# Wellness blood test - Elevated SDMA



## hotel4dogs (Sep 29, 2008)

Yes, a raw diet could account for that.


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## SBaker (Jan 15, 2018)

SDMA is an early indicator of kidney disease. BUN and Creatinine may not show abnormalities until 75% of kidney function is lost. SDMA can detect at 25% kindey function loss. This may be as simple as an infection, so doing a urine culture is a good idea. I would also contact the manufacturer of the diet you are feeding +/- the FDA to see if there are other dogs on this diet experiencing kidney issues. While your at it, take a look at the FDA's stance on raw diets. Also be honest with your vet on any table scraps or treats he receives. Grapes can also cause acute kidney failure.

The good news is whatever is going on you caught it early. Keep a close eye on him and in close contact with your vet. Make sure he has plenty of fresh water available. Please keep us posted on how he's doing!


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## SBaker (Jan 15, 2018)

I just saw your other post about the cracked tooth. I'm glad you're having it extracted. Before I realized it was the same person posting, my immediate concern was the exposed pulp - a direct route into his bloodstream - and the raw diet. It would be very easy for any bacteria or pathogens in the food to bypass his GI system and enter directly into his bloodstream and straight to his kidneys. Definitely do the urine culture.

I would avoid raw (or cooked, for that matter) bones in the future for precisely this reason. I know wolves chew raw bones, etc, and wolves also have fractured and broken teeth.


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## joro32000 (Feb 25, 2017)

From what I know elevated levels of SDMA can be caused by dehydration and a stress at the vet clinic. Though BUN levels are also affected by dehydration and stress and his BUN is normal. Even if there is an early issue with his kidney filtration, the urine test may not show anything as usually the urine gravity drops at the more advanced stages of kidney disease. I would do both urine test and a repeat of a blood test, maybe early in the morning when nobody is around and you are the first client.


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## Walnut_the_Nut (Jan 25, 2012)

hotel4dogs said:


> Yes, a raw diet could account for that.


I remember reading somewhere online about blood tests being slightly different on raw fed dogs, but this was about 6 years ago when researching to switch to raw. 



SBaker said:


> SDMA is an early indicator of kidney disease. BUN and Creatinine may not show abnormalities until 75% of kidney function is lost. SDMA can detect at 25% kindey function loss. This may be as simple as an infection, so doing a urine culture is a good idea. I would also contact the manufacturer of the diet you are feeding +/- the FDA to see if there are other dogs on this diet experiencing kidney issues. While your at it, take a look at the FDA's stance on raw diets. Also be honest with your vet on any table scraps or treats he receives. Grapes can also cause acute kidney failure.
> 
> The good news is whatever is going on you caught it early. Keep a close eye on him and in close contact with your vet. Make sure he has plenty of fresh water available. Please keep us posted on how he's doing!


Thanks for the input! We're really glad we opted for the full blood test and, in a way, glad he got bitten by a tick (otherwise we wouldn't have done a full blood test). 

We don't give table scraps and their treats are all lean, dehydrated meats made by us.

Our vet is aware of their diet and indirectly made it clear he doesn't really believe in it. We tend to disagree as our 7 year old golden hasn't had any allergies/reactions since switching him to raw 5-6 years ago. No more ear/eye infections, no more random bouts of the runs, etc. 

Cashew won't eat kibble, period. We tried Fromm, Origin, etc. 




SBaker said:


> I just saw your other post about the cracked tooth. I'm glad you're having it extracted. Before I realized it was the same person posting, my immediate concern was the exposed pulp - a direct route into his bloodstream - and the raw diet. It would be very easy for any bacteria or pathogens in the food to bypass his GI system and enter directly into his bloodstream and straight to his kidneys. Definitely do the urine culture.
> 
> I would avoid raw (or cooked, for that matter) bones in the future for precisely this reason. I know wolves chew raw bones, etc, and wolves also have fractured and broken teeth.



Is it possible for an infection to occur in such a short time? He'll be getting his tooth extracted next week. We were thinking of waiting until about 1-2 months AFTER the extraction to do another blood test. If the numbers are off again, then do a urine sample test. 




joro32000 said:


> From what I know elevated levels of SDMA can be caused by dehydration and a stress at the vet clinic. Though BUN levels are also affected by dehydration and stress and his BUN is normal. Even if there is an early issue with his kidney filtration, the urine test may not show anything as usually the urine gravity drops at the more advanced stages of kidney disease. I would do both urine test and a repeat of a blood test, maybe early in the morning when nobody is around and you are the first client.


Thanks for the input. Water is always available for our pups - always. He is a high energy pup and loves to run. He also had a good run literally 10 minutes before going to the vet (the vet is a 10 minute walk from our house). 

The good thing about our (new) vets office is that it's usually quiet. At the time the sample was taken there were no other dogs. It's a small office and only the doctor and his receptionist work there. I'm not implying he wasn't stressed...his tail is ALWAYS wagging...and it wasn't when the sample was taken.


