Why is my dog's creatinine high but BUN normal? Should I be concerned?

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!

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!

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, 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

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!

Every lab has different reference ranges, so according to the lab that your cats blood was run in, the BUN and CREA are considered to be mildly elevated. However, unless your cat has a low specific gravity (concentrating ability of the kidneys), we have to assume that the BUN and CREA levels are not indicating any kind of kidney failure. In other words, if the kidneys are concentrating normally, and the pet is asymptomatic, then the BUN and CREA levels should simply be rechecked at a later date or another more sensitive test called the SDMA test should be done to clarify what is really going on with your pets kidneys. So based on the information you have provided we cannot say if Frodo has true kidney disease, but if his urine test was negative for bacteria then no infection is present. Ask your vet about Frodo's specific gravity and if that was normal or not. If it was normal, then go forward with the SDMA test to confirm that the kidneys are ok. If you need further help regarding your pet Frodo's case, since this can be a bit complicated to explain on the forum, please feel free to request a private consultation with either myself or another expert here and we will be more than happy to assist you further. I hope that this helps and best wishes with your pet Frodo moving forward! Take care: )

This is a bit of a confusing change in kidney values, but Creatinine is a little more specific for kidney disease, and is the value that is used for staging kidney disease (see link below). Some changes can happen based on hydration status. Elevations in alkaline phosphatase should affect creatinine. http://www.iris-kidney.com/pdf/IRIS_2017_Staging_of_CKD_09May18.pdf