Kidney failure is commonly seen in cats and dogs that have reached their senior years.
The Kidneys perform many important functions. Kidney failure occurs when one or more of these functions are compromised or reduced.
The Kidneys
Cats and dogs have 2 kidneys located in the abdomen under the backbone, close to where the last rib meets the spine.
The kidneys are responsible for:
- Filtering wastes, generated from the break down of food, old cells, toxins/poisons and medication, from the blood. The wastes
Image: Google images
are removed with water as urine.
- Regulating the amount of water in the blood by retaining water to prevent dehydration and excreting extra water.
- Regulating blood pressure by saving or eliminating sodium.
- Regulating calcium and vitamin D which keep bones strong.
- Producing a substance that helps with the creation of new red cells.
- Producing a variety of hormones.
Kidney failure can be acute (comes on suddenly) or chronic (develops over time).
Acute Kidney Failure
Acute kidney failure is a sudden onset of potentially life-threatening kidney dysfunction and is occasionally seen in cats and dogs.
If quick and appropriate care is taken acute kidney failure can be turned around in some cases, depending on the severity of the cause.
Causes:
- Ingestion of toxins/poisons such as lilies in cats, raisins and grapes, anti-freeze and certain human medications.
- An overwhelming bacterial infection.
- Dehydration, caused by unavailability of fresh drinking water, heatstroke, severe vomiting and/or diarrhoea or sepsis.
- Urinary obstruction
- Decreased blood flow to the kidneys.
- Trauma
Symptoms:
Image: Google images
In acute kidney failure symptoms can come on quickly and are often severe. These symptoms include:
- Vomiting
- Loss of appetite
- Lethargy
- Abdominal pain
- Increased thirst
- Urinating large amounts followed by a decline in urine output
Diagnosis:
It is very important to provide the vet with your pet’s medical history, any symptoms that you observed and anything that you think your pet might have consumed.
The vet will perform a full physical examination and take a urine and blood sample for testing. An X-ray or ultrasound may also be required to help determine the cause of the kidney failure. However, the cause of kidney failure is not always easily discernible and may never be determined.
Treatment:
If the diagnosis is acute kidney failure, your pet will be hospitalised for intensive treatment.
Initial treatment involves fluid therapy to restore hydration and flush our the wastes that the kidneys are suppose to remove from the bloodstream. Urine production is also monitored.
Medications are administered to help relieve pain, treat infection, nausea and protect the gastrointestinal system.
Tube feeding or force feeding may be necessary if the pet does not want to eat by himself.
Blood tests and urinalysis will be performed throughout the treatment to help monitor the patient’s progress.
Chronic Kidney Failure
Chronic kidney failure is a slower process and develops over months or even years. It is most common in senior cats and dogs. Unfortunately, it typically goes undetected until the kidneys are functioning at approximately 30% to 25% of their capacity.
Although chronic kidney disease is not curable or reversible, appropriate support and treatment can both increase the quality of life and prolong life by slowing down the progression of the disease.
Causes:
Chronic kidney failure occurs where there is long-standing, irreversible damage to the kidneys that impairs their ability to function. Risk factors such as age, trauma, kidney tumors, bacterial infections of the kidneys and toxins can make pets more susceptible to chronic kidney failure, but in most cases the exact cause is unknown.
Symptoms:
Initially, symptoms are often very subtle, but gradually get worse over a long period of time. Many of the symptoms are vague and non-specific, some arise from toxins accumulating in the blood, while others arise from complications fro
m the body trying to adapt to the disease.
The most common symptoms include:
- Increased thirst
- Increased unrination
- Bad breath
- Weight loss
- Poor coat condition
- Poor or loss of appetite
- Lehtargy
Diagnosis:
Once again, it is very important to provide the vet with your pet’s medical history and any symptoms that you have observed. The vet will perform a full physical examination and take urine and blood samples for testing. The vet may also want to take
X-rays and/or an ultrasound to help determine the damaged to the kidneys.
Pets with advanced signs of chronic kidney failure may be hospitalised for fluid therapy and intravenous drug treatment to help reduce the waste products in their bloodstream, but prognosis can be guarded if signs are severe.
Pets with chronic kidney failure will need to be changed to a kidney friendly diet, e.g. Royal Canin Renal, Hill’s K/D. Access to plenty of fresh water is critical, because pet with chronic kidney failure cannot concentrate their urine appropriately and they will need to drink more water. Large amounts of diluted urine will be passed, thus easy access to a litter tray or outside should always be available.
Regular check ups with the vet are important to help identify treatable complications as they arise.
If you suspect that your pet might be suffering from kidney failure, please schedule an appointment to have your pet examined by a vet sooner rather than later.
For more information or further reading click on the links below:
Kidney Failure (long term) in Dogs – petMD.com
Kidney Disease in Pets – vetstreet.com
Chronic Kidney Disease in Cats – icatcare.org
Chronic Kidney Disease – vet.cornell.edu
Acute Renal(Kidney) Failure – metro-vet.com
