What is Kidney Failure in Cats? The kidneys are responsible for several necessary functions, which include maintain proper blood pressure levels, filtering toxins and wastes from the bloodstream, excreting the waste through urine, contribute to the production of red blood cells and producing a variety of essential enzymes and hormones. Approximately 30 percent of cats develop kidney disease during their lifetime; many of these cases will progress to kidney failure. When the kidneys fail to perform properly, the cat 's life is at risk. Kidney failure can either develop slowly due to a chronic disease or occur suddenly due to poisoning or trauma. Both types must be addressed immediately in order to save the cat 's life. Symptoms of Kidney …show more content…
These causes include: Acute Poisons, such as antifreeze, pesticides or cleaning fluids Heart failure with low blood pressure that prevents enough blood from flowing to the kidneys Trauma from an accident Shock from dehydration or rapid blood loss Kidney infection Urinary tract obstruction Chronic Congenital and hereditary abnormalities Fungal infections Bacterial infections Repeated urinary infections that wear the kidneys down over time Kidney cancer Medications, such as acetaminophen Autoimmune disorders Advanced dental disease Thyroid problems Diagnosis of Kidney Failure in Cats The veterinarian will need to know all of the symptoms the cat is experiencing and when the symptoms first began. If recent poisoning or trauma occurred, the veterinarian will need to be given details about these incidents. The veterinarian will physically examine the cat, listening to its heart and lungs and taking its blood …show more content…
The urinalysis will look for protein in the urine that has leaked through damaged kidneys and will measure the Urine Specific Gravity. Because kidney failure results in the kidneys no longer filtering the wastes from the urine, a cat who has kidney failure will have urine with a gravity that is much like distilled water. The biochemical profile will look for waste products in the blood that the kidneys should have filtered out; high numbers of these products are indicative of kidney failure. Treatment of Kidney Failure in Cats Acute Kidney Failure Treatment Cats who have acute kidney failure due to trauma or poisoning will often recover once the primary issue that caused the kidney failure is addressed. This may include surgery, medications, fluid therapy or blood transplants. If the kidneys don 't respond after the primary issue is treated, other courses of treatment will need to occur in order to address the kidney failure. Dialysis Hemodialysis is a procedure where a machine acts like the kidneys, filtering the blood from the wastes and toxins that build up in the bloodstream. Hemodialysis can be used to treat cats with chronic kidney disease or to remove a poison with a cat from acute kidney disease. Unfortunately, dialysis is only available at certain veterinary hospitals in the United States and can be extremely
The chemistry test shows the levels of electrolytes found in the blood: sodium, potassium, chloride, phosphorus, magnesium and calcium. Imbalances in these electrolytes can cause complications, which especially in the case of potassium, can be deadly. Also shown by the chemistry test, blood urea nitrogen and creatinine levels can show how well the patient’s kidneys are functioning in filtering waste from the blood. Trauma and blood loss can affect how the kidney’s function not only in filtering waste, but also in acid-base balance, and balancing electrolyte levels. Another marker of kidney function is the glomerular filtration rate, which measures the rate filtrate is created by the glomerulus of the kidney (Winkelman, 2016). This is controlled by the kidneys themselves, meaning changes in the function of the kidneys can lead to an altered filtration rate (Winkelman, 2016). Lactic acid is measured by the chemistry test also, and an increase in lactic acid can signify acidosis caused by the lactic acid being formed by cells that do not have adequate oxygen to process glucose for energy (Workman, 2016). This decrease in available oxygen could be caused by damage to or impairment of the lungs. Carbon-dioxide, which is also measured by the chemistry test, can show
Urinary Tract Infection, also known as UTI, occurs in two common locations, the bladder and kidneys. The kidneys are important organs that aid in filtering out waste products from blood and maintaining water distribution throughout the body. The waste products are filtered out via bladder, which is the reason of the bladder being the second site for the infection. A normal human being has two kidneys, one on left and right side, a bean shaped organ, and is located at the back of the abdomen. “Each kidney is about 11.5 cm long, 5-7.5 cm broad, 5 cm thick, and weight about 150 grams” (HealthInfoNet, Paragraph 2). Furthermore, a bacterium named Escherichia coli lives in both the kidneys and the GI tract. E. coli is part of the human body and produces
Left Ventricular Systolic Dysfunction (LVSD, but commonly referred to as heart failure) is a chronic, progressive cardiac syndrome in which a damaged heart fails to beat efficiently and deliver enough blood to meet the body's needs. Although coronary heart disease (CHD) is the most common cause, for example, myocardial infarction, and many of the conditions are intertwined, there are several other causes of heart failure including cardiomyopathies, hypertension and valve disease.
Congestive Heart Failure is when the heart's pumping power is weaker than normal. It does not mean the heart has stopped working. The blood moves through the heart and body at a slower rate, and pressure in the heart increases. This means; the heart cannot pump enough oxygen and nutrients to meet the body's needs. The chambers of the heart respond by stretching to hold more blood to pump through the body or by becoming more stiff and thickened. This only keeps the blood moving for a short while. The heart muscle walls weaken and are unable to pump as strongly. This makes the kidneys respond by causing the body to retain fluid and sodium. When the body builds up with fluids, it becomes congested. Many conditions can cause heart failure, and they are Coronary artery disease, Heart attack, Cardiomyopathy, and conditions that overwork the heart.
