Effect Of Physical Exertion On Serum Creatinine Level

[kudzu]

Does anyone know how soon after physical exertion serum creatinine levels may increase? Also, do you know approximately how much exertion is required to obviously elevate serum creatinine? Ex. Would a spook hound spending 30 mins shaking like a leaf be enough to elevate creatinine by 0.2-0.3?

 

It wasn't my hound that initially sparked the question but I have a lurcher here who spends her entire vet visit shaking. Doesn't matter that she's very outgoing & normally enjoys outings. As soon as you get out of the car at the vet's office she's a quaking mess. Her creatinine & BUN were somewhat elevated when I got her. The BUN has dropped down into barely normal & creatinine is down some as well. That has happened since we've been treating her PLN but don't know what caused that correlation. Had remarked to the vet the last time we were there that she seems to be shaking less. Now I'm wondering if those overworked, shivery leg muscles had anything to do with her elevated creatinine.

[JohnF]

Could easily elevate it, and as Greyhounds (how much Grey in that Lurcher?) are elevated anyway then why not send this health packet info to the vet? When I took Peggy in for a test a couple of years ago I told them she had just been exercizing so they said a Urinalyis also had to be done at the same time just to be sure.

http://www.greyhoundadoptionofoh.org/Library/2010-greyhound-medical-packet.pdf

[silverfish]

It's also worth remembering that raw feeding can elevate creatinine. To get a more useful assessment of whether the elevated levels of creatinine are likely to be a problem, ask for a urinalysis including a protein:creatinine ratio test.

[kudzu]

Yes, UPC testing was done as part of workup leading to PLN diagnosis. Since she's 1/2 GH & seems to take after the herding side of her family a lot it's hard to decide how to interpret her lab work. Basically we are just monitoring her condition, response to treatment & comparing her current lab work back to prior runs. It just had not occurred to me until thinking of someone else's spook with elevated creatinine that all the shaking this little lurcher does could be a factor on her own blood work.

[tbhounds]

I'm going to guess no but, I have no real data to share with you. Panting and shaking can increase the CK and slight dehydration will increase the BUN. Was this a fasted sample?

[Guest LindsaySF]

Old lady Chase had GN and PLN. Slight elevation in her creatinine our vet always attributed to stress at being at the vet. She was often a tad dehydrated too. She didn't drink that much to start with, then she'd stand at the vet panting and shaking, did a lot of panting in the car... Sometimes she had a slight fever too.

[JJNg]

I think you might be confusing creatinine with creatine kinase (CK). It's the muscle enzyme CK that increases with physical exertion, shaking, etc. Physical exertion does not typically affect the kidney value of creatinine.

[kudzu]

Have seen CK elevated on several of my dogs. In only one was it something of note. He had actual muscle wasting from a neuro disease. His CK values were higher & remained so for much longer than the other dogs' briefly elevated levels. & his went down again as his disease progressed. Sadly that seemed to be because he had little muscle mass left to lose. (His values were never as high though as a dog with an actual muscle disease.)

 

Yet I also know that higher muscle mass & heavy activity, on a regular basis, can result in higher creatinine levels. Just wasn't sure how much activity or how soon it showed up. And writing all this reminds me that I had wondered something similar about my polyneuropathy dog when I was first told he had renal failure as well. However in his case his CK moved up & later down without correspondingly significant changes in his creatinine level. Too many variables with him to determine any significance of muscle mass & the loss there of on creatinine levels.

 

Ah, well. Thanks for the help. Am going to go with extreme shaking at the appt not having an effect.

 

The only dog I personally know of