One of the most important deals with kidney function – it’s called the urine speciﬁc gravity. Many different pieces of information can be derived from a urinalysis. Because it is not affected by dietary protein, any elevation in creatinine levels should alert you to the strong possibility of Even small elevations of this enzyme can indicate signiﬁcant kidney problems. However, when combined with other tests of kidney function, an elevated BUN can alert the doctor to a potential problem with the kidneys.Ĭreatinine is a much more sensitive test of kidney dysfunction. Therefore, an elevated BUN by itself may not be clinically meaningful. As mentioned above, mild elevations on a scale of 10 to 20 units can be normal for your dog if other testing of kidney function is also normal. With kidney disease, the BUN begins to slowly elevate. Unfortunately, it’s also affected by other factors such as intestinal bleeding and dietary protein levels. Let’s take a look at some commonly performed tests and what they mean.īUN is a common test of kidney function. However, re-do the test every few months, especially if you have an older dog since kidney disease is more common in senior animals. If they weren’t, it’s likely your dog’s BUN value of 40 is nothing to worry about. Look at other tests of kidney function (creatinine, phosphorus, complete urinalysis, etc.) and see if those were abnormal. If he has never had this test done before, repeat it in one to two weeks, and compare the value to the current one. If your dog has always had BUN values close to 40, it’s probably safe to say this is another normal test. How do you determine if this is normal, or a sign of potentially serious kidney disease? This is where the vet’s medical training and experience come in to determine if it was normal for your dog (in which case it’s nothing to worry about) or abnormal.įirst, look at BUN values from prior tests, if available. Let’s suppose your dog has a BUN value of 40, which is outside the normal range on the high end. However, 5% of normal dogs will have a lab value of less than 10 and 5% a value greater than 30. This means 90% of normal dogs will have a BUN value anywhere from 10 to 30. Normal values for most labs are 10 to 30. This means 5% of normal patients will fall outside the low end of the normal range and 5% will fall outside the high end.Īs an example, let’s look at the BUN test (blood urea nitrogen), commonly used to determine kidney disease. Approximately 90% of “normal” patients will fall under the bell of the curve. Why? Because normal values are determined using a bell-shaped curve. Additionally, patients can have what appears to be an abnormal lab result, yet be totally healthy. Every lab develops its own set of normal values based on its patient population. The following will help you interpret the results of some of the most commonly performed blood tests.įirst, it’s imperative you understand what “normal” means. When you do, you probably ﬁnd all those numbers and notations more than a little confusing. Most of the time, you don’t see a copy of your animal’s lab results. Are you confused by your animal’s lab results? Here’s a helpful guide to some of the most common blood tests your veterinarian might perform.

Normal range for bun levels