Has your pet been diagnosed with Kidney Disease? 

Looking for answers on what this diagnosis means for you and your pet?  This is the place to find out more about this diagnosis and how we support and treat cats and dogs with this common condition.

                                                                                                          Hill's Atlas of Veterinary Clinical Anatomy

A good place to start is at our website's VeterinaryPartner Library.  To help you find the information it provides quickly, we are providing this link to Veterinary Partner's Chronic Kidney (Renal) Failure Center.  The Center will then link you to an entire collection of articles on the different therapies that help our kidney failure patients.

We recommend starting with the article from the Kidney Failure Center called, Kidney Failure: Where to Begin.  This article will explain the vocabulary of this disease.  It will also discuss the various blood tests that we use to evaluate kidney disease.  It is a good handout to have handy when your veterinarian is calling you with blood test results. 

Although we see kidney disease in both our canine and feline patients, it is especially common in cats.  A great video resource, that provides a nice overview of feline kidney disease, is provided by the Veterinary School at Cornell University.  Click this link to Cornell's Video on Feline Chronic Kidney Disease to learn more!  It contains a great demonstration on a common treatment called subcutaneous fluid therapy. Even dog owners may find this video helpful.

Chronic Kidney Disease & Failure from Washington State University  This veterinary school website from Washington State University provides a nice overview of kidney disease in an easily understandable format for pet owners.

FAB Cats Owners Information on Kidney Disease  This site gives the European view for owner's treating kidney disease in cats.

 IRIS Staging of Kidney Disease IRIS staging is a way to determine the severity level and prognosis for a patient with kidney disease.  The staging is based on several lab parameters such as urine concentration, Blood values for kidney function (BUN and Creatitine), urine protein, and blood pressure.

One of the earliest therapies we try for our kidney disease patients is dietary therapy.  The following handout from the Kidney Failure Center will explain more about  the Dietary Therapy of Renal Failure.

We often recommend veterinary prescription kidney diets.  Below are some examples.  There are diets for both cats and dogs. Which is the best one?  The answer is the one your pet likes best!  Often finding the right one for your pet takes patience, encouragement, tincture of time, and some trial and error.  It is important for pets with kidney disease to continue to eat well!  Transitions to new diets may need to be gradual.  We do not want any patient to go on a hunger strike!  In general, we encourage feeding as much canned food as possible vs. dry food.  This will help support hydration that is desperately needed in kidney failure patients.  If your pet does not accept the recommended kidney diet,  let your veterinarian know.  Not all pets will eat these diets and in these cases your vet will make other recommendations.

The prescription diet manufacturers are great about backing their products.  If your pet will not eat a diet after giving  it a reasonable trial period, it can be returned for a refund on your Deer Run Animal Hospital account. The refund then can be used to try a different flavor or brand of kidney diet. 

Hill's Prescription Diet Feline k/d           Hill's Prescription Diet Canine k/d       

Purina Veterinary Diet Feline NF            Purina Veterinary Diets Canine NF

Royal Canin Veterinary Diets Feline Renal LP    Canine Renal LP

To learn more about how to order prescription diets from us, and home delivery options, please go to the  Deer Run Animal Hospital Prescription Diet Ordering Information webpage.  Or call our front desk staff for more ordering information and assistance.

Calcitriol Therapy: A treatment for Chronic Kidney Failure in Dogs & Cats is a promising supportive therapy to consider for kidney failure patients.   Kidney failure eventually leads to a complication called Renal Secondary Hyperparathyroidism.  This problem develops from a fairly complex sequence of events in renal failure patients and involves calcium and phosphorus balance, and a hormone called Parathyroid Hormone or PTH.  Excessive levels of PTH build up causing toxicity throughout the body.   Calcitriol therapy is used to try to prevent this excess of PTH.

Calcitriol drug therapy works best when started early in kidney disease, so we try to bring up this option as soon as the disease is diagnosed.  It works best as prevention of excessive PTH and is less effective if PTH levels are already high.  Calcitriol therapy is not for every pet and owner.  It requires periodic blood monitoring and some expense.  It may lenghthen and improve quality of life for our kidney failure patients, so we strongly recommend considering this treatment.

Calcium and Phosphorus Balance This is a link to a handout with more information on calcium and phosphorus balance. 

Potassium Supplementation is often needed in cats with chronic kidney disease.  Low blood potassium levels lead to weakness and hasten the progression of kidney disease.  Here are some examples of supplements that are used to raise potassium levels: Renal K and Tumil K.  Cats with low potassium can develop severe muscle weakness and may be unable to raise their heads as in the picture below.

medical-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com

High Blood Pressure or Hypertension is another common complication of kidney disease.  This link will explain how high blood pressure is monitored and treated.

A Doppler blood pressure montior from Veterinary Partner.com



Fluid Therapy is often needed in our kidney failure patients. 

If possible we want to use the oral route, click to learn how to make your cat drink more at our Cats & Water Drinking web page.

 In severe and acute cases, hospitalization for intravenous fluid therapy may be needed.  In more chronic situations, especially in cats and small dogs, Subcutaneous Fluid Therapy may be very beneficial. Cornell's Video on Feline Chronic Kidney Disease and this Subcutaneous Fluid Therapy link both contain videos on how to give pets subcutaneous or Sub Q Fluid therapy at home.  Your veterinarian will also be able to help you learn how to give your pet Sub Q Fluid therapy if it is indicated. Many clients learn to do this at home with ease after a little practice!  The European Feline Advisory Board or FAB Cats has a great handout describing the procedure, but be aware some of their products look slightly different than American products, check them out at this  link. FAB Cats Subcutaneous Fluid Administration 

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Pets, especially cats, can often live for years with kidney failure, when well supported with the various therapies discussed in these handouts and links. There is no cure for kidney disease, but it is often possible to maintain quality of life for years with diligent monitoring and support.  Periodic rechecks are important to monitor blood pressure, montior electrolytes, watch for urinary tract infections, monitor rate of progression, and adjust therapy as needed. 

Feline Chronic Renal Failure Owner Information Center  This website is written by an owner of a kitty that had renal failiure.  If you are looking for the perspective of other owner's of cats with renal failure, this is a great support site. Most of the information is very accurate even though it is written by a cat owner without a veterinary education.  You will learn that being the caregiver of a cat with renal failure is like getting a mini medical education!