Abstract: Background: The urine protein creatinine (UPC) ratio is the gold standard test for quantifying proteinuria. Sources of proteinuria may occur from pre-renal, intrinsic renal, and post-renal sites, and some patients may have multiple sources of proteinuria. While urogenital neoplasia is known to cause post-renal proteinuria, the magnitude has not been evaluated. Hypothesis/Objectives: To evaluate urinalysis and UPC findings in dogs with urogenital neoplasia. Methods: A retrospective study identified patients seen at Friendship Hospital for Animals with confirmed or suspected urogenital neoplasia. Cancer was confirmed via urine cytology, positive BRAF test, or histopathology of the lesion. Animals were suspected to have urogenital neoplasia when ultrasound identified a mass-lesion suggestive of urothelial carcinoma. Animals were eligible for enrollment if there was a urinalysis with UPC was available for review. Results: A total of 114 samples from 49 dogs were evaluated. The median UPC was 0.990 with a range of 0.01-11.9. UPC was normal (< 0.2) in 12 (10.5%) of samples and borderline proteinuric (0.2-0.5) in 16 (14.0%). 86 (75.4%) of samples were proteinuric (UPC >0.5), 31 (27.2%) had a UPC 1.0-2.0 and 26 (22.8%) had a UPC >2.0. Hypoalbuminemia (albumin < 2.3) was identified in 2 (1.7%) samples. Serum albumin was not correlated to UPC. Animals with confirmed neoplasia, bacteriuria, or pyuria had higher UPCs than those without. Conclusions and clinical importance: Proteinuria is common in animals with confirmed and suspected urogenital neoplasia. Further investigation is warranted to determine if there is glomerular disease or only post-renal proteinuria.
