Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Does being overweight raise urine protein levels in healthy dogs
By Tefft, Karen M et al.·Published in Veterinary clinical pathology·2014·Department of Companion Animals, Canada·View original on PubMed →
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Original publication title: Association between excess body weight and urine protein concentration in healthy dogs.
- Species:
- dog
Plain-English summary
A group of overweight and obese dogs was tested for protein in their urine to see if their weight was affecting their kidney health. The researchers compared these dogs to those at a healthy weight and found no significant differences in urine protein levels between the two groups. This suggests that being overweight does not necessarily lead to kidney problems in dogs, at least in the cases studied. The dogs did not show any signs of kidney issues related to their weight.
People also search for: dog urine protein test · overweight dog kidney health · signs of kidney disease in dogs
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Markedly overweight people can develop progressive proteinuria and kidney failure secondary to obesity-related glomerulopathy (ORG). Glomerular lesions in dogs with experimentally induced obesity are similar to those in people with ORG. OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to evaluate if urine protein and albumin excretion is greater in overweight and obese dogs than in dogs of ideal body condition. METHODS: Client-owned dogs were screened for underlying health conditions. These dogs were assigned a body condition score (BCS) using a 9-point scoring system. Dogs with a BCS of ≥ 6 were classified as being overweight/obese, and dogs with a BCS of 4 or 5 were classified as being of ideal body weight. The urine protein:creatinine ratio (UPC) and urine albumin:creatinine ratio (UAC) were then determined, and compared between 20 overweight/obese dogs and 22 ideal body weight control dogs. RESULTS: Median UPC (0.04 [range, 0.01-0.14; interquartile range, 0.07]) and UAC (0.41 [0-10.39; 3.21]) of overweight/obese dogs were not significantly different from median UPC (0.04 [0.01-0.32; 0.07]) and UAC (0.18 [0-7.04; 1.75]) in ideal body weight dogs. CONCLUSIONS: Clinicopathologic abnormalities consistent with ORG were absent from overweight/obese dogs in this study.
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Search related cases →Original publication on PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24731227/