The effects of exercise on urinary albumin excretion in dogs

Persistent microalbuminuria has been shown to be an indicator of glomerular damage associated with early progressive renal disease in people and dogs. In people, transient or reversible microalbuminuria has been shown to occur with exercise. A semi-quantitative test to measure microalbuminuria in the dog recently has become available. The purpose of this study was to determine if mild-to-moderate exercise induced microalbuminuria in the dog. Twenty-six dogs were included in the study after undergoing tests to rule out hyperglycemia, urinary tract infection, azotemia, and a urine protein:creatinine ratio >1. Exercise consisted of 20 minutes of flat treadmill running. Urine samples were collected on 2 separate days before exercise, the morning of exercise, 3 hours postexercise, 7-9 hours postexercise, and each of the 2 mornings after exercise. For 24 of 26 dogs, this procedure was repeated after a minimum 7-day interval between exercise sessions. The canine E.R.D. (early renal disease)-Screen Urine Test (E.R.D.-Screen test) was used to determine semiquantitative urine albumin concentrations. Microalbuminuria-positive samples, as determined by the E.R.D.-Screen test, were further analyzed to determine quantitative albumin concentrations. Four (15%) dogs were microalbuminuria positive. In each of these dogs, microalbuminuria was present both before and after exercise with no quantitative increase in urine albumin concentration postexercise. Twenty-two (85%) dogs were microalbuminuria negative throughout the study and did not develop microalbuminuria at any time after exercise. On a 95% confidence interval, the proportion of dogs that might be expected to develop microalbuminuria after exercise is between 0 and 15%.