Would You Recognize the Signs of Feline Kidney Trouble?

By Kate Rieger

Even President Clinton loves cats

As President Clinton might know, there are many things that can go wrong with your cat’s kidneys, especially as they grow older. Recognizing the signs of a feline kidney problem could save your pet’s life. If you know your cat’s regular behavior, you will be able to recognize the warning signs of a problem early.

One sign of a feline kidney problem is an increase in drinking and urination. Especially if your cat is older, this could be the warning signs of Chronic Renal Failure (CRF). The increase in drinking and urination occurs because of the kidney’s inability to concentrate the urine. If you see these problems in your cat they should be quickly brought to the vet for a blood test, because these symptoms will only show up after 75% of the kidney tissue is damaged.
CRF is progressive and untreatable, there is no known way to reverse its affects as it changes healthy kidney tissue to scar tissue. This can be a scary diagnosis, but if caught early there are treatments that can slow it down and give your cat a longer life. Signs of feline kidney failure include weight loss, lethargy, vomiting, loss of appetite, weakness and other similar signs. The progression of feline kidney problems can vary from cat to cat, some can live happy and healthy for months to years, while other fall prey to the disease fairly quickly.

The other common type of feline kidney problem is Acute Renal Failure (ARF) unlike chronic renal failure; acute renal failure is reversible but not treatable. The symptoms can be the same but because of the way it progresses the symptom could be no urination as well. With chronic renal failure the symptoms gradually progress over time but with acute renal failure they will come on suddenly. The reason for the difference is that acute renal failure is often caused by outside toxins, such as pesticides, herbicides, venoms and heavy metals. Even a medication prescribed for your pet can cause ARF, so it is important to weight the risks of using medications against the benefits that they provide. Always ask your vet if a natural remedy exists before using a prescription medication to treat your pet.

The treatment for ARF is to pump the cat full of fluids in order to ease the dehydration and try to remove the toxins from the body. Veterinary treatment is necessary as they will hook your cat up to an i.v. and monitor in order to make sure the toxins do not have any other negative side effects upon the cat. The good thing is that it is possible to make a full recovery in a few days, if a recovery does not occur then it is likely that the problem is chronic renal failure and not acute renal failure.