All work in this study was approved by the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee of Ross University School of Veterinary Medicine (RUSVM). Written or verbal consent from the owners of the dogs was received to use blood and urine in this study. Whole blood collected in ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA) was used for complete blood count (CBC) and comprehensive biochemical profiles using the VetScan HM5 and VetScan VS2 platforms (Abaxis, Union City, CA). Urine samples were tested using a VetLab UA Analyzer (IDEXX, Westbrook, ME) and proteinuria was further confirmed by the use of sulfosalicylic acid (SSA) precipitation. For PCR testing, urine (up to 4 mL) was centrifuged for 5 minutes at 10,000 g and the resulting pellet was resuspended in 200 mL of phosphate-buffered saline. Aliquots of 200 mL of whole blood or 200 mL of urine sediment were frozen at 220uC until DNA extraction was performed.