title: Early diagnosis of renal disease and renal failure.
abstract: The main goal of early diagnosis of renal disease and renal failure in dogs and cats is to enable timely application of therapeutic interventions that may slow or halt disease progression. Strategies for early diagnosis of renal disease use urine tests that detect proteinuria that is a manifestation of altered glomerular permselectivity or impaired urine-concentrating ability as well blood tests to evaluate plasma creatinine concentration. Animals with progressive renal disease should be carefully investigated and treated appropriately. Animals with mild, possibly nonprogressive, renal disease should be monitored adequately to detect any worsening trends,which should lead to further investigation and treatment even if the increments of change are small.
authors.affiliation: Department of Small Animal Medicine and Surgery, College of Veterinary Medicine, Texas A&M University, 4474 TAMU, College Station, TX 77843-4474, USA. glees@cvm.tamu.edu
authors.forename: George E
authors.initials: GE
authors.lastname: Lees
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002371:Cat Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis*; D002415:Cats; D004283:Dog Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis*; D004285:Dogs; D007674:Kidney Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000662:veterinary*; D007676:Kidney Failure, Chronic / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000662:veterinary; D007677:Kidney Function Tests / Q000662:veterinary