urine strip analysis

[sandramackie]

Hi thanks for having me on the forum, I'm reading as much as I can to try and understand if my dog has cushings or not. Hes on two weeks noraclav to rule out UTI. He is showing all the obvious signs of cushings at the moment. He is starving all the time and has started eating his faeces during the night when I'm asleep and I don't know how to deal with this , can anybody help. Also should I restrict his water at night time ? thanks in advance

[sandramackie]

Hi ,I was thinking of buying my own urine testing strips to keep an eye on my dogs results. Is this an easy thing to do? and what are the important readings to watch for? Thanks for your time :)

[labblab]

Hello and welcome to you and your dog! You will see that I have merged your two new threads into one. This is because it is much easier for us to keep track of each dog's specific situation when all the related questions and discussion remain in one thread. So you will be helping us a lot if, from now on, you keep on adding your additional replies right here.

First off, it is important not to limit your dog's access to water at any time, day or night. If he truly has Cushing's, his excessive urination is more complicated than just the fact that he is drinking a lot of water. In fact, it can be just the reverse: he needs to drink plenty of water to keep from becoming dehydrated due to his kidneys working overtime, as it were. So even though the excessive urination can certainly be awkward, you need to give him free access to water.

Can you tell us more about your boy's overall health history, the specifics of his symptoms, and any formal testing that your vet has done? I know that the cost of testing can be very burdensome, unfortunately. But there are limits on what you can check for on your own. I honestly have never checked into diagnostic urine strips for dogs, other than knowing that owners of diabetic dogs can indeed test urine for glucose, etc. I know that vets also have strips that can test for the presence of things like blood & protein, and also check pH levels, specific gravity, etc. But in terms of diagnosing Cushing's, the info gained from strips are general "flags" that can prompt more specific testing. So I'm not sure how valuable it would be for you to bother investing in strips on your own.

The faeces eating is certainly nasty. I am wondering, though, how it is that he has access to faeces overnight. Do you confine him at night, or does he have the run of the house or the yard? Does he consistently poop whether or not he is within a confined area, either inside or outside? I honestly have never had a dog that pooped consistently during the night, unless he/she was ill. So this is not a problem that I have ever had to face or solve.

OK, I've got to run for now. But once again, welcome, and I look forward to learning more about your boy.

Marianne

[molly muffin]

If it is cushings, you don't want to withhold water, as it is because the kidneys are working over time that they pee more, and so they need more water to stay hydrated.

However, if he is eating poop, you definitely need to have him checked out by a vet to make sure he is okay. Pancreatic problems can make a dog eat poop, not getting enough of the right nutrients, etc, can also make them eat their own feces. It can also become a habit and a way to clean their kennel area.

Starving, excess drinking/peeing, loss of hair, weakness in the rear legs, pot belly, can all be signs of cushings.

I'd want to rule out things like pancrease, diabetes, kidney, thyroid problems first though.

[sandramackie]

Hello and thank you so much for taking the time to help me.
I have 5 rescue cross staffies
Turk is 10yo and is on his second week of noraclav to rule out UTI .He is drinking and peeing alot. He acts like hes starving all the time. All my dogs have the run of the house ,all are fed weinwrights and i sometimes add extra veg,sardines ,chicken at times. The last toilet at 11.30pm.Water is always down. I bought a cheap camera to find out which dog was urinating during the night ,thats when i found out it was him and he also ate his poo :( .Im not very good at using forums sorry. I will try and post his results. His urine was very dilute ,but it wasnt his first pee. He had a normal blood test too.

[sandramackie]

turks results
Urine:Protein-ve,blood-ve,glu-ve,ketones-ve SG 1.008

Kidney parametersnormal,glucose 5.4
Alp marginally raised 170 (20-150)
Alt 260 (10-118)

[molly muffin]

So the urine is dilute.
The ALT being raised more than the ALKP is actually more concerning as that is liver specific, whereas ALKP vets wouldn't probably be that concerned about the small increase.

How about any kind of bile acid tests to check the liver? That might be worth looking into.

Nothing else was increased?

[sandramackie]

no there has been no other tests done yet , ive got one more week of antibiotics before going back to the vet, but to be honest i think it is cushings for sure , he is frantic for food all the time ,he is still drinking and urinating loads.please can you advise me on what the first tests should be for cushings . many thanks

[Harley PoMMom]

When a dog has diluted urine, such as Turk's, a regular urinalysis may not pick up the bacteria in the urine so it is recommended that an urine culture and sensitivity test be done. You definitely want to be certain that the UTI is completely gone before any diagnostic tests for Cushing's are performed because any non-adrenal illness can skew the results of cortisol assay tests.

If this were me I would have that urine culture and sensitivity test done and if it shows that Turk no longer has an UTI than I would have a low-dose dexamethasone suppression test (LDDS) to see if Cushing's could be a possibility.

Hugs, Lori