How long until my dog's kidney diet improves their BUN levels?

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!

Hi and thank you for posting! The SDMA levels may decrease with renal disease medications, treatments, and a renal friendly diet, but I would not anticipate a dramatic decrease especially in the face of chronic kidney disease and especially after only 7 days of a new diet. It may take a few weeks or more to see a decrease. I hope this helps and thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach!

Hello, sorry to hear about Canela. It’s likely that your medical management of her is supporting her kidneys really well. However, kidney disease is considered a progressive disease, meaning it only gets worse. Despite this, progression may be very slow and thus patients may live a long life with medical management. Keep up the good work, Canela is very lucky to have you , Best of luck

Unfortunately kidney values can not be interpreted without a urinalysis and specific gravity. Elevated BUN is not always CKD but this would be more likely in the face of poorly concentrated urine ( pred will also effect this). CKD is staged via what is called IRIS. This takes in to account creatinine, protein in the urine, and blood prressure. SDMA is newer and thought to be an earlier indicator then BUN/creatinine as these as insensitive markers of kidney function. This has now been incorporated in to the new IRIS scheme. What i would recommend for your kitty is a urinalysis and blood pressure to better stage. For early stage CKD kitties a renal diet is recommended. It is also important to treat any high blood preesure or significant protein in the urine as these can worsen kidney function. I hope this helps and thank you for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach!

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!

Your veterinarian is correct that it could be related to the diet and some dehydration. You definitely should follow up with another blood test in three months or have a different kind of test called an SDMA. The SDMA will catch kidney disease well before there is an increase in the kidney enzymes levels. Talk to your veterinarian about this option. The most important thing is to catch kidney disease early. Best of luck and please feel free to post any additional questions.

More information would be required in order to help assess Max's case such as his signs and symptoms (including any blood in stool), any change in thirst/appetite and body weight as well whether the bloods were taken fasting more than 12 hours or after feeding. Ipakitine is a phosphate binder and is used to protect the kidney from high blood phosphate levels and monitoring of this would be important.