My senior dog has ehrlichia & high creatinine. Is it kidney disease?

Hi, thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! Poor Burt! It is hard to guide you with out seeing Burt's blood work and urine samples. Ehrlichia is an odd tick borne disease to cause kidney disease. That is usually Lyme. If your Vet is suspicious of glomerular nephritis, aka GN (low albumin, increased kidney values, protein in the urine) then immunosuppressivies are sometimes added to the treatment plan, which mycophenolate is. I have used Mycophenolate for Immune mediated hemolytic anemia but not for GN. Mycophenolate is newer and is becoming more of a go to drug for things like this. If Burt has protein in his urine then consider an ace inhibitor (benazapril or enalapril) or Losartan. And be sure they have checked his blood pressure. I would trust your Vets opinion on Burt's care. I hope this helps and I wish Burt the best!

I can imagine this must be very distressing for both you and Karlie. BUN and Creatinine are elevated with impaired kidney function. Karlie's initial BUN and Creatinine values were sky high. Lyme disease is a disease caused by a bacteria that is transmitted through tick bites which can cause kidney damage/kidney failure in some patients. If continued fluid therapy (daily intravenous or subcutaneous fluid therapy to flush out the toxins in the body that are normally filtered by the kidneys but are now circulating in Karlie's system) and a low protein renal diet +/- anti-nausea medication (to counter the extreme nausea and inappetance that comes with kidney damage) does not improve Karlie's appetite/attitude/activity level significantly, humane euthanasia is definitely an option to discuss further with your veterinarian.

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

Poor guy. I see elevate liver enzymes (ALT,AST) and kidney values on the paperwork you have attached here. Low hgb means that the red blood cells are not oxygenating well, but if the RBC count is also low (anemic) then that is a sign of chronic kidney failure. Cats can recover from kidney disease depending on the underlying cause. An abdominal ultrasound is needed to determine the cause of the kidney failure exactly, or a positive response to bloodwork is used as a means of determining a positive outcome. In most situations we treat the pet with fluid therapy to help idurese (flush out) the harmful toxins (BUN, CREA), get the pet started on a prescription kidney diet (ie. Hill's K/D, Royal Canin Renal) and also a supplement (Azodyl- which helps to remove toxins from the gut) can be given as well. The most concerning values for me on this bloodwork are the liver values (AST, ALT). It is not common for a cat to be in both kidney failure and to have abnormal liver values concurrently. THis raises suspicions for infectious diseases such as any number of tick diseases. I would recommend discussing with your vet about possibly doing a tick panel, if the history indicates tick exposure is probable. Also a FeLV/FIV test may also be indicated, depending on the complete CBC results, which you didn't post here. At the very least a liver protectant medication should be started, which is typically a medicine called Denamarin. Additional treatment may be needed depending on the underlying cause for the liver abnormalities. If you would like to discuss Toby's case further, then please feel free to request a consultatoin with either myself or another expert here. Toby's case is definitely a more complicated case where it is best to have a complete dialogue back and forth to get all the information you need to make the best decision moving forward with his care. I wish you all the best moving forward with Toby's care and I hope that he makes a full and speedy recovery. Take care.

Using antibiotics is generally safe for pets with kidney failure, however Sofiya needs some aggressive treatment for her kidney issues. This could look like more testing, including an abdominal ultrasound, leptospirosis testing, checking for tick diseases, and other tests depending on what is going on with her clinically. It would also include treatment of IV fluids, anti-nausea medications, medications to lower her phosphorous levels, and others (again depending on how she's actually doing). In short, the Cefor isn't going to treat the issues in this bloodwork.

Hi there. If your dog has a history of Erlichia and Scout is already 11 I would encourage you to take him back for a re-evaluation. He may need fluid therapy, etc and your doctor will be familiar with your case. My best to you and Scout

Hi there and thank you for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach to address your concern. Based on the blood results, I am concerned about the kidneys as it looks like Doyle is in renal failure with the high BUN and Creatinine. The anemia and high WBC count are also concerning. The anemia may be due to a chronic infection, the renal failure or auto-immune. I would recommend further testing such as x-rays and abdominal ultrasound. Is it possible that Doyle may have eaten something toxic to cause the renal failure? I would pursue further diagnostic testing to rule other causes out. Run some infectious disease panels such as panels to check for tick borne infections as well. Chronic ehrlichiosis (tick borne disease) can lead to renal failure in some cases as well as the anemia and high WBC count. I hope this helps and hope Doyle gets better soon. You may consider an internal medicine specialist for Doyle as well.