CLINICAL AND CLINICOPATHOLOGICAL ABNORMALITIES IN GREYHOUNDS WITH CUTANEOUS AND RENAL GLOMERULAR VASCULOPATHY - 18 CASES (1992-1994)

Objective-To determine clinical signs and clinicopathologic abnormalit ies in Greyhounds with cutaneous and renal glomerular vasculopathy and to determine whether there were any differences between dogs with and without renal azotemia.Design-Retrospective study. Animals-18 Greyhou nds. Procedure-Results of CBC, serum biochemical analyses, urinalyses, coagulation tests, tests of RBC morphology, bacterial culture of bloo d samples, and serologic tests for Rickettsia rickettsii, Ehrlichia ca nis, E platys, and Leptospira interrogans were reviewed. Glomerular fi ltration rates and urine protein:creatinine ratios were determined in most dogs. t-Tests and a test of equality of proportions were used to compare dogs that developed renal azotemia with dogs that did not. Res ults-None of the dogs was bacteremic or had serologic evidence of infe ctious disease. Ten dogs had renal azotemia, 16 had anemia, 11 had hyp oalbuminemia, and 18 developed thrombocytopenia. Compared with dogs wi thout renal azotemia, dogs with renal azotemia had significantly lower mean platelet count, hematocrit, and serum albumin concentration and significantly higher mean neutrophil count and creatine kinase activit y. All 10 dogs with renal azotemia died or were euthanatized; 7 of 8 d ogs without azotemia survived. Clinical Implications-Greyhounds with c utaneous and renal glomerular vasculopathy that developed renal azotem ia had evidence of more severe systemic disease than did dogs that did not have azotemia and, despite supportive treatment, had a poorer pro gnosis.