My Pet World: New test allows early diagnosis of chronic kidney disease in cats
Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) may be the most common illness of aging cats. If cats live long enough, at least one in three will at suffer from CKD. What's more, according the Banfield Pet Hospital State of Pet Health 2012 Report, the disease is on the rise in cats, increasing 15 percent from 2007 to 2011.
"I have no doubt that many cats go undiagnosed, and suffer without their owners having any idea," Dr. Kate Pietsch, of Dartmouth, MA, adds.
Supporting Dr. Pietsch's notion, the same Banfield survey demonstrated that at least three in five cat owners are unaware that diarrhea, vomiting, lethargy and/or weight loss may be associated with the illness.
"By the time I diagnose the disease, the kidneys are seriously compromised," Pietsch notes.
That is, until now,
Kidney disease has traditionally been diagnosed by running blood work and looking for creatinine (when there's kidney damage or kidney disease, and the kidneys are unable to filter waste efficiently, there will likely be a rise in creatinine levels in the blood) and BUN (the blood urea nitrogen level, used to help determine if kidney function is impaired), paired with a urinalysis.
The only problem is that by the time damage is detected, about 75 percent of kidney function is destroyed. The effects are apparent, as the cat is suffering quality of life issues, or will soon be. Making matters worse, these are often elderly cats with other medical issues.
A new sensitive test called Symmetric dimethylarginine or SDMA, now offered with the IDEXX regular blood chemistry panel, determines kidney disease far earlier, while there's only a 40 percent loss of function.
"A cat can live a completely normal life with about 50 percent of kidney function," says Pietsch. "We believe these cats still feel great, while that's not the case for cats diagnosed with a 75 percent loss of function."
Pietsch is among the legion of veterinarians who call the test a "game changer." But now what? That's the big question.
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