Snows Urine/protein Ratio

[Guest kar]

Snows urine/protein creatine ratio went from 1.1 to 1.6. Vet is increasing her enalapril to 40 mg per day. Anyone out there with dogs with kidney disease who knows how bad this increase is and what it actually means for her.

 

I had also switched from hills kidney died to purina kidney diet. Vet said this has nothing to do with increase. Anyone have any input?

 

I am a little upset that this has increased.

[tbhounds]

I didn't before and I still don't think you need to worry--it's really not that high. I do think the enalapril dose seems very high. Did your vet recomend to start low dose aspirin? One more thing--I assume that the urine you recently tested was a voided inactive sample?

I would be looking for a second opinion.

[Guest kar]

No low dose aspirin. I will check with vet again tomorrow on the does. Does anyone think the change in food has anything to do with it? Both are kidney diets.

[Batmom]

What are the BUN and creatinine?

 

Has the urine been cultured?

[Walliered]

I received a great little wallet card from Ducky yesterday and on it is this information Creatinine for Greyhounds: .8 to 1.6 other dogs .0 to 1.0 Total Protein: Greyhounds: 4.5 to 6.2 other dogs: 5.4 to 7.8 Don't know if this will help or not.

[Batmom]

Those numbers aren't necessarily accurate. Normal values depend on the lab -- they are not absolutes.

[Guest kar]

urine has been cultured. they said her blood work is fine. She is loosing protein through her urine. Yes I received that cared too - but I think those are the values for blood work. I do not know much about the urine protein creatinine ratio other than vet said it should be .5 or less.

[macoduck]

Those numbers aren't necessarily accurate. Normal values depend on the lab -- they are not absolutes.

True, there are variances depending on the lab used. The card numbers at least get you in the ballpark.

[Batmom]

Yes, they do. They also show you kinda/sorta how much difference you might expect from other-breed values. Just, don't take them as a hard number (or let your vet do the same) -- look at what your lab has listed for the normal range, and check for any notes about whether that is the range for greyhounds or for all breeds.

How long ago was the culture done? Has she had a BP check? Lyme test?

 

There can be some day-to-day variation in UPC.

 

It might be worth repeating the urinalyses at an outside lab, if that wasn't done recently.

 

AFAIK, you usually don't take extreme measures until the UPC gets up over 2.0, unless the dog also has an elevated BUN, and it sounds like your dog does not.

[tbhounds]

urine has been cultured. they said her blood work is fine. She is loosing protein through her urine. Yes I received that cared too - but I think those are the values for blood work. I do not know much about the urine protein creatinine ratio other than vet said it should be .5 or less.

 

What is considered a high UPC value has been rethought, A UPC if 1.5 is still considered ok in today's standards among many clinicans --the urine must be checked with an inactive sample and it can vary from day to day. Actually giving a higher dose of enalapril can compromise the kidneys.

Without sounding like a broken record I do urge you to seek out another opinion.

[Guest kar]

I am going to call the female vet tomorrow - what do you mean by an inactive sample. she had a urine culture 3 weeks ago when they did ultrasound through a needle prick. was tested for every tick borne disease. Believe it or not she is my akc grey. I lost two racing greys, one two years ago at 5 and one two months ago at nine. I know that pln was in the bloodline - was told when I called breeder regarding a uti. they have been my vet for over ten years. don't know who else to trust. I will ask the female vet to consult with the specialist by phone - she did do that last time. I like the male vet but he is very sure of himself and will not ask for second opinions. I still miss my other two beautiful boys - I miss their singing and teeth chattering and their loving goofy personalities. Snow is more laid back, very loving but different personality. Don't know what i'll do if I loose her - yet I am afraid to get another grey - I've lost three so far very young. My female vet said she has never had a client loose so many so young. she said I definitely should have gotten pet insurance. anyway know when something happens I guess I go overboard a little, I'm scared about losing another.

[Batmom]

Hope the vet and specialist can help figure things out!

[tbhounds]

By inactive I mean a urinalysis should be run from a voided urine sample--there should be no red/white cells in the submitted sample as that will raise the UPC value.

Sorry your caught between a rock and a hard place-i understand that it's very awkward to ask questions as some vets will take offense.

What you might be able to do is gather all of your lab results and your hounds health history and submit an online consult with Dr Couto.

http://www.coutovetconsultants.com

[TheFullHouse]

If they haven't checked her blood pressure, have them check it. It may be the cause of the results they are getting.

[Guest kar]

tried to check her bp but she is not a vet friendly dog. she yelps even when they touch her. because of this we had the ultrasound done - she yelped when they touched her stomach. thank god it was negative. she is very anxious at the vets.

[carronstar]

My girl has white coat syndrome as well. When she had her BP done at the specialists, it was 268! At that point they nearly needed to take my BP. When her regular vet who is homecare comes and takes it, she has what he calls perfect BP (for a medicated PLN/CRF dog) of 160-170.

 

There are a few people on here who can tell you how to take it at home, they were kind enough to do that for me. Would she let you take it?

 

40 mg of Enalapril sounds like a really heavy starter dose!

[Guest kar]

could not talk to the female vet she comes back to office tomorrow so I will call her. I have only been taking her on 15 or 20 min walks. But after 10 minutes her mouth is already open so I worry about taking her father. Does everyone else's dogs pant (not heavy panting) just mouth open after a little bit of walking? Today I walked her about 6 so it was a little warmer than usual.

how would you take bp at home, do you need a machine for dogs?

[TheFullHouse]

Blood pressure machines for dogs are very expensive. I started looking when my boys were diagnosed. They run around $1,200-$1,500.

[tbhounds]

You can ask your vet how they take her BP. There are some more user friendly BP machines that you could use at home. One of these is called a PetMap. We often let our clients borrow our PetMap and return it the next day-very easy to use.

http://www.petmap.com/petmap_classic.html