Photo by Ashley Steffey

Greyhounds with a high SDMA result do not necessarily have kidney disease. Anecdotal evidence indicates that Deerhounds might be the same.

When your vet runs a standard blood chemistry or profile on your dog, one test that is often run is the symmetric dimethylarginine (SDMA) test, which is used to detect early kidney disease in dogs. It detects disease much earlier than the standard BUN and creatinine tests.

Some vets tell owners whose dogs have a high SDMA test result to switch to a prescription kidney diet or give supplements to stave off the kidney disease the SDMA test was designed to indicate.

However, over the past few years, two studies have come out that show that Greyhounds can have higher-than-usual SDMA normal values: A 2018 article out of the University of Melbourne and this 2021 study by our colleague Guillermo Couto and others.

These studies show that Greyhounds with a high SDMA result do not necessarily have burgeoning kidney disease.

Although no studies have been done on Deerhounds (our 2012 study on normal blood values in Deerhounds did not include the SDMA test), given the similarities between the two breeds and several anecdotal reports of healthy Deerhounds having high SDMA test results but never go on to develop kidney disease, we thought we would alert Deerhound owners to these studies so if their Deerhounds have a high SDMA they can discuss with their vets what a high SDMA may mean for our breed.

Has your Deerhound ever had a high SDMA test result? We’d love to hear from you! Please contact us to let us know.