Urinary Issues

[Guest popeyesmom]

My 3 1/2 year old greyhound recently had three accidents in the house which is completely unlike him. He also had started waking me at night to go out which is also unlike him. So, I called my vet to see if I could bring a sample in just in case he might have a urinary tract infection. The urinalysis showed low ph and that he wasn't concentrating his urine. We are going in today to have bloodwork drawn to check his kidney function. Has anyone else had this happen with their grey. He is really young to possibly be in kidney failure considering I can't think of anything that would cause it. Suggestions or insights would be helpful.

[MaryJane]

Was the urine a first morning specimen? If not, plan to get another urine that is first morning also did they mention whether there was protein in the urine?

 

My Larry runs lower on the "specific gravity" and a tad high on the blood creatinne and he has been on a home-made kidney diet for quite a few years now and he seems like he is doing ok.

 

He is also sensitive (allergic) to chicken and if he gets that he tends to drink more and as a result, urinate much more. So you could also be dealing with an allergy to food ....

[turbotaina]

In addition to the usual round of kidney tests, make sure your vet considers diabetes insipidus. It's not uncommon in greyhounds but many vets just won't think to test for it.

 

Good luck!

[gracegirl]

Dang it! I'm so sorry to hear that your boy has been having accidents. Unfortunately this is all too familiar to us. Fenway is 4.5 years old and just like your boy, starting having accidents. Here are the steps I took and the results:

First of the morning urine sample (x2 one week apart) - low specific gravity (1.014 and 1.15)

Bloodwork - showed nothing out of the ordinary

Another urine sample, this time a sterile sample which was cultured - nothing showed on the culture

**at this time we put Fen on ABs, just in case it was an infection. They did not make a difference**

Ultrasound - revealed kidney damage

 

This all happened over the course of late February and into March of this year, so this is all new to me as well.

 

The good news is that the veet did not seem overly concerned about the results of the ultrasound. He took more of a "lets keep monitoring the situation" approach. The vet suggested I could put Fenway on a home cooked or a commercial kidney diet if I chose to. I have researched the commercial kidney diets, but I don't think I'm going to go that route. Or maybe I will. I'm still undecided. My next steps are to actually get the report from the radiologist with the results of his ultrasound so that I know exactly what we are working with. I'm also going to wait until the end of April, and then see an internal specilist. The reason I want to wait is because I think I want to do the bloodwork and U/A again to see if his number have changed at all (ie is he getting worse, or just staying the same).

 

I'd suggest an ultrasound even through they are expensive (around $250-$300). It was the only way I knew for sure what we were dealing with in Fenway. So that was money well spent. Now I just have to decide what the next steps are.

 

In addition to the usual round of kidney tests, make sure your vet considers diabetes insipidus. It's not uncommon in greyhounds but many vets just won't think to test for it.

 

Good luck!

 

Yes, this too. I brought this up to my vet and we considered this as a possibility until the ultrasound revealed the kidney damage. From the reading I did on diabetes insipidus there really is no "test" for it (as in, you can't draw blood, check for DI, and know it's the problem) but rather you'd treat as if it was DI and see if the meds seem to work. I *believe* that DI dogs are usually drinking a TON more and peeing a TON more. And I also believe that the specific gravity is also typically lower than Fenway's were at 1.014. Do you remember his USG number?

 

I would have done this if the U/S did not give us the answers.

[Guest popeyesmom]

Was the urine a first morning specimen? If not, plan to get another urine that is first morning also did they mention whether there was protein in the urine?

 

My Larry runs lower on the "specific gravity" and a tad high on the blood creatinne and he has been on a home-made kidney diet for quite a few years now and he seems like he is doing ok.

 

He is also sensitive (allergic) to chicken and if he gets that he tends to drink more and as a result, urinate much more. So you could also be dealing with an allergy to food ....

It was not a first morning urine. I will get that and take it in to the vet. What kind of homemade kidney diet do you do. I also have a 15 year old lab mix in renal failure. We do fluids for her but she will not eat the k/d dog food. How did you find out your dog was allergic to chicken

[Guest popeyesmom]

Dang it! I'm so sorry to hear that your boy has been having accidents. Unfortunately this is all too familiar to us. Fenway is 4.5 years old and just like your boy, starting having accidents. Here are the steps I took and the results:

First of the morning urine sample (x2 one week apart) - low specific gravity (1.014 and 1.15)

Bloodwork - showed nothing out of the ordinary

Another urine sample, this time a sterile sample which was cultured - nothing showed on the culture

**at this time we put Fen on ABs, just in case it was an infection. They did not make a difference**

Ultrasound - revealed kidney damage

 

This all happened over the course of late February and into March of this year, so this is all new to me as well.

