The diagnostic significance of increased urinary and serum amylase activity in bitches with pyometra

The serum amylase and the serum lipase activities determined simultaneously were normal in 92 bitches with pyometra (group A). To determine the usefulness of the information provided by the measurement of urinary amylase activity in pyometra dogs, the relation of serum and urinary amylase activity to urinary protein and serum lipase activity in paired serum and urine samples was investigated in 39 control bitches and in a second group of 66 bitches with pyometra (group B). The 39 control bitches and 18 pyometra bitches (group B1) had normal urinary amylase activity and showed neither a change in urinary protein nor in serum amylase or lipase activities. There was no relationship between the urinary amylase activity and the urinary protein level or the serum amylase activity. The remaining forty-eight pyometra bitches (group B2) had normal serum lipase activity and increased urinary amylase activity (amylasuria), which correlated highly with the increased urinary protein concentration and to a lesser degree with the increased serum amylase activity. Renal failure in 15 of those bitches had no influence on the degree of increase in the urinary or serum amylase activity. It was concluded that, in the absence of any significant indication of pancreatic disease, amylasuria and amylasaemia in bitches with pyometra are a strong indication of renal glomerular disease. Amylasuria was indicative to some degree of an increased serum amylase activity, but was unrelated to renal failure.