• Join Marge Chandler DVM, MS, MANZCVS, DACVN, DACVIM, MRCVS for three 2-hour online sessions
• Comprehensive notes to downloaded
• Self-assessment quizzes to ‘release’ your 8 hours CPD certification (don’t worry, you can take them more than once if you don’t quite hit the mark first time)
• A whole year’s access to recorded sessions for reviewing key points
• Superb value for money – learn without travelling
• Watch the recordings on your iPad!
• This Mini Series was recorded in April 2019

Programme

Too much pee! Updates in nutritional management of chronic kidney disease

With new tests available, we are now able to diagnose chronic kidney disease (CKD) earlier and this means making nutritional decisions earlier. Feeding a diet formulated for renal disease increases survival time and improves quality of life, but when should we start and what should we feed? This lecture will discuss the key nutritional features of a renal diet and the evidence for their use. Dietary protein restriction is often a concern for practioners; the current evidence about protein in CKD will be presented. The key nutrient phosphorus will also be discussed along with other critical nutritional factors. Pets with CKD often have poor appetites and can be difficult to transition to a diet for renal disease and the ways to approach this will be discussed. The nutritional approach to the patient should be individualized based on that patient’s history, clinical status, IRIS stage, nutritional assessment, and the desires of the owner.

What you’ll learn:

• When to consider dietary management for chronic kidney disease
• How to encourage pets with chronic kidney disease to eat
• How to transition a pet from a maintenance diet to a diet for renal disease
• The nutritional attributes of a diet appropriate for management of kidney disease

Can’t pee? Dietary management of urolithiasis – when and how can it help?

Struvite stones in dogs are usually associated with a urinary infection and can be dissolved with appropriate dietary and therapeutic management, whereas struvite stones in cats are more likely to be present in sterile urine and can be dissolved and controlled with appropriate dietary management. Calcium oxalate stones be difficult to control; surgery is often necessary for removal, although dietary management can help decrease the risk of reoccurrence. The next most common of these stones in dogs are the urate or biurate stones found in Dalmatian dogs and dogs with portosystemic shunts or end stage liver disease. These are less commonly found in cats although can be found in association with liver disorders. Dietary management can help decrease the risk of recurrence of urate uroliths in dogs at risk.

What you’ll learn:

• How to treat struvite urolithiasis with dietary and medical management
• The pathophysiology of calcium oxalate and urate urolithiasis
• How to decrease the risk of calcium oxalate and urate urolithiasis recurrence

The stressed peeing cat – how do we treat feline LUTD?

Feline lower urinary tract disorder (FLUTD) is an important clinical problem in cats and has been rated a top feline health concern by cat owners. Feline LUTS involves a single sign or combination of dysuria, hematuria, pollakiuria, stranguria and periuria. The top two most common causes of FLUTD are feline idiopathic cystitis (FIC) and urolithiasis in cats younger than approximately 10 years of age, while in cats older than 10 years of age, bacterial urinary tract infections and urolithiasