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Is Kidney Failure
a Genetic Disorder?
Scarlette Gotwals,
DVM
I have received these questions
many times and thought they might be of interest to others:
To what age do you consider death
as a result of kidney failure to possibly be a from a genetic cause?
Kidney disease is very prevalent in
bull terriers. It is genetically transmitted. Anytime a bull terrier dies of
kidney failure, you need to be suspicious of a genetic disease. Inherited
Nephritus can have a very slow progression and some affected dogs may not
die until they are 6 to 8 years old. More commonly, they die by 4 to 6 years
of age and the more severely affected die by 2 to 3 years of age.
"What do you do when you have a
bull terrier with kidney disease?
First notify the breeders for help
and direction. They should know who to contact for help in providing as much
quality of life as possible for as long as possible. The breeders need to
immediately test the sire and dam of the affected dog as well as to contact
all the other owners of siblings (this includes owners of other bitches bred
to the sire!)
Breeding of any directly related
dogs needs to be stopped until all testing is completed. Usually when there
is one in the litter, others will also be affected. Relatives need a urine
protein/creatinine ratio (UPC) to start with. Any with a ratio >0.5 need
additional testing (all need to be tested annually thereafter).
The dog with kidney failure needs
to be tested to help decide the reason for the kidney failure, for and dog
less than 6 years of age, genetic kidney failure should be to top on the
list to rule in or out. Let your vet know that it is in the breed, and the
steps that need to be taken to help decide between other causes of kidney
failure and genetic based (a biopsy can be very helpful). Other causes of
kidney failure include: antifreeze poison, other poisons, Lime Nephritus,
Lepo infections, etc. A biopsy or pathology can distinguish between many of
these.
It is very emotional when you
discover your dog has kidney failure. Try to control the anger and
accusations- no one wants to breed animals that die of kidney failure, and
often by the time it is detected, the sire and dam may have had more than
one lifter. But there is no excuse to breed any direct relatives once there
is an affected offspring, without thorough testing and full disclosure.
There are many people who don't feel it is necessary to do UPC until they
have had the misfortune of having affected offspring, The UPC is another
test that should be done annually, even in older age. There are dogs who die
of kidney failure even though they may have had a normal UPC at a young age.
Keep Testing!
Most bull terriers with genetic
kidney disease will have an elevated UPC by 2 to 4 years of age, but a few
may not. Remember an elevated UPC signals the need for further testing, and
you cannot diagnose impending kidney failure on the basis of a single
elevated UPC. A quick way to cut the incidence of kidney failure is to not
breed any parents or siblings of dogs that die of kidney disease-even if
they screen clear-because they obviously carry a genetic predisposition for
kidney disease. Kidney failure is an awful way to die. |
