If your cat is not eating, drinking lots, and losing weight, one of the possible diagnoses is kidney failure.
However, in an elderly cat, there is a very real chance your cats kidney failure is due to
cancer.
In most cases of kidney
cancer, there is no sign of your cats kidney failure until the
cancer is well advanced, and the tumor is quite large.
Kidney
cancer can be primary, as in it starts in the kidney cells, or it can result from the spread of a primary tumor elsewhere in the body. In primary kidney
cancer, it’s usual that it just affects one kidney but if it is secondary renal cancer, both kidneys are usually damaged. The most common secondary kidney tumor in the cat is lymphosarcoma.
Diagnosis of kidney failure depends on clinical signs and blood/urine tests. If there’s any thought of cancer, such as one kidney is enlarged, then an ultrasound is a great idea.
In cats kidney failure can be treated in several ways. Firstly, there is symptomatic treatment – intravenous fluids, multivitamins and dietary modification. This is reasonably effective in uncomplicated cases.
However, if your cats kidney failure is in fact due to cancer, you do need to take much stronger measures.
Removal of the cancerous kidney is effective but keep in mind that this disease usually occurs in older cats. These animals often have some degree of kidney disease anyway. The cancerous kidney may be doing some good. If you remove the cancerous kidney, the other kidney may not be able to do the job well enough, and the cat may become very ill.
The ultimate treatment for cats kidney failure is a kidney transplant but this is expensive. The other issue is that, depending on the type of cancer, it may already have spread from the kidney, so transplant may not be an option.
As always, if your cat is unwell, work closely with your veterinarian to get the best possible outcome for both you and your cat.
If your cat is not eating, drinking lots, and losing weight, one of the possible diagnoses is kidney failure.
However, in an elderly cat, there is a very real chance your cats kidney failure is due to cancer.
In most cases of kidney cancer, there is no sign of your cats kidney failure until the cancer is well advanced, and the tumor is quite large.
Kidney cancer can be primary, as in it starts in the kidney cells, or it can result from the spread of a primary tumor elsewhere in the body.
In primary kidney cancer, it’s usual that it just affects one kidney but if it is secondary renal cancer, both kidneys are usually damaged. The most common secondary kidney tumor in the cat is lymphosarcoma.
Diagnosis of kidney failure depends on clinical signs and blood/urine tests. If there’s any thought of cancer, such as one kidney is enlarged, then an ultrasound is a great idea.
In cats kidney failure can be treated in several ways. Firstly, there is symptomatic treatment – intravenous fluids, multivitamins and dietary modification. This is reasonably effective in uncomplicated cases.
However, if your cats kidney failure is in fact due to cancer, you do need to take much stronger measures.
Removal of the cancerous kidney is effective but keep in mind that this disease usually occurs in older cats. These animals often have some degree of kidney disease anyway. The cancerous kidney may be doing some good. If you remove the cancerous kidney, the other kidney may not be able to do the job well enough, and the cat may become very ill.
The ultimate treatment for cats kidney failure is a kidney transplant but this is expensive. The other issue is that, depending on the type of cancer, it may already have spread from the kidney, so transplant may not be an option.
As always, if your cat is unwell, work closely with your veterinarian to get the best possible outcome for both you and your cat.
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Tagged as:
cancer in cats,
cat tumor,
cats with cancer,
feline cancer,
feline lymphoma,
Veterinarian
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