PKD Information
by Colleen
Power
 Is
your cat drinking a lot of water? Does it visit the litter
pan a bit too often?
In 1978, my three year old white Persian stud began exhibiting
these symptoms one day. Each time I passed the bathroom, there
he was in the litter pan. After the third time past the door,
with him back in the litter pan, I immediately thought, renal
blockage. Whipped him up and over to the vet. That was not
the problem. He was simply urinating too frequently. So frequently
in fact that the vet called it "Polyuria." There
was no blockage, no crystal formations in the bladder. He
was simply urinating frequently, to the extent that within
six hours, he had become dehydrated. The vet pumped him full
of fluids, peritoneally(through the abdominal wall) He did
x-rays to look for tumors.
He then gave me the bad news. The cat likely had a progressive
kidney disease that they didnt know much about, called Polycystic
Kidney Disease. The cats would experience episodes of polyuria
over a one year period before succumbing to the disease. Upon
autopsy, they would find lesions on the kidneys, the cause
was not known, but the disease was progressive, and the diagnosis:
incurable.
However, my cat could go home, live a happy, but short life,
with increasingly frequent episodes, before he would eventually
die. Supportively he received renal tablets(Renaseptic), and
of course, some antibiotics. Apollo was fine for six months.
I did not stress him with breedings. In fact, I was in the
middle of moving and had placed nearly all of the cats, except
Apollo and my two folds.
Then he had a duplicate repeat episode. A quick trip to the
vet, more fluids.Then three months. Then six weeks. Three
weeks. The sweet boy died in my arms of congestive heart failure
approximately one year following the initial episode. I later
found out that there were a notable number of deaths from
kidney disorders from the cats of his particular line. At
the time, no one knew for certain if the kidney lesions were
an inherited disorder. Recent research shows however that
cystic kidneys are inherited. The disorder is not sex related,
so either males or females can develop the disease. It is
a dominant gene. That means an affected cat will pass the
disorder on to 50% of its offspring. The difficulty is, the
disorder is seldom noticed in very young cats, so the cat
grows to maturity, and breeds before developing symptoms,
if ever. The dominance is also variable in expression, with
some cats having devastating disease symptoms by the time
they are one year old, but others with smaller lesions may
live ten years and die a "normal" death from "kidney
failure." Without ever being diagnosed.
The alarming fact is, PKD may be quite wide spread in American
Persians. A recent study in Scandanavia shows an large number
of affected cats, mostly from well known American bloodlines.
There is so much concern over this problem, that cats are
being certified free from the disease, before sales or breeding,
according to Monique Malm. Since these cats are from the top
lines in the United States, some precautions need to be taken
in the United States.
Now for the good news. While cats do not generally, if ever,
show the symptoms I have described until older, ultrasounds
of adults, done by a competent vet, will spot these lesions
in cats over the age of nine months. Once a cat is found free
of this, you can safely use them for breeding. In one single
generation we can clear this disease from our bloodlines.
I would like us all to take the plunge and get this done.
Do not buy a cat for breeding without asking if the parents
have been certified free of the disorder. Have your cats checked.
I plan to. I have three breeding males and five females. I
will be having them examined with ultrasound this January
and February, it is a seventy mile(one-way) trip for me to
the specialist, but worth the peace of mind. Let's do something
positive shall we?
Original article:
Biller,-D.S.; DiBartola,-S.P.; Eaton,-K.A.; Pflueger,-S.;
Wellman,-M.L.; Radin,-M.J. Inheritance of polycystic kidney
disease in Persian cats. Journal of heredity. Oxford University
Press. Jan/Feb 1996. v. 87 (1) p. 1-5.
ABSTRACT
Polycystic kidney disease in Persian cats culminates in chronic
renal failure after a variable clinical course. An affected
6-year-old Persian cat was used to establish a colony of cats
with polycystic kidney disease. In affected cats, cysts could
be detected by ultrasonography as early as 7 weeks of age.
Absence of cysts on ultrasound examination at 6 months
RELATED LINKS
STUDY REPORTS & INFORMATIONAL SITES
PKD DISCUSSION & SUPPORT MAILING LIST
PKD CLINIC SCHEDULE
PKD STATISTICS SUMMARY
REFERENCE SOURCES for more info on PKD
Our thanks to Dr. Susan Little, DVM for providing this reference
list.
- Lettow E, Dammrich K. Congenital polycystic liver and
kidney lesions in a cat. Kleinter Prax 12:34-43, 1967
- Stebbins KE. Polycystic disease of the kidney and liver
in an adult Persian cat. J Comp Pathol 100:327-330, 1989
- Northington JW, Juliana MM. Polycystic kidney disease
in a cat. J Small Anim Pract 18:663-666, 1977
- Battershell D, Garcia JP. Polycystic disease in a cat.
J Am Vet Med Assoc 154:665-666, 1969
- Caputo CA. Polycystic kidney disease in a cat. Feline
Pract 10:36-40, 1980
- Rendano VT, Parker RB. Polycystic kidneys and peritoneopericardial
diaphragmatic hernia in the cat: A case report. J Small
Anim Pract 17:479-485, 1976.
- Biller DS, Pflueger SMV, Miller LM, et al. Autosomal dominant
polycystic kidney disease in cats (abstract). J Am Soc Nephrol
2:250, 1991
- Eaton KA, Biller DS, DiBartola SP, Radin MJ, Wellman ML.
The morphologic features of autosomal dominant polycystic
kidney disease in Persian and Persian-cross cats. Kidney
Int
- Podell M. DiBartola SP, Rosol TJ. Polycystic kidney disease
and renal lymphoma in a cat. J Am Vet Med Assoc 201: 906-909,
1992.
DiBartola SP, Rutgers HC, Zack PM, Tarr MJ. Clinicopathologic
findings associated with chronic renal disease in cats:
74 cases (1973-1984). J Am Vet Med Assoc 190(9):1196, 1987
- Eaton KA, Biller DS, DiBartola SP, Radin MJ, Wellman ML.
Autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease in Persian
and Persian-cross cats. Vet Pathol Mar 34(2):117, 1997
- Lulich JP, Osborne CA, Lawler DF, et al. Urologic disorders
of immature cats. Vet Clin North Amer Small Anim Pract:
17(3):663-696, 1987
Biller, D., D. Chew, et al. (1990). “Polycystic kidney
disease in a family of Persian cats.” JAVMA 196(8):
1288-1290.
- Biller, D., S. DiBartola, et al.(1996). “Inheritance
of polycystic kidney disease in Persian cats.” JHered
87(1): 1-5.
- Crowell, W., J. Hubbell, et al. (1979). “Polycystic
renal disease in related cats.” JAVMA 175(3): 286-288.
- Lulich, J., C. Osborne, et al. (1988). “Feline idiopathic
polycystic kidney disease.” Comp Contin Edu Pract
Vet 10(9): 1029-1040.
- Biller, D. (1994). Polycystic kidney disease. Consultations
in Feline Internal Medicine 2. ed August J. WB Saunders,
Phila, pp. 325-330.
- Biller, D., S. DiBartola, et al. (1998). “Autosomal
dominant polycystic kidney disease in Persian cats.”
Cat Fanciers' Almanac 14(10): 92-93.
|
