A protein in cat urine may help detect kidney disease earlier, while other protein patterns could reveal different types of damage
Kidney disease is common in cats, but vets often find it late. The usual blood test may still look normal after a cat has lost more than a third of its kidney function
Now, researchers have found a possible early warning sign in cat urine . A protein called MMP-7 was higher in cats at the earliest stage of the disease
The study also found three groups of sick cats with different patterns of urine proteins. This suggests that cats with the same diagnosis may have different kinds of kidney damage
Katelyn Brusach led the work in Jessica Quimby’s feline kidney research program at The Ohio State University College of Veterinary Medicine
Her team compared urine from 30 healthy cats and 34 cats with chronic kidney disease, including just five at the earliest stage
Estimates of how common chronic kidney disease, or CKD, is in cats vary widely. It is especially common in older cats
CKD means the kidneys have lost some of their ability to work, and that loss lasts over time
The damage can begin in the kidneys’ filters, their tiny tubes, or the tissue around them
Vets usually measure creatinine in the blood to diagnose CKD and judge its stage. This substance comes from muscles, so when a sick cat loses muscle, the reading can look falsely l