Hunting Washington Forum

Other Hunting => Bird Dogs => Topic started by: 10Key on December 11, 2010, 07:26:24 PM

Title: FYI - Myoglobinuria
Post by: 10Key on December 11, 2010, 07:26:24 PM: So, Chukar and I were out yesterday on hunt in EWA. Things were going great, we were in birds right out of the car. The crusted 5" of snow made it tougher than normal, but we took it slow...well, about an hour and a half into it I noticed Chukar's pee looked funny, almost like there was blood in it. I shrugged it off as a fluke and decided that I would check the next batch. Sure enough, pinkish spots were in the snow where he did his business.

I started to worry and made a call for a local vet referral. We circled around and headed back to the car. We made it to a vet in Moses and they wanted a sample. We went outside and on que, Chukar released. This time his pee was almost brown, I was freaking out.

We hung tight, they tested his pee for blood and did some other tests. The diagnosis was myglobinuria. Basically, in cases of extreme muscle fatigue, the muscles release proteins and in this case, they made it into his urinary tract. If not caught soon, bad things can happen.

The moral of the story, shut down your dog if it's pee is odd colored. Another note, he wasn't acting unusual and his eyes were still perky. It was a crazy experience, hopefully if you encounter these symptoms, you will have an idea of how to react.
Title: Re: FYI - Myoglobinuria
Post by: Skyvalhunter on December 11, 2010, 07:32:32 PM: Ok so whats the cause, cure , etc?
Title: Re: FYI - Myoglobinuria
Post by: 10Key on December 11, 2010, 07:38:09 PM: It is caused by extreme muscle fatigue, the "cure" is rest and hydration. He is totally fine today. The plan was to hunt his morning, but I figured another day of rest was necessary. In Chukar's case, we hadn't hunted for a couple of weeks, combine that with the snow and the recipe for extreme fatigue was complete.
Title: Re: FYI - Myoglobinuria
Post by: follow maggie on December 12, 2010, 07:19:01 AM: That's really good toknow, 10key. Thanks for passing it along to the rest of us.
Title: Re: FYI - Myoglobinuria
Post by: boneaddict on December 12, 2010, 07:45:01 AM: Thanks for the heads up. Thats interesting to know.
Title: Re: FYI - Myoglobinuria
Post by: PNWsportsman on December 12, 2010, 09:57:46 AM: One of my labs in the past would periodically suffer from this during warm weather hunts. I believe the muscle over heats and breaks down releasing toxins into the body which can damage the kidneys. Hydration and conditiong were big factors, however air temp was the biggest factor. In my case If it wasnt cold enough for me to comfortably hunt in a sweatshirt I needed to be extremely careful.
Title: Re: FYI - Myoglobinuria
Post by: mjbskwim on December 12, 2010, 06:03:05 PM: Sounds like a change of diet is in order.
Maybe not getting enough from his food?