Early Kidney Disease?

[arothlein]

hi All

I have an 11 year old French Bulldog who is overall active and healthy, always been a fussy eater. She is allergic to everything for the most part and eats a raw Rabbit diet. She's currently on Apoquel for allergies, no other medications.  For the past year she has had a mildly increased Bun ranging from 37 to 47 but Creatinine was always 1.4 or under.  A protein to creatinine ratio was checked recently and came back at 0.5

Her recent bloodwork was great with a Bun of 20 and a creatinine of 1.1 but the urine came back as dilute with a specific gravity of 1.008.  Culture was done and was negative. I decided to purchase a refractometer to check the specific gravity on my own and last night it tested at 1.034 and this morning first pee was 1.015 and then pees after that were around 1.018.  Wondering if this is very early renal disease or nothing to concern myself with.

I have a few vets believe it or not and no one seems overly concerned as they seem to think this is normal kidney wear for her age.  We are starting some herbal supplements etc.

Would love some thoughts or feedback if possible.

Thank you all very much
adam

[tonyb286]

No problem Adam. Let us know how things go. It would certainly be useful to have the bloods re-checked every 6 months or so, just for reassurance, and particularly given the age-factor.

Take care

Tony

[arothlein]

Thank you Tony!  That seems to be the consensus so i will definitely keep a diary.  All the best and thanks for having this forum!

best
adam

[tonyb286]

Hi. There is a combined diagnostic process for kidney disease. This includes BUN, creatinine, phosphorus, calcium and potassium levels in blood. Specific gravity and protein leakage (and any UTIs) in urine testing. Blood pressure check. Ideally, a scan and xrays of the kidneys.If possible, an SDMA (Idexx Labs) test should be done as well. Collectively, these are the indicators for kidney disease, although only some of them being abnormal would point to early disease. On its own, the BUN and creatinine are of no concern (assuming it's mg/dl units). The low specific gravity of the urine is certainly a concern and a pointer to some kidney issue. This is called isosthenuric urine, where the kidneys are unable to produce concentrated urine output. However, your own readings fall within normal limits, which means it may be worth re-testing every alternate month to see what happens. I would tend to agree that there is no immediate concern, but certainly something worth being observant about and keeping a diary of results obtained.

Tony