Sometimes cats develop either short-term or chronic kidney disease. They may be prone to these issues, so pet owners always need to take notice. Often called chronic renal failure or CRF, it’s more common than many people realize. One out of every five adult cats will eventually develop chronic kidney disease (CRD), but only about half will show clinical signs and require treatment.
Why Is Kidney Failure A Problem?
Kidneys play a key role in keeping your cat feeling and looking healthy. They remove waste products from the blood, regulate body fluids and electrolytes, produce hormones that help your cat maintain bone strength and blood cell counts, and allow for normal kidney function. When chronic kidney disease occurs, the kidneys lose their filtering capacity, which leads to dangerous accumulations of toxins in the body.
The clinical signs of chronic kidney disease are often subtle at first. Your cat might look fine for a few weeks or even months after CRD begins. But if chronic kidney disease isn’t treated, toxic levels of waste products will cause your pet to feel weak and lethargic and may cause vomiting and anorexia. Left unchecked, chronic kidney disease will progress to chronic renal failure – a life-threatening emergency – and your cat can become very ill and possibly die.
What Causes Chronic Kidney Disease In Cats?
There are many things that may predispose your cat to chronic kidney disease. Here are a few possibilities:
– Chronic viral or bacterial infections. For example, a urinary tract infection can lead to potential kidney disease if left untreated.
– Exposure to toxins, such as antifreeze or lilies. If you have houseplants, keep them away from your cat, or replace them with ones that are safe for edible consumption.
– Chronic pancreatitis caused by gallstones or chronic inflammation of the pancreas.
– Chronic urinary tract obstruction. Your cat will experience the same clinical signs as for chronic kidney disease: vomiting and loss of appetite.
– Chronic liver failure. Those signs are the same clinical signs as chronic kidney disease.
How Can I Help My Cat With Chronic Kidney Disease?
If your veterinarian diagnoses chronic kidney disease, they may prescribe medical management with a prescription diet, plus nutritional supplements or low-dose prescription medications. Chronic kidney disease has no cure in cats, but dietary control and cat kidney disease supplements can help keep your cat feeling healthy.
How Does Kidney Support Help Pet Owners
The Prana Pets Cat Kidney Support has multiple functions, including preventing chronic disease. You can use it to treat the inflammation that prevents kidney failure. The accessory cleans the urinary tract and encourages healthy blood pressure.
Manage Clinical Nutrition And More With Prana Pets Supplements
With Prana Pets, we do more than use supplements to manage your cat’s health or protein diets. Our goal is to provide solutions honed from nature, with quality control to provide consistent results.
To find out more about potential renal diets or using natural supplements, reach out to us today. Prana Pets is more than ready to treat older cats and younger kittens.