I learned something new today, so I thought I'd pass it along.

Back-story: My 15-month-old raw-fed Leonberger is becoming a canine blood donor, and as part of that process the donor lab conducts a complete blood workup before drawing donor blood.

So they draw her blood sample and the creatinine and BUN (blood urea nitrogen) numbers come back high--at least according to the folks drawing the blood--and they want to consult with our vet before proceeding with the donation. They call the vet, and sure enough, our vet confirms that raw-fed dogs DO have higher than average readings for these two kidney function tests--and often higher values for red blood cell count too.

A lab not used to dealing with blood tests on raw-fed dogs might flag them as "too high." Apparently, "normal" for raw-fed dogs is different than the normal for kibble fed dogs in these values. Doesn't mean anything is wrong, they just have more available protein in their diet, and the numbers reflect that.

Ya learn something new every day.

This link explains a little more--I found it consulting Dr. Google.

http://www.mountaindogfood.com/RawHelp/Raw_Food_Study.pdf

I had the same thing happen with Teagan's CBC - there's a link to discussion of some studies in this thread:

http://leerburg.com/forums/ubbthreads.php/ubb/showflat/Number/229565/page/5/fpart/4

Who knew though?

That's so great your Leonberger is going to be a blood donor! I looked into it here but everywhere requires vaccinations I don't give

I just had the same thing happen 2 weeks ago - the derma vet did a complete blood panel and Kasey's BUN came back high too. She was concerned so I sent her the exact article you link to on your post and explain to her about raw fed and BUN levels - she agreed that was the problem and felt much better. Sometimes even vets don't know everything!!

Cool!

Dr. Dodd. Thats a pretty big name behind this study. Can't believe I missed it.

How long have these study results been out?

Jennifer, I can't get the link to work, and can't remember the discussion. Repost the link if you get time. Pretty please.

http://leerburg.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Board=12&Number=236612&Searchpage=5&Main=22994&Words=BUN+level&topic=0&Search=true#Post236612

May be what jennifer was talking about. It has this:

http://www.dogaware.com/kidney.html

http://www.dogaware.com/kidney.html#protein

and just this main link from me: http://www.dogaware.com/

Worth reading even if it isn't what Jennifer was looking for.
But I could be wrong.

I was referring to a discussion of Teagan's CBC results.

Go to the main dogaware page, then blood test and urinanalysis references. There is a section on the effect of diet on test results.