Blood pressure, heart rate, and urinary catecholamines in healthy dogs subjected to different clinical settings.

Background: Correct interpretation of blood pressure (BP) and heart rate (HR) recordings is important in a clinical environment, but little is known about effects of stress on BP and HR responses of dogs to different clinical settings.

Objective: To investigate BP and HR responses in different clinical settings in dogs of 3 breeds, and to relate findings to urinary catecholamine concentrations measured by ELISA assays previously validated for use in human plasma and urine, after validation for use in dogs.

Animals: Client-owned healthy dogs; 41 Labrador Retrievers, 33 Cavalier King Charles Spaniels (CKCS), and 15 Dachshunds.

Methods: Prospective observational study. BP and HR were measured in 4 clinical settings with or without veterinarian and owner present. Urine samples were taken before and after examination. ELISA assays were validated for canine urine, and epinephrine/creatinine and norepinephrine/creatinine ratios were analyzed.

Results: BP and HR were higher when measured by veterinarian alone than when owner was present (P < .020). Urinary catecholamine/creatinine ratios were higher after examination, compared with before, in all dogs (P < .0001). Labrador Retrievers had lower diastolic BP than Dachshunds in 2 settings (P ≤ .041), lower HR than CKCSs in 3 settings (all P < .0001), and lower catecholamine/creatinine ratios after examination than both other breeds (P ≤ .035). The in-house validation showed mean spiked recovery of 96.5% for epinephrine and 83.8% for norepinephrine.

Conclusions and clinical importance: BP and HR responses were related to breed as well as clinical setting. Breed differences were detected in urinary catecholamine/creatinine ratios. Further studies on breed differences are warranted.