Animal Corner: Cat and dog kidney problems - 19 August
Kidney problems in cats and dogs
General
- The kidneys are paired organs that lie in the mid-lower back
area
- They are the filter systems in the body, filtering the
toxins from the blood and controlling the water balance in the
body
- The breakdown products from the proteins we eat (urea) are
filtered from the blood and excreted in the urine via the
kidneys.
- When the kidneys aren't functioning properly, this filtering
and water balancing job isn't performed properly and the animal
becomes very thirsty and unwell due to the toxins remaining in the
bloodstream and making the animal feel nauseous and
depressed
- Chronic renal failure is one of the most common causes of
death on older cats. It's not so prevalent in dogs but still occurs
reasonably frequently.
- Most kidney problems are either
- Acute renal failure - usually due to a kidney infection,
trauma (i.e. an accident) or an ingested poison affecting the
kidneys or
- Chronic renal failure - due to aging and degeneration of the
kidney units (tubules) over a longer period of time
Problems
- Acute renal failure - usually occurs with an infection of
the kidneys (usually bacterial) either in the bloodstream or coming
up from the bladder. Can also happen with accidents (trauma) or
poisonings
- Symptoms are acute i.e. one day they are fine, the next they
are very unwell, off food, depressed and drinking a lot of
water(may go to strange places to drink such as the toilet, the
shower or the sink just to find water)
- Immediate veterinary treatment is important to diagnose and
treat the animal or serious complications may arise!
- Chronic renal failure - where the units of the kidney
(the tubules) slowly degenerate over a long period of time. Usually
occurs in older animals and is one of the leading causes of death
in old cats
- Symptoms are slow loss of weight, drinking more water,
eating less, slowing down and muscle wastage. Also there may be
mouth sores resulting in a smelly breath.
- By being aware of the early warning signs and symptoms, a
diagnosis can be made with blood tests by your vet and treatment
can slow the progression of the condition
Main early warning signs
- Drinking and peeing more
- Off food, depressed
- Loss of weight
- Fur sticking up and rough looking (usually indicates
dehydration)
- Vomiting, lethargy
What can be done to treat these problems?
- If your animal is showing any of the above symptoms GET TO A
VET ASAP!!
- Acute renal failure - immediate vet attention is necessary
for intravenous drips, antibiotics and blood and urine tests to
minimize the damage to the kidneys. If the treatment is successful
the animal usually recovers and is fine
- Chronic renal failure - early detection and treatment will
extend the life expectancy markedly. The most important thing is to
provide a well balanced low protein diet to reduce the work the
kidney needs to do as well as provide all the electrolytes and
vitamins that are being lost by a partially working
kidney
- You vet has prescription diets which are higher in fat and
carbohydrates and lower in protein that are scientifically
formulated to help the kidney function.
- Acupuncture can be very useful for kidney problems as well
as herbs such as alfalfa and glandulars (dried kidney tissue used
as a nutritional supplement)
Prevention of kidney problems
- Always feed a high quality, appropriate diet - talk to your
vet about this. It's important not to feed too much protein to cats
and dogs, but cats do require much more protein than dogs so it's
important to not feed cat food to dogs as it may overload the
kidneys.
- Plenty of fresh clean water available at all times. Water is
better than milk.
- Avoid getting overheated or going without water for extended
periods