(3)Bellomo,R.,Cass,A.,Cole,L.,Finer,S.,Gallagher,M.,Lo,S.,McAthur,C.,McGuinness,S.,Myburgham J.,Norton,R.,Scheinkestel,C.,& Su,S. for renal study investigators(2009).Intensity of continuous renal-replacement therapy in critically ill patients. The New England Journal of Medicine, 361(17), 1627-1638.
According to the Mayo Clinic, Kidney Failure occurs when the kidneys are suddenly unable to filter waste products from the blood. This occurring, results in the body beginning to accumulate high levels of dangerous waste, which eventually leads to a chemical imbalance in the blood. Symptoms of the kidney’s inability to
Signs and symptoms of heart failure include shortness of breath, edema, rapid or irregular heartbeat, weakness, and elevated blood pressure. These signs and symptoms appear slowly in the disease, such as when a person is active, but overtime they will become present when that person is at rest (Couzens, 2014). People at risk for heart failure include those who have sleep apnea, have had a heart attack, have high blood pressure, have diabetes, are overweight, and those abuse alcohol use. There are many other risk factors also; these are just to name few.
The kidneys are bean shaped organs. They are a brownish-purplish sort of color. The outside of the kidneys are very tough, but smooth. This is described as a fibrous tunic. The outer part has millions of nephrons which are the basic unit of the kidney. The kidney is divided into two layers. The outer cortex and the medulla. When the outer cortex is stripped off you then get the medulla. The inside you have a thick mesh of muscular fibers. This is also smooth, and very even. It is very red in color, unlike the outside which is of brownish-purplish coloring. It is more red in color because it has tiny blood vessels. The kidneys are located in the posterior part of the abdomen, on both sides of the vertebral column. An easier way to say that would be right below the ribs towards the middle of your back. The right kidney is usually lower in location than the left kidney because of where the liver is. Each kidney is about 11cm long, 6cm wide, and 2.5 cm thick. The kidneys remove urea from the blood through a blood filtering unit called a nephron. There are more than 2 million nephrons in each kidney. The nephron is part of the homeostatic mechanism of your body. That mechanism maintains your water-salt balance, and it also regulates the amount of urea in your body. The blood enters the kidney through the bowmans capsule under pressure. This just surrounds the tuft of capillaries which is the glomerulus. The liquid just flows through the glomerulus under pressure. The pressure pushes the liquid out and keeps in the larger cells. This is filtration, because the glomerulus is taking the nutrients in and getting rid of the waste. After the filtering ...
A Manassas sick dog or cat requires the attention of a vet who is experienced. That is why you should choose an experienced vet for your sick cat. Experienced vets have treated many types of health problems. They also know how to calm down an anxious cat.
Traditional hemodialysis (HD) is provided to the patient at an outpatient clinic that is often referred to as a chronic unit. Patients must come to the chronic unit to be hooked up to the dialysis machine which circulates their blood through a dialyzer thereby removing toxins and excess fluid. This dialyzer is a clear plastic tube which contains thousands of micro fibers that allow the blood to flow through while enabling diffusion to remove the unwanted components of the blood. The majority of dialysis patients use this as their primary method of treatment; however, some patients find the treatment to be harsh and uncomfortable. These patients often look for alternate treatments such as peritoneal dialysis.
If the patient has a urinary catheter, and most ICU patients do, he or she may not have any reportable symptoms. Therefore, good assessment of urinary elimination, done in relation to a patient’s signs, symptoms, urine amount, intake and output, and lab values, is important. The lab values are discussed in Chapter 5. Acute and chronic renal failure can cause numerous systemic symptoms and altered homeostasis ( Collins, 2011). See Table 3-10 for abnormal urinary elimination.
Kidneys clear waste products from our blood. They play a role in controlling the body’s level of water and chemicals, and produce essential hormones. (Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, 2013)
Kidneys are filter organs present in vertebrates which help in removing water soluble wastes from the blood. A normal human body possesses two kidneys which are bean shaped and weigh around 150 grams each. Kidneys function as the waste disposal system of our body. Every day kidneys are processing around 200 litres of filtrate while absorbing large amount of it and producing around 1 to 2 litres of waste. Kidneys allow reabsorption of molecules from this filtrate into the blood. Thereafter these molecules are transferred to urinary bladder and then expelled from the body as urine. Kidneys are also producing hormones like erythropoietin, vitamin D and enzyme renin. Kidneys perform homeostatic functions which includes regulating
Kidney Function Introduction and definition of terms: The kidneys are the main organs in the urinary system. They filter waste products out of blood from the renal artery. These are then excreted. Useful solutes are reabsorbed into the blood. They also have a major homeostatic role in the body, and help to control the water content (osmoregulation) and pH of the blood.
Furthermore, they are involved in the reabsorption of nutrients in the bloodstream and they can regulate the acidity of the blood. Besides the regulation of the fluids and ions, the kidneys are also responsible for the regulation of many different hormones that are involved in homeostasis and metabolism. Because of their importance in the regulation of substances in the body, when the kidneys stop working properly all the body is influenced by that creating disequilibrium in the maintenance of homeostasis and control of all the metabolic functions which can indirectly cause other problems to the body.... ... middle of paper ... ...