Management of Chronic Renal Disease – Journal Club

Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is the most common kidney disease in cats, estimated to affect 0.5-1.5% of the general population and 30% of cats over 15 years.

The term CKD or chronic renal disease is non-specific, but preferred to “chronic renal failure” or “chronic renal insufficiency” as owners understand the terminology and the negative context imbued by “failure” is avoided.

Guidelines for staging cats with CKD were established by the International Renal Interest Society (IRIS) and provide a useful classification system for ongoing monitoring and information on expected outcome.

CKD stagingis based on serum/plasma creatinine concentration and recently, symmetric dimethylarginine (SDMA) has also been included in the guidelines.