JustAnswer PixelPaws and Effect

Did you know that one in three cats develop kidney disease over the course of their lives? Not only that, but more than half of cats age 15 and older have some degree of kidney dysfunction. My lovely Siouxsie certainly had kidney disease in the last few years of her life, and she was about 15 when the first signs of the disease appeared in her regular senior blood test.

Three kittens

Image courtesy of IDEXX


This post is sponsored by Pet Health Network® and the BlogPaws® Pet Influencer Network™. I am being compensated to help create awareness for the importance of the IDEXX SDMA™ kidney screening test for pets, but we only share information we feel is relevant to our readers. Neither Pet Health Network® or IDEXX is responsible for the content of this article.


The thing is, the measurements you see in your cat’s regular senior blood panel don’t show evidence of feline kidney disease until most of the kidney’ function has been permanently lost. But the IDEXX SDMA™ test will allow your vet to detect kidney problems in your cat months, if not years, earlier than standard blood work.

The IDEXX SDMA is a new test for chronic kidney disease in cats that will allow you and your vet to make your feline friend’s life better, for longer. By detecting kidney disease earlier with the IDEXX SDMA, much more of your cat’s kidney function will be intact.

Siouxsie-at-work-SDMA

Even though Siouxsie was sick with kidney disease, it was well managed and she enjoyed coming to work with me.

If I had known earlier on about Siouxsie’s kidney problems, she may have lived even longer than the 19 years she shared with me. She might have been able to avoid the pain and discomfort of the severe urinary tract infections she suffered. My vet told me that UTIs are a common complication of feline kidney disease because failing kidneys leave cats’ urine too watery to prevent bacteria from growing in the bladder.

Siouxsie ultimately died due to complications of her kidney disease.

I don’t want to make the same mistake with Thomas.

Thomas is 15 years old now.

Handsome love-bug Thomas is 15 years old now.

Thomas had blood work at his semi-annual senior exam in February, and my vet was very pleased with his kidney function as shown in the standard blood panel. But the next time he goes in for his check-up, I’m definitely going to ask my vet about the IDEXX SDMA test. If he has early stage kidney disease, I want to know about it now because there’s a lot more I’ll be able to do to keep him healthy.

I’d definitely encourage you to ask your vet about the IDEXX SDMA test, too. Keep up on the latest developments by following Pet Health Network on Facebook.

This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Pet Health Network®. The opinions and text are all mine.