Symptoms & Treatments for Feline Kidney Failure: A Comp
What is Feline Kidney Failure?
The kidneys play a crucial role in a cat's health by regulating blood pressure, producing hormones, stimulating bone marrow, generating red blood cells, and filtering waste from the blood. Kidney failure, however, refers to the damage to the kidney tissue caused by various pathogenic factors. It is a severe kidney syndrome characterized by symptoms like anuria or oliguria, azotemia, and imbalances in water and electrolyte metabolism, as well as elevated levels of blood potassium and blood sugar.
What are the Symptoms of Feline Kidney Failure?
The first sign is behavioral changes. Cats with kidney failure may appear emaciated and weak, experience convulsions, and may even lapse into a coma in severe cases.
Next, there are changes in urination. In the early stages, cats may urinate frequently, but as the condition worsens, the amount and frequency of urination decrease significantly, eventually leading to anuria.
Cats with kidney failure also tend to be excessively thirsty. Early in the disease, they may urinate a lot, causing the body to become dehydrated, leading to increased drinking.
Other symptoms include nausea and vomiting, which occur due to the kidneys' inability to effectively remove toxins from the body, leading to these symptoms.
In addition to these, constipation, anemia, and elevated blood phosphorus levels can also be indicative of kidney failure.
What are the Causes of Feline Kidney Failure?
Cat kidney failure can occur at any age, but older cats are more susceptible. Besides organ aging, there are other potential causes.
Cat kidney failure is categorized as acute and chronic. Acute kidney failure is associated with factors such as poisoning, trauma, excessive blood loss or dehydration, and heart failure. Poisoning and trauma are particularly close to our daily lives. Cats are highly susceptible to certain human medications, such as ibuprofen, which can cause kidney failure even in very small doses. Severe trauma to the pelvis and bladder can also be a significant cause of acute kidney failure in cats.
Chronic kidney failure is related to kidney infections and blockages, congenital polycystic kidney disease, aging, bacterial and viral infections, and kidney tumors. Longterm consumption of foods high in salt can also lead to kidney failure, so pet owners should avoid feeding their cats excessively salty foods.
How to Prevent Feline Kidney Failure?
Firstly, regular health checks for your cat are essential. Many veterinary clinics offer costeffective basic health check packages, and it's sufficient to have one or two checks per year. Secondly, be cautious about keeping your cat away from harmful substances like lilies and ibuprofen, which are harmless to humans but deadly to cats. Lastly, ensure your cat stays wellhydrated, control the salt content in their food, and maintain a balanced diet.
Treatment for Feline Kidney Failure:
The treatment for feline kidney failure is complex and aims to correct kidney dynamics and maintain water and salt metabolism balance, giving the kidneys enough time to recover. In practice, it mainly involves diet and medication.
In terms of diet, cats with kidney failure should be fed prescription food that reduces protein and phosphorus levels to alleviate kidney burden and limit the level of toxins in the body. They also need potassium supplementation to improve muscle weakness and hair quality. Additionally, they require vitamin B, C, and adequate water to ensure normal cell function.
Medications commonly used for kidney failure include phosphate binders to lower phosphorus levels, sodium bicarbonate for correcting acidosis, intravenous saline for hyperkalemia, and 25% glucose solution for hyperazotemia, among others.