 

The good news is that the veet did not seem overly concerned about the results of the ultrasound. He took more of a "lets keep monitoring the situation" approach. The vet suggested I could put Fenway on a home cooked or a commercial kidney diet if I chose to. I have researched the commercial kidney diets, but I don't think I'm going to go that route. Or maybe I will. I'm still undecided. My next steps are to actually get the report from the radiologist with the results of his ultrasound so that I know exactly what we are working with. I'm also going to wait until the end of April, and then see an internal specilist. The reason I want to wait is because I think I want to do the bloodwork and U/A again to see if his number have changed at all (ie is he getting worse, or just staying the same).

 

I'd suggest an ultrasound even through they are expensive (around $250-$300). It was the only way I knew for sure what we were dealing with in Fenway. So that was money well spent. Now I just have to decide what the next steps are.

 

In addition to the usual round of kidney tests, make sure your vet considers diabetes insipidus. It's not uncommon in greyhounds but many vets just won't think to test for it.

 

Good luck!

 

Yes, this too. I brought this up to my vet and we considered this as a possibility until the ultrasound revealed the kidney damage. From the reading I did on diabetes insipidus there really is no "test" for it (as in, you can't draw blood, check for DI, and know it's the problem) but rather you'd treat as if it was DI and see if the meds seem to work. I *believe* that DI dogs are usually drinking a TON more and peeing a TON more. And I also believe that the specific gravity is also typically lower than Fenway's were at 1.014. Do you remember his USG number?

 

I would have done this if the U/S did not give us the answers.

I think his SG 1.010? It was a mid-day urine sample.

[turbotaina]

In addition to the usual round of kidney tests, make sure your vet considers diabetes insipidus. It's not uncommon in greyhounds but many vets just won't think to test for it.

 

Good luck!

 

... From the reading I did on diabetes insipidus there really is no "test" for it (as in, you can't draw blood, check for DI, and know it's the problem) but rather you'd treat as if it was DI and see if the meds seem to work. I *believe* that DI dogs are usually drinking a TON more and peeing a TON more. ...

 

Yes, and yes. It's a diagnoses of exclusion. For the benefit of the OP, diabetes insipidus is "water diabetes" - the dog feels the need to drink tons and as a result pees tons. I shouldn't have used "test", but rather "consider"

Edited April 7, 2011 by turbotaina

[MaryJane]

Was the urine a first morning specimen? If not, plan to get another urine that is first morning also did they mention whether there was protein in the urine?

 

My Larry runs lower on the "specific gravity" and a tad high on the blood creatinne and he has been on a home-made kidney diet for quite a few years now and he seems like he is doing ok.

 

He is also sensitive (allergic) to chicken and if he gets that he tends to drink more and as a result, urinate much more. So you could also be dealing with an allergy to food ....

It was not a first morning urine. I will get that and take it in to the vet. What kind of homemade kidney diet do you do. I also have a 15 year old lab mix in renal failure. We do fluids for her but she will not eat the k/d dog food. How did you find out your dog was allergic to chicken

 

 

Get a first morning specimen - one taken during the day might be more diluted.

 

The diet that I got from Dr Remaillard from Angel Memorial Hospital in Boston is as follows:

 

breakfast - about 1.5 cups of an oatmeal and grits mixture (oatmeal has a high phosphorous level) mixed with about 1/3 cup meat (or 1 egg instead) and some milk.

 

snack - toast

 

dinner - 3 cups rice, 1/3 cup meat, and 1/2 cup veggies

 

snack - applesauce with yogurt

 

He also gets two fish oil capsules a day along with about 1 1/2 vitamin supplement and about 5 calcium pills.

 

It took a while to figure out that Larry had a sensitivity to chicken and noodles. I actually started an elimination diet for another greyhound and Larry just happened to get the same food. The other greyhound would get severe diarrhea with either chicken or noodles and I started to notice that Larry would also start getting "softer stools" and be drinking much more water (and urinating more) when he had chicken. Larry would also get similiar symptoms but, not as severe with noodles. Once I started both greyhounds on oatmeal Larry's fur on the side and the other greyhound on the neck and ass was growing in beautifully. Hard to tell whether stopping the chicken or adding oatmeal in helped the fur grow in ....