Scratchings-and-Sniffings

Posted by Animals at 5:23 PM Monday, November 9, 2009

Scratchings-and-Sniffings

A Cat Owner's Guide to Kidney Disease

Posted: 09 Nov 2009 04:59 AM PST

Good-dog-Miles-with-DrLarry I just watched an awesome video. It's a video on dealing with kidney disease for cat owners and it's available on the Partners In Animal Health website. The video is by the Cornell Feline Health Center and made possible by a grant from Purina Veterinary Diets. 

This video can be an excellent companion to the several posts we've done on feline kidney disease including the Podcast Yvonne and I did with Dr Grace Long just last September.
 
This video is broken down into five chapters, each dealing with a certain aspect of kidney disease. It takes about twenty five minutes to view the entire video but if you have a cat afflicted with kidney disease it will be time well spent.
 
The first chapter covers diagnosis of kidney disease. This chapter features real life stories from cat owners and covers the early warning signs that you might see in a cat developing kidney disease. You'll also learn about the various diagnostic tests and procedures your veterinarian might perform to determine whether your cat might actually have kidney disease.
 
The second chapter is about kidney disease in general. They do a great job of explaining normal kidney function and demonstrating what goes wrong in the diseased kidney and how that translates into some of the signs you may see in your cat.Betcha-wish-you-could-fit-in-this-box
 
The third chapter is about therapy options. They cover the role of diet and explain why a change in diet helps slow the progression of kidney disease. They describe the alterations in key nutrients that make up a good kidney diet and explain how these different nutrient levels affect kidney function.
 
The diet they use in the video is Feline NF, one of the Purina Veterinary Diets available from your veterinarian. They also discuss the various medical therapies available to manage kidney disease and why each one might be effective.
 
The next chapter covers what you can expect if your cat has to be hospitalized to treat an episode of renal insufficiency. You'll learn about the role of intravenous fluid therapy and why and how we "flush the system" with a procedure known as diuresis.
 
And finally, the last chapter gives some hands on instruction in how to manage a chronic renal failure patient at home. At some point you may have to give your renal failure patient sub cutaneous fluids and this chapter does an excellent job of showing the proper way to administer this important fluid therapy.
 
This video is a must for cat owners dealing with this all too common problem. I'm sure you'll find it very informative and you'll come away with a lot of knowledge about how a normal kidney functions too. My friend Edwenna is really going to like this. I'm going to give her a call right now.     

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