# dog with high calcium/low phosphorous



## werecatrising (Oct 15, 2010)

My parents have a sick eight year old boxer mix. He hasn't been eating well for awhile. They had blood work and x rays done. I guess his calcium was really high, and his phosphorous was really low. This was a couple of weeks ago. They have very little money and have to wait until mid way through this next week to do more diagnostic.

In the mean time, they need to get him to eat. When he started going down hill I made a bunch of the home cooked food I use to feed. For awhile Jack really liked that, now he is just picking at it. They picked up a couple of pork roast and he's been eating chunks of that. (raw) They have several whole chickens in the freezer and I was wondering if they should feed those raw. I am guessing a bunch of bone might drive up his calcium. I have never paid much attention to calcium/phosphorous levels in my own dogs. He needs to eat, but I hate to recommend something that might make him worse. Any insight would be appreciated by us all.


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## Kat (Jul 12, 2011)

I dont know much about this, but how about organs? Arent organs higher in phosphorus than calcium? What if they gave him some freeze dried/dehydrated liver or something?


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## xellil (Apr 4, 2011)

Oh sorry, I got it backwards.

Eggs, too, have lots of phosphorus.


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## xellil (Apr 4, 2011)

Are you sure it's not the other way around? It seems so much more common to have a calcium deficiency.


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## xellil (Apr 4, 2011)

From what I am reading, it really only occurs in animals that don't get meat, because meat is chock full of phosphorus.


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## werecatrising (Oct 15, 2010)

Elevated calcium isn't common. It is seen with some cancers. It is not something I have seen enough to know how to deal with. The one patient I do remember having super elevated calcium was poisoned from to much vitamin d in his food. It was back during the waltham recalls. My parents switch foods often, so I think that is an unlikely scenario.


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## xellil (Apr 4, 2011)

It just seems like it can't be diet, but organs and eggs and any rich meat should have lots of phosphorus.

there's a ton of stuff, and a ton of causes, for low calcium.

I'm really sorry for him.


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## Khan (Jan 17, 2010)

So once again I'm glad I pulled out the Kidney Disease info I had researched a few months ago. While they talk mostly about keeping phosphorus levels in check, there is a little tiny blurb about calcium. It states that if your dogs calcium values are too high, you may need to use aluminum based phosphorus binders. Problem is, I can't find the table that shows what the heck would be in this category!! So apparently I'm doing a half a$$ job in the research dept!!. LOL!!


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## DaneMama (Jun 27, 2008)

I'm so sorry...elevated calcium levels aren't common where I work either. Actually Emmy's blood work came back with elevated calcium levels, but the doc told me that the Abaxis machine sometimes comes back with false elevated levels so we sent it out to the lab...sure enough it came back normal. 

I know that calcium levels are controlled by the parathyroid gland...you can test for parathyroid hormone levels to see if the gland is functioning right. I would suggest testing for this first, because it wont matter what you feed him if the parathyroid gland isn't working properly because if he's not getting calcium in his diet the body will pull it from his bone mass. So you can feed a calcium deficient diet (ie no bones), and the body will still be in a state of hypercalcemia from pulling calcium from the bones. 

What were his kidney values like? Any other medical history that might be relevant?


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## werecatrising (Oct 15, 2010)

My dad asked the vet to call me so I got some more info. Kidney values were good, liver values were slightly elevated. T4 was low. The liver looked a little large on ray. She wants to do more thyroid testing. At this [point she is suspecting a parathyroid problem.

ack isn't my dog, but I am really worried. My mom is not well emotionally and if something happens to this dog itmya be the straw that breaks the camels back.


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## DaneMama (Jun 27, 2008)

Please let us know how things go


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