We've mentioned to a handful of clients about a new kidney test that was becoming available this summer. Well now its here! The test is called SDMA (Symmetric dimethylarginine) and allows us as veterinarians to provide a better and more accurate picture of kidney disease in your cat or dog. In the past, we looked at two values when trying to figure out kidney issues in companion animals. These values are called BUN and creatinine. In dogs and cats with kidney disease, these values were generally increased. However, in most cases, the kidneys are likely 75% damaged by the time these values are raised above normal reference values. As you can imagine, we sometimes can't diagnose kidney disease till late stage disease. Now, we can run an SDMA with the BUN/Creatinine and discover kidney damage much earlier (at approximately 40% damage). This is great news because we can manage the disease sooner. Please give us a call if you have any questions or would like to schedule a screening.
-Dr. C
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