Why is my dog drinking/peeing a lot, not eating, with high liver/kidney values?

Hello, thank you for your question about Loki. ALT is a liver enzyme and elevations can be a sign of underlying liver disease (caused by infection, inflammation, etc). BUN is considered a marker of kidney function but can also be elevated for other reasons, such as GI bleeding. Depending on the severity of these elevations and Loki's history I would recommend testing him for an infection called leptospirosis, as this disease can cause liver and kidney abnormalities. Alternatively, If Loki is still feeling well and the metronidazole is improving his symptoms, you could continue with this treatment regimen and monitor him for development of any symptoms. I would recommend rechecking these values after he has finished the course of metronidazole and considering the need for other diagnostics at that time. Hope this helps, good luck!

Oscar's lab work is pointing to both liver and kidney issues. Unfortunately it's impossible to tell if this is truly a kidney problem or just dehydration secondary to other issues (not eating, not drinking, losing fluids through vomiting and diarrhea) without knowing the specific gravity of his urine. Possible causes these values could include liver diseases like viral or bacterial hepatitis, cancer of one or more abdominal organs (liver and kidney), or the bacterial disease leptospirosis. Unfortunately it's impossible to say for sure how to treat Oscar without more testing, and based on just these values alone. At the very least IV fluids may help to treat either dehydration or kidney disease, so you can talk to your veterinarian about starting there, but ultimately there are more questions to be answered.

I'm sorry to hear that Caramel is not feeling well. The paperwork showing "female" instead of male is a typo somewhere. Nothing that was run in those tests determine's the dog's sex, so I suspect that was entered wrong at the lab. His kidney values are a bit high, but they aren't crazy high. If a urinalysis was not performed, talk to your vet about running a urinalysis as well, as this will help determine whether those values being high may be in part due to whether or not he is dehydrated (typically the "USG" or "urine specific gravity" is what we are looking for to help interpret this). You may also want to talk to your vet about an abdominal ultrasound (sonogram of the belly); having images of the kidneys and bladder as well as the rest of the abdominal organs (liver, pancreas, GI tract, spleen, adrenal glands) can be helpful in terms of what the most likely cause of his clinical signs are. Another consideration since he is "hardly able to get up" would be a painful condition that's making him not want to move; ask your vet if he seems painful anywhere. To summarize, here is what I recommend you do. Take him to your vet and ask about a urinalysis. Ask your vet if he seems painful anywhere (belly, back, neck, joints). Ask if your vet thinks he needs IV fluids. Ask about an abdominal ultrasound. Best of luck with him, I hope he feels better soon. Thanks for asking Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach!

I’m sorry to hear this is going on with your dog! A urinary tract infection can certainly make Red lethargic and not feel like himself. The trembling is probably due to her discomfort from the infection. She may also be having a flare up of her back injury as well. It’s hard to say if Red’s kidneys are involved at this point. The only way to know for sure ifnher kidneys are compromised is to run a blood test to check her renal values. This would probably be a good idea to do if you are concerned. I hope this helps. Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach. Best of luck.

Hi, Oscar needs to be hospitalized and treated with IV fluids, antibiotics, and gastrointestinal protectants. Additionally, he should be tested for infectious diseases such as leptospirosis and ultrasounded to determine if he has any problems in his liver or kidneys.

Mild increases in liver values can be seen for a number of different reasons, and sometimes it can be very difficult to determine what the underlying cause might be. Infections like leptospirosis, migrating parasites, congenital diseases like a portosystemic shunt or some toxins can cause liver values to increase. It seems like Leo is on supportive medications for the liver - it would be helpful to know if his values are increasing or decreasing since trends are most important. An abdominal ultrasound might be the next step, or you could also ask about referral to a specialist if available in your area.

Hello, While we know that Lyme disease can cause kidney disease, we cannot assume that the Lyme disease is causing kidney injury in this case. Many pets will test positive for Lyme disease on a screening test if they have been exposed to the disease. However, exposure does not equate to clinical infection in every case. In order to determine if Lyme disease is causing kidney injury, we need to measure antibody levels in the blood, ultrasound kidneys, and obtain a kidney biopsy. Without this information, it will be difficult to give a prognosis. I would advise you to follow up with your veterinarian to discuss recheck kidney values, abdominal ultrasound and urinalysis.