Estimating glomerular filtration rate in healthy dogs using inulin without urine collection

The goals of this study were to determine if the glomerular filtration rate (GFR) in dogs could be estimated by plasma inulin clearance and/or infusion inulin clearance analyses without urine collection, and to compare these results with GFR values obtained by urinary inulin clearance analysis. The dogs included in this study were healthy 20 beagles. Inulin clearance values were obtained by urinary inulin clearance, infusion inulin clearance, and plasma inulin clearance techniques. Urinary inulin clearance was 4.09 ± 0.52 ml min−1 kg−1 (body weight); infusion inulin clearance, 4.01 ± 0.49 ml min−1 kg−1; and plasma inulin clearance, 4.14 ± 0.66 ml min−1 kg−1. The urinary inulin clearance was strongly correlated with infusion inulin clearance and weakly correlated with plasma inulin clearance. The GFR for dogs can be estimated by infusion and plasma inulin clearance analyses by blood sampling alone, without urine collection.