My dog has elevated creatinine. Is it kidney disease or normal?

If your vet isn't worried about Kodiak, I would not be worried either. Slightly elevated creatinine can also be due to dehydration, so it could be that he may be dehydrated caused this elevation. A slight elevation isn't a cause for worry when other values are normal and there aren't any other concerning physical signs. To get him to drink more water, I'd consider adding canned food to his diet. It has a higher moisture content, and you can mix it in with his dry food. You would have to cut back on his dry food to a little to account for adding in the wet food, so ask his vet for the correct ratio. The other option is to add a bit of low sodium chicken broth to his dry dog food to get extra moisture into his diet. I hope this helps.

Blood levels likely fluctuate every day for all pets and people. It's possibly related to how much water he has drank (or moisture in the food) and possibly what time and how much he has eaten within the last 12-24 hours. I recommend to have an additional test called an SDMA run. This test will accurately predict if kidney disease will develop within the next 18 months in about 95% of pets. Bruno should also be having his urine specific gravity tested along with his kidney values as you need to know all the values in order to know if kidney disease is a concern or not. For example, a dog with a higher CREAT and extremely concentrated urine is likely a little dehydrated. Where as a higher CREAT and not so concentrated urine may have kidney disease. I hope this helps.

Blood work reflects a single snap shot in time. It can't predict any disease. Performing blood work days or weeks apart can help monitor disease progression or healing. On this lab machine, normal creatinine in dogs is under 1.1. This value can go up a bit if a dog is dehydrated, so that is why it is important to put the numbers together with the pet. The CBC isn't overly concerning. The red cell values are high, and the most common cause for that is dehydration. The total white cell values states high, but the individual values are within normal range. White cells increase with infection or inflammatory conditions. That supplement shouldn't cause increases in lab values.

Thank you for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! This level of creatinine is still within relatively normal range (according to most diagnostic laboratories and analyzers). Such a small increase can be incidental, Mav may have had a recent meal, or have been less hydrated than he was at his previous appointment. It is unlikely that this is related to the protein content in his diet. I hope this helps and am happy to answer any other questions you may have!

Creatinine level of 2.4mg/dL means mild to moderate elevation. Creatinine level goes up with kidney diseases but it also can go up after a large, meaty meal or excessive excercise. Some dogs with a lot of muscle mass have naturally elevated creatinine, not related to kidney problems. SDMA test will confirm (or rule out) kidney disease in Charlie's case. Please, note that SDMA is not a better or more specific test that creatinine, it is just another blood test to check kidneys funcion. In the best case scenario, Charlie had elevation in creatinine because of aforementioned physiological conditions and his kidneys are ok. In the worse case scenerio, he has early stage of kidney disease and will be put on a special diet.

His SDMA is normal which is a more reliable marker for kidney function. He may have been mildly dehydrated which can cause creatinine to elevate. Your vet could run a urinalysis to check his urine specific gravity and then recheck his BUN and Creatinine in 3 months to monitor for any increases.

This supplement shouldn't increase Danny's creatinine level. His creatinine level is 0.05 points above normal, and in my opinion it is not significant with a normal BUN. A urine specific gravity would help to determine if it is significant, as well as rechecking this value in one week to see if it is going up. I wouldn't not start kidney supplements until we know it is an issue. Increasing water consumption is the first line in preventing kidney disease.