BUN Level

My puppy is a 7 month old Sheltie, and we recently found out that her BUN level is normal to high, when she was going to get spayed.  She had a blood test and a urine test done, and everything else was normal except for her BUN level.  The doctor has put her on a low protein diet - formulated for dogs with kidney problems.  Is there anything else I can do to help lower her level? What is causing this? and is this something that I should be extremely worried about?

[therese83]

What is a BUN?  sorry

[Misfits4Me]

How high was her BUN? Do you know? Elevated kidney levels are from an overload of toxins. The toxins can be coming from anywhere...Pesticides, dog food, poisons, carpet chemicals, floor cleaning products, even her drinking water. Give some thought to anything she's getting into that may be toxic. Also, look at what she's been eating and she if it's full of dyes and preservatives. Any medication can cause this, too. Is she taking any on a regular basis? Make sure she has fresh, filtered water at all times. Any extra moisture (That you can get into her system) will help her kidneys flush the toxins. Also, If your feeding dry food, switch to canned!   Hope some of this helps....Keep us posted............Karla
P.S. Had she taken a heartworm pill or topical flea product just before her bloodwork? This will make a difference, too. Were her Liver enzymes normal? Just curious....

[Mdshowa]

I also have a Sheltie, and experienced the exact same situation.  She is almost a year now, but when she was 6 months we took her in to be spayed.  The vet ran normal blood work and her BUN came back very high, around 60.  They gave her intravenous fluids for a few hours and then checked it again, and it was still very elevated at about 55.  Following her surgery, the vet prescribed her a special low-protein food for renal failure and started her on a multivitamin and a daily dosage of regular pepcid.  We retested her BUN three months later and it was still at 50.  As of right now, she is classified as having chronic renal failure. The vet checks her BUN at every regular check-up now, just to monitor it, but as far as treatment, the vet says we are doing everything possible.

If it hasn't already been suggested, I would recommend speaking to your vet about starting her on a vitamin and pepcid regimen and see what they think.  As far as being extremely worried, I don't think you should worry too much.  I was told that while my puppy's life expectancy may not be as high as her breed average, she can still lead a very normal, happy life.  And as far as I'm concerned, quality of life is much more important than quantity.

[Dogangel]

My Golden is 10 yrs. old and his blood test showed his levels to be at 29.
My vet said it was borderline. What can I do to lower his levels so he will have a long lif? He is on 22% protein diet it is sweet potatoes & venison.
Someone told me to put broth in his water. Is that a good idea?

[angelface2009]

im a vet tech and im going crazy trying to figure out what is going on with my dog.she is almost 3 and she's a german shorthaired pointer/beagle mix.she starting bobbing back and forth having what seemed to be a seizure or perhaps tremors.heart rate was a little elevated,but she was aware the entire time.she has had 1 prior episode but not as severe about 3months ago.she did not defecate nor urinate during the episode.about 45 minutes later she was still trying to catch her balance while trying not to tip over.it seemed she lost control of her hind quarters.it was terrible to watch while holding her in my arms.I ran blood and her BUN was at 50,while creatine was .3 which isnt too bad.sodium was 129.what is going on here?we gave her a shot of dizapiene and she was ok 15 minutes later but still a little out of it.if there is a toxin that is known to get these levels please let me know! PLEASE IF ANYONE CAN HELP ME I WOULD REALLY APPRECIATE IT-MORE IMPORTANTLY MY ANGEL WOULD TOO...I DO NOT WANT HER TO SUFFER WHEN SOMETHING MAY BE ABLE TO FIX THIS.

[ginger899]

Please do get back to your vet (or to another vet entirely, which might be wise, as your current vet should have given you instructions, and hasn't!) There are a LOT of things that can be done to help your dog. Medication can increase blood flow to the kidneys.....antibiotics may or may not be required, if there is any infection....a low-protein, low-phosphorus diet should be given, and you also need to know what your dog's blood phosphorus levels are. If they are normal, great, but if they are elevated, you need Phosphate-binders, eitherCalcium Carbonate or Aluminium Hydroxide or some other prescribed binder.
Your best bet -honestly -might be to go for a prescription diet food. Mine has done very well on one.
Depending on how badly your dog is affected by kidney failure, some amount of "high quality" protein might be allowed, such as egg whites scrambled, or boiled chicken breast. But I would leave out the Venison. Even though Venison is an excellent lean meat for a dog with healthy kidneys.
A dog whose kidneys are compromised by early-stage kidney insufficiency cannot filter out what is called "hydrogenous waste" from high protein foods.

You really need to speak to a vet for further advice.

[ginger899]

I am sorry not to be able to help about this. It sounds like some form of siezure, but the blood values, particularly the Sodium and how that might relate to the problems your dog has, are a little outside my knowledge.
PLEASE could you make a whole new post of your question....it really will make a difference, as your concerns will get better attention as a new post, and hopefully some great answers from other people here.
Sometimes questions tacked on the end of old threads can get a bit "sidelined".

[angelface2009]

i would totally make a new thread,i dont know how! if you have the time to instruct me as how to do that,ill do it no problem.apparently my silly pointer's blood is outside everyone's knowledge lol.this dog has been driving me crazy for a week now.ive been in labs,watching her sleep (just in case),my brain is starting to go numb.although today i was picking up pooop in the yard and lo and behold-there was paper wrappers in one pile.im starting to think that she got a piece of sugarless gum-or candy.the substance in that is deadly if ingested in large amounts.xylitol-its in most sugarless candy and gum!she's been fine the last couple days so im thinking all of my investigating has paid off.but thank you so much for your help.please let me know how to post a new thread though when you can...i can save your dog-just can't work a forum lol thanks again

[angelface2009]

I'm a vet tech and work along side my vet daily and know for a fact that your golden should be monitored a bit more,to say the least.It seems to me (and I could be wrong) that the vet you are seeing just decided that your dog is 10-and these things happen at that age.That is not how we see things at my practice.Honestly if that is all that's wrong with her,we need to be getting that level down a ways.There are many things you can do,and many were stated by giner899.I would like to know the rest of her levels but antibiotics may have been ruled out because there was no sign of infection.BUN levels are affected by numerous things so the other levels play a big role in diagnosis and what we do next.I would wait a week or so and order blood work again to see if it went back down or got higher.Is it possible that he/she got into anything in yard?But i would definatly start with a change in diet shile the new blood work is done.Did the vet actually say the dog was in kidney failure?Your dog's BUN should be no higher than 27 so i would surely be watching it and staying on top of it.Hope this helped a little

[ginger899]

I am really sorry, I didn't realize you were finding it hard to make a new post! I didn't mean to push your question away.
Anyway I have just seen your new question, and given an answer (as best I can) I'm not familiar with bloodwork values, as I'm not vet trained, so can't be a great deal of help I do apologize.
But ifrom the symptoms you listed, it sounds to me as if your dog COULD have Xylitol poisoning. Like I've just said on your new post, her size may go in her favour, as the smaller the dog is, the more dangerous sugar-free candies or gums are. But of course it depends on how much she ate.
I dont know what the treatment protocols are, or what -if any- is an antidote. But I would imagine that immediate fluid support will be greatly helpful?