Kidney Trouble Or Something Else?

[macoduck]

A friend's greyhound is 3 years old. He's gone from 90 lbs to 71 lbs in several months. The biggest drop was 6 lbs in the past 2 weeks. His race weight was 68 and he was chunky when I saw him many months ago. Owner says she can now see all his ribs.

 

Two big changes in routine where husband deploying (military) in early January and owner moving to new city 2 weeks ago. Dog was very stressed during the packing and moving process.

 

He's had some minor health issues in the year that they've had him. Mostly loose poop. But also tremors that stopped after changing to a food without rosemary in it.

 

He also had a nose bleed and a ripped toenail. She gave him aspirin and had been giving him fish oil for some time.

Clotting test results mention "possible presence of hemolysis"

FBHGEN was low at 69 mg/dl/l (range 90-255)

PT normal

PTT was high at 32.8 seconds (range 10.6-16.8)

 

Local vet could figure out what was wrong with him regarding that and peeing in the house occasionally. I see he was issued amoxicillin back then (August) he had a UTI.

Urinalysis said:

protein - neg

pH - 6.0

s.g. - 1.026

Snap test - neg

 

Looking at the lab results from August I see creatinine listed a sgreyhound high at 2.2 and 1.9 and the total protein at the high end or normal. Platelets 137,000. HGB and WBC are greyhound normal.

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Owner called me tonight concerned for his weight loss. He eats 4 cups a day of a Purina Healthy Weight (red bag). Is drinking and pooping OK. However she doesn't think he is peeing enough and his energy is low. Certainly stress from the move and his dad being gone are affecting him.

 

New vet in her new town reviewed tests from old vet here. This is what was done today but results aren't in yet:

 

urinalysis in-house complete (bill doesn't say if specific gravity was done)

chem 17 Catalyst

CBC procyte (add on)

electrolytes Catalyst

fecal

TLI, cobalamin, folate #2156

 

My question is what do you think of this big weight loss? What other tests could be done? Is it time to have owner send everything to Dr Couto for review?

 

 

 

 

 

 

[MaryJane]

Could be IBD and if so, start on probiotics, get B12 shots and start a home-made with only white fish as the protein (white rice and veggies).

 

Could be that the blood in the tube had clots so the clotting tests turned out abnormal - repeat those.

 

That is a big drop in weight but, is it possible the dog was overweight and the weight should be about 70-75 or so - can you get a picture from the top and side.

 

Stop giving aspirin and fish oil until the clotting studies come back normal.

 

Isn't Purina Healthy weight a weight-loss dog food?

 

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edited to add - get the dog off the Purina Healthy weight -- it is a low calorie dog food.

Edited March 8, 2016 by MaryJane

[macoduck]

Could be IBD and if so, start on probiotics, get B12 shots and start a home-made with only white fish as the protein (white rice and veggies). Since he hasn't had diarrhea in ages wouldn't that rule out IBD?

 

Could be that the blood in the tube had clots so the clotting tests turned out abnormal - repeat those. Yes, when a test was done last year there was improper handling and it was repeated.

 

That is a big drop in weight but, is it possible the dog was overweight and the weight should be about 70-75 or so - can you get a picture from the top and side. I'll ask her to send me pictures.

 

Stop giving aspirin and fish oil until the clotting studies come back normal. Yes, those were stopped when he had the nose bleed last year.

 

Isn't Purina Healthy weight a weight-loss dog food?

 

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edited to add - get the dog off the Purina Healthy weight -- it is a low calorie dog food.

Thank you MaryJane. I've put my responses in bold above. Any opinion on the elevated creatinine?

[greysmom]

Has she done an ultrasound or abdominal xrays? That would be my next thought.

 

I'm not familiar with that food, but if it is a low calorie food, then she needs to switch. See if there's a puppy formula in the same brand - they have more calories and fat. The weight loss is rather dramatic so something is definitely going on.

[MaryJane]

Thank you MaryJane. I've put my responses in bold above. Any opinion on the elevated creatinine?

 

 

As to diarrhea and IBD -- usually diarrhea is a symptom of IBD but with Lucy, it wasn't. Her poops were good just that she wasn't get the nutrients from the food. She was on Potassium Bromide for her seizures and that can cause irritation/inflammation of the gut.

 

As to the creat - yes it is a bit high but it will depend on what the first morning specimen specific gravity is along with whether there is protein spilling into the urine. Was the 1.026 specific gravity from a first morning specimen? If yes, then this is what Larry had with a high creat and low specific gravity and I put him on a low protein diet and he did great on it. Larry also had food allergies and couldn't have chicken or macaroni.