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Kidney disease

The mother of my girl suffered from kidney disease and now my girl is drinking excessively and urinating all over the place. Totally out of character. Could her mother having kidney disease pass into her as well? Her UA shows nothing except dilute urine. Could this be kidney disease? TIA

Re: Kidney disease

There are a lot of reasons for excessive drinking and urination. It could be that it is the start of a urinary tract infection. Or her food and treats could be salty in hot weather, and she is thirsty. If she is an intact bitch, she could have the start of pyo, which could be an emergency very quickly. See the article at the link; it has several pages.
http://www.petplace.com/dogs/polydipsia-and-polyuria-in-dogs/page1.aspx

Good luck with her.

Re: Kidney disease

Thank you! I'm hoping that it's just because of the warm weather and the fact that she runs around a lot! The vet took blood for a CBC panel and more urine for a culture and protein check

Re: Kidney disease

from my experience with KF in an older dog I do not see this carrying on to offspring. Most likely a UTI as mentioned. Do a full blood panel and if BUN or creatinine are off (also urine specific gravity) or phosphorous then I would worry.

If any of that is off please contact me and I will tell what I did for my girl, all holistic and worked wonders for her.

Prayers its just a UTI.

Re: Kidney disease

Juvenile Renal Dysplasia, which is likely heritable, does occur in Labradors. However, there are many causes of kidney disease including environmental toxins. Old age kidney failure, assuming the mother of your dog is older, is not something I would worry about being passed on.

Try not to jump to any conclusions yet. Some Labs drink a lot, especially in the summer.

Re: Kidney disease

Typically, kidney values aren't affected by chronic kidney disease until it's quite advanced (i.e. loss of 75-80% of function) so you could be dealing with CKD even though labs are still normal at this point. The dilute urine is a concern as are the polyuria & polydypsia (excessive drinking & urinating). Dilute urine aka low specific gravity makes for a bacterial friendly environment which is a recipe for a UTI, but may be a "complicated" UTI rather than your typical "simple" UTI.

Here is a great resource: http://www.veterinaryteambrief.com/sites/default/files/sites/cliniciansbrief.com/files/ManagingEcoliUTI.pdf

I recommend a culture and sensitivity (including sediment), abx treatment dependent upon which bacteria is found, a repeat UA after 10-14 days on abx to determine if they're working (or sooner if she is not making progress). If the UTI repeats or reoccurs I recommend an ultrasound of the bladder and kidneys to look for cystitis (bladder) and scarring (kidneys).

If you perform labs and alk phos levels are off I'd take a look at the adrenals.

I have a girl with CKD and through my own experience and research I'm not aware of a genetic component. Her mother and grandmother had no issues.

Fwiw, I do hope it's a simple UTI. Good luck!

Re: Kidney disease

Could also be the beginnings of diabetes. I've had 3 dogs with diabetes. Both drank tons of water and had dilute urine until the lab work finally showed diabetes. One dog had many strange symptoms that never ever pointed to diabetes, the other had high glucose within 1 month of the increase fluid intake and urination changes. Both were treated with insulin. One had to be put down due to complications(after 4mos. of treating) at at 8yrs, the other (with the worse symptoms including blindness) is still going strong and will be 13yrs soon. The third dog is now 10 and doing well.