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## Maggie'sVoice (Apr 4, 2018)

Keep in mind that with such a high level of protein in the diet (you're feeding 80% meat and freeze dried meat treats) that will directly impact the kidney health. Also, it's not the protein but the phosphorus in the protein that impacts on the kidneys. So by making your own raw (I do a commercially prepared raw that I mix with kibble) the quality of the meat you're buying will have different levels of phosphorus so if your meat is making your diet greater then .8% phosphorus, it's detrimental to the kidneys. This is why I never do an internet raw diet. As much as I know about dog nutrition, I'm no formulator to know it's balanced properly, you're just kinda guessing. Making your own raw food regardless of where the recipe came from means you should be doing a full blood panel every 6-8 months. On a commercially prepared raw I do that once a year.


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## BriGuy (Aug 31, 2010)

Hazel had elevated SDMA when she had Lyme disease, and since Lyme can cause kidney issues, we were concerned. After 6 months we retested and the levels were back within normal range. I just mention this because you said he was bitten by a tick.


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## Walnut_the_Nut (Jan 25, 2012)

Maggie'sVoice said:


> Keep in mind that with such a high level of protein in the diet (you're feeding 80% meat and freeze dried meat treats) that will directly impact the kidney health. Also, it's not the protein but the phosphorus in the protein that impacts on the kidneys. So by making your own raw (I do a commercially prepared raw that I mix with kibble) the quality of the meat you're buying will have different levels of phosphorus so if your meat is making your diet greater then .8% phosphorus, it's detrimental to the kidneys. This is why I never do an internet raw diet. As much as I know about dog nutrition, I'm no formulator to know it's balanced properly, you're just kinda guessing. Making your own raw food regardless of where the recipe came from means you should be doing a full blood panel every 6-8 months. On a commercially prepared raw I do that once a year.


We've never done a commercially raw diet, but perhaps it's something we should look into. We got all our raw feeding details/guidelines from the farm we source our proteins from. They are a small operation and knowledgeable on the topic...raw pet food is their only business. I may also reach out to them for suggestions. 




BriGuy said:


> Hazel had elevated SDMA when she had Lyme disease, and since Lyme can cause kidney issues, we were concerned. After 6 months we retested and the levels were back within normal range. I just mention this because you said he was bitten by a tick.


According to my vet, symptoms, if any, won't show in blood work for up to 5-6 weeks after a bite. He suggested we do a test immediately to check for Lyme, and again after 5-6 weeks to make sure all is well. I'll raise this with my vet. 


*I should mention*
If I haven't already...
He did run around *off-leash* quite a bit before the vet visit. He doesn't need a ball or anything. He'll just do laps around the field on his own, full speed, tail wagging. It's pretty funny to watch how happy he gets just zooming around. 

He was panting heavily before, during and after the vet visit (total 30-45 minute visit). After the blood sample was taken the receptionist brought a bowl of water for him and he practically drank the entire bowl.

That being said, when people mention dehydration can cause elevated SDMA levels, do they mean at the moment blood sample was taken or in general? He always has access to water, but was (clearly) quite thirsty on the walk to the vets office.


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## joro32000 (Feb 25, 2017)

Walnut_the_Nut said:


> That being said, when people mention dehydration can cause elevated SDMA levels, do they mean at the moment blood sample was taken or in general? He always has access to water, but was (clearly) quite thirsty on the walk to the vets office.


I meant dehydration at the time of blood sample collection can cause elevated levels of SDMA. 

Elevated levels of SDMA can’t be ignored, but these tests are not precise. This is why I prefer to do blood tests early in the morning, before any walking, exercise, chasing balls and playing, when there are no other people, cats and dogs in the clinic with no chances for meeting new people and greeting. On days like this BUN, SDMA and white blood count is well within the middle range. When one of my dogs get too excited and dehydrated BUN, SDMA and white cells all go above the upper range of normal. Then my vet thinks there is a mild infection, prescribing antibiotics. Come and repeat the test next day, all his blood parameters are perfect.

When you do urine test, take the sample from the first pee in the morning, as you want to check for true urine concentration (urine gravity) as well as for proteinuria (presence of proteins in urine). 

In case of my bridge golden who had a kidney failure at age of 13 the only indicators of kidney disease were obvious in urine test (zero urine concentration and copious protein leakage). His blood test until 2 days before he passed away didn’t reveal any abnormalities, with his creatinine levels perfectly in the middle of the normal range (at this stage of disease his creatinine levels should be multiple times above the upper level of normal).


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## Walnut_the_Nut (Jan 25, 2012)

Hi all, 

Just a quick update. We just got the results of the urine sample and everything is okay :smile2::smile2:

The vet said the results came back perfect and that his kidney is filtering absolutely fine. He believes he may have been either slightly dehydrated or nervous when the sample was taken. I'm guessing he was slightly dehydrated as he doesn't seem to mind grooming, needles, etc at all. 

He'll be getting his molar removed on Monday. 

Thanks all for the feedback.


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## hotel4dogs (Sep 29, 2008)

Great news!


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## Maggie'sVoice (Apr 4, 2018)

That's great news! Glad to hear it was nothing after all.


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