My dog's BUN is high. What does elevated blood urea nitrogen mean?

If her SDMA is normal and her creatinine is wnl then her kidneys are likely normal. BUN can be increased from dehydration, a stomach ulcer, a high protein diet or a very muscular physique. You would normally see vomiting or black stool if she had a bleeding ulcer so I doubt this is the cause of the high BUN. To ensure her kidneys are okay, I would talk to your vet about checking a urinalysis on her. Your vet will assess her protein levels and specific gravity to see how her kidneys are functioning. If the protein levels look high on the dipstick and there isn't an infection, I would talk to your vet about doing a urinary protein creatinine ratio. If it is elevated it could be challenging the kidneys and can cause future problems. There is a medicine to help called benazepril. You can also switch her to a prescription kidney diet just because they have a much lower protein content than the food over the counter. Some dogs just naturally have a higher BUN and as long as it isn't progressively getting worse, I would just continue to monitor it. I hope this helps!

Hello. 16 is quite old for a dog, so Abby is quite obviously a well loved pet. An elevated BUN is most consistent with kidney failure, & this in turn is affecting her appetite. We can sometimes manage these pets with supplements, specific diets designed for dogs with kidney failure, appetite stimulants & subcutaneous fluids to prevent dehydration. I hope your Mum is working close with Abby's veterinarian to make her as comfortable as possible while trying to manage her kidney disease. Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach.

Hi there and thank you for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach to address your concern. BUN and Creatinine typically have an intimate relationship on blood work, meaning that when one is elevated, the other is typically elevated as well. There are relatively few conditions that would have an elevated Creatinine without the BUN being elevated. These are typically due to muscle breakdown which would release more creatinine in the blood. Exercise could produce such an increase. Pathologic muscle breakdown would produce sharp levels but such conditions would likely be accompanied by symptoms such as weakness and lethargy in particular. The value of 6.1 is high, which could indicate any of the above or this could potentially be a lab error. I would consider having the blood retested to check and make sure this value is correct. It may be wise to have it sent to a laboratory as well to ensure the values are correct. I hope this helps! Please let me know if you have any other questions or concerns.

Elevations in phosphorus in a puppy can be due to normal bone growth, but it also could be due to underlying kidney issue. Elevations in BUN (blood urea nitrogen) can be present if the diet is too high in protein or if there are underlying kidney issues. My hope is that Roxy's BUN and phosphorus are simply elevated due to her young age (bone growth) and a diet high in protein (raw) as these should correct themselves. However, it is a good idea to check a urine sample to ensure there is no underlying kidney problem. If the urine is not well concentrated or has protein present this could indicate kidney disease and warrants further investigation. The BUN being elevated may indicate Roxy needs to be on a better balanced diet as it could be elevated due to a high protein diet. The fact that two puppies had the same elevations could be for the same reasons listed above. However, it's still important to rule out hereditary kidney disease by checking a urine sample first. Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach and best wishes to Roxy!

Thanks for visiting Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! Having trace albumin (protein) in a dogs urine is pretty normal. We only get concerned about kidney damage when the albumin is moderate-severe and also when CREA is high. High BUN can indicate a GI bleed or a high protein diet in most cases. I don't see a complete cell count (CBC) analysis in the records you sent. Swelling of the limb can indicate edema, a musculoskeletal injury or even a seroma. I would suggest doing a urinalysis to rule out a UTI or stones causing the bloody discharge you are seeing, and a radiograph of the leg (if medical management with an anti-inflammatory hasn't shown improvement with this already). I hope this helps and best wishes with Scooby moving forward. Take care.

Thank you for submitting your question regarding Linda. I would stop feeding any treats and keep her strictly on the kidney diet. She should have her blood pressure checked and a urinalysis done to look for extra protein in the urine. Both are common with kidney disease. There are medications that she can take that will help both conditions if necessary. This will slow further progression of her disease. Depending on her results, I will add a potassium supplement (if her potassium is low) or a phosphate binder (if her phosphorus is high). These things will help her to feel good for as long as possible. Always ensure she drinks plenty of water. I hope this information helps!

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.