My dog has high creatinine. Is his high protein food the cause?

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.

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.

The elevated creatinine on it's own does not indicate kidney disease. Remember, this blood was taken at one second in time, he may have recently eaten or been a bit dehydrated at the time which caused the CREA to be a bit elevated. You can not determine kidney disease with just this one test. If you are concerned this should be repeated when he is fasted and a urine test should be done at the same time. If you want to give him a kidney supplement that will help to support kidney function you can use this: https://worldtails.securevetsource.com/itemView/view/198944_HomeDelivery.pml?productId=132504

Hi, thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! If the grapes were brought up in the the vomit, the 1.4 creatinine has likely nothing to do with the grape ingestion. That value on friday is high normal but it depends on the normal ranges for the reference lab used by your Vet. I would repeat his kidney values (get full chemistry with BUN too) with an SDMA (more sensitive for kidney disease than creatinine )and first morning urine mid this week. I would monitor his values. I wish you the best

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.

Hi and thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! Sorry to hear about Heidi but it sounds like the treatment plan is working great. I'm not sure we really know if creatine truly affects creatinine levels and kidney function but there is evidence out there suggesting that people with kidney dysfunction or problems shouldn't take creatine supplements. To be safe I would find an alternative product to use to address her joint problems. There are many supplements out there and I like the Nutra Max Laboratory products. These include Cosequin, Dasuquin, and other products. To my knowledge they don't contain creatine. So just to be safe, I would advise holding off on what you have and instead switch to another option. I like Nutra Max products because all of their supplements are produced under pharmaceutical grade conditions and all of their products are tested to make sure they contain what the label says. You can get them over the counter at the larger pet stores, at your veterinarian, or online. Good question, good attention to detail. Good Luck!!

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!