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High biliruben in urine, nothing in blood, low phosphorous

Barkley

I am DESPERATE for advice about my dog, Barkley. We took him to the vet for a possible UTI and when they checked his urine it showed high amounts of biliruben and crystals. Then a blood count was done and a chemistry. The blood work shows no biliruben, so they said it cant be liver. And the urinalysis had no appearance of UTI by looking at white blood cell count. My dog is on 10mg of prednisone 2x's a day to flush him out and is not doing well on it...From the second dose his behavior changed suddenly and is now very "lethargic". I am terrified and asked my vet tons of ques already.. They said possible Franconis Syndrome but the glucose was fine..The only other piece of info I have to offer is a loss of phosphorous..He has a 2.5 instead of about 6(whatever that means). He is a 60 lb normal weighted Am. Foxhound down to 54 lbs..we had some major life changes that may acct for that like new babies and moving and my husband is away all week getting our new house set up, so he hasn't ate well.. But he did't lose his appetite, I just had to dress up the food a little and make it more appealing to him.. But w/ all the chaos we did not notice he was going a little while w/o eating the dry food. Also, he had been holding in urine pretty long.. we just learned that he needs to go out more often. So with that info. will you please tell my what you think are possibilities of what is going on.. Our vet is stumped at the biliruben being so very high in his urine and nothing showing in blood at all. All the liver enzymes were good in the bloodwork.. He is saying 'kidney function' but really doesn't know. PLEASE! PLEASE HELP US..I CAN'T LOSE HIM. I LOVE HIM SO MUCH! He showed nothing wrong except for sprayed urine recently a few times (strangely) and it was kinda dark in color and stinky...So , we thought UTI. Could there be hidden one not showing up in a unsterile urinalysis? What can I do..I am going crazy and need your advice. Thank You, Dana Van Horn

Symptoms: Urine & Incontinence, Weight Loss

• Experienced Advisor Stacey Crompton says:

  February 06th, 2008 at 11:52 PM

  Hello sorry to hear your problems .

  Barkleys has had it very rough , poor baby!

  I think the best advice i can give you would be to seek referral to a medical Veterinary Surgeon.

  General practioners can be very good at treating problems in practice but with all his problems and the time scale that he has been ill it needs to be resolved ASAP foe his sake and yours.

  Medical veterinary surgeons rarely investigate numerous problems as they normally know by previous tests and consultations with your own vet what the diagnosis is likely to be. Refferral can be expensive but i can asure you that your problems and Barkleys will eventually be sorted.

  I am not experienced enough (as i am a nurse) to suggest a diagnosis but i can suggest some things to help

  I would probally seek more investigations via blood samples and urine samples   Possibilities can be abnormal positioning of the bladder in the abdomen , he could be experiencing a eptopic urethra. I would suggest a urinary work up which consists on a contrast dye injected into the blood system (via a vein ) and this dye gets absorbed by the kidneys and urinary system making it glow on radiographs (x-rays) This will show if there are any abnormalties of the urinary system.

  I would request more specailised blood tesing and urine samples sent away to a external lab for tesing as this is a more efficent way and better results are more reliable aswell. 

   

  The things i have mentioned the medical veterinary surgeon (a specailist in medical problems ) can and will be very helpful in helping you.

  Sorry i can not be of more help to you, please be honest with your veterinary surgeon , sometimes they talk in veterinary lanuage with out knowing it , please do say if you do not understand , im sure he will be more than happy to explain it in more detail. After all you are patying for his advice and he should provide it!

  Good luck

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• User says:

  February 07th, 2008 at 01:58 AM

  Thanks a lot... I kind of figured you would say that. We wondered if we needed another reg. vet opinion..a re-evaluation.. or a specialist..We didn't want to spend more money on another vet only to still be referred to a specialist..which ours starts at 300.00 to walk in the door.. Thanks for your time. We appreciate it.

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• Experienced Advisor Stacey Crompton says:

  February 07th, 2008 at 10:18 AM

  It is very expensive however you do pay for waht you get. I would definaltely recommend a speacialist referral. I have so must trust in them i have worked with many. Good luck

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