting your question regarding Sundari. Her BUN and Cr are mildly elevated. This can indicate early kidney disease, but there are other causes as well. Simple dehydration will make these values increase. I would recommend that she has a urinalysis performed on a first morning urine sample. This sample will be the most concentrated and give you more information regarding how the kidneys are functioning. There is also a new blood parameter known as SDMA. This is much more sensitive indicator of kidney function than BUN/Cr. I would recheck her blood work in 1-3 months to monitor the liver value (ALT) that is slightly elevated to see if this is a consistent finding. Liver enzymes can fluctuate in the blood stream so this may not be significant. I hope this information helps!

I'm sorry that your pup had diarrhea but I'm glad it resolved! Yes dehydration can cause abnormal kidney values. BUN (blood urea nitrogen) and creatinine can both be high in dogs who are dehydrated from non-kidney related illnesses, such as diarrhea (and vomiting). It's a good sign that her bloodwork is now normal. I hope this helps!

I don’t think this shows renal disease. His creatine is normal with a slightly elevated BUN. To me this is more an indication of mild dehydration than kidney disease. He is slightly anemic also which is not uncommon in senior animals but may indicate a chronic medical problem. The eosinophils are slightly elevated which can be due to allergies or intestinal parasites. Basically for a thirteen year old cat there is nothing here that is overly concerning. Bloodwork is just a moment in time though so if you’re concerned I would repeat it again in a month or two so you can see if there is a trend indicating progression of a medical problem or kidney disease. Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach to help you care for Beau.

Your veterinarian is correct that it could be related to the diet and some dehydration. You definitely should follow up with another blood test in three months or have a different kind of test called an SDMA. The SDMA will catch kidney disease well before there is an increase in the kidney enzymes levels. Talk to your veterinarian about this option. The most important thing is to catch kidney disease early. Best of luck and please feel free to post any additional questions.

Hello and thank you for contacting Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach. The BUN and CREA are the most worrying symptoms indeed. It means that Pushka's kidneys are not working very well. A urine test should be the next step of investigation to rule in/out kidney infection and intoxication. Also, ultrasound scan of the kidneys may help to make the final diagnosis. Other blood parameters that are abnormal could be related to the kidney problems or not. High RBC, HCT, HCT could be due to dehydration, but it may be caused, for example by kidney problems. I don't think the abnormalities are due to stress. I hope it will help but if you have any further questions, please let us know.

No, it does not as USG is hypersthenuric (which means that urine are concentrated). Elevation of BUN is pre-renal in this case so dehydration is possible (other causes as well). More informations would be essential to give you more specific answers.

Most of the parameters that are reading outside the normal range on this lab work are not likely to be significant and I can list what is abnormal and tell you what that could mean: 1. Slightly elevated leukocytes (white blood cells): while this can be a sign of infection or inflammation a slight elevation is more commonly seen with mild stress and may not be significant 2. Mild elevation in PCV (packed cell volume or red blood cells): this can be seen with dehydration or in very rare cases bone marrow disease; it is also common for some dogs to run slightly high for no significant reason 3. Elevated MCHC (mean cell hemoglobin concentration) only significant if the red blood cell level is low 4. Elevated ALP (alkaline phosphatase, a liver enzyme): can increase with liver or gallbladder disease, increases in cortisol, or bone lesions, but more commonly will be non-specific finding 5. Mildly elevated total bilirubin: can increase with gallbladder disease or anemia, but more likely to be a non-specific finding and potentially due to changes with the blood sample itself 6. Low BUN (blood urea nitrogen): can decrease with severe liver failure but there are not changes consistent with liver failure on blood work so it is a non-specific change With all laboratory values there is a general range that is considered 'normal' but there is always a certain percentage of dogs that will be normal and still fall outside this range. I would of course defer to your veterinarian's interpretation of the lab work since they know Bruno's history and physical exam findings which might change the interpretation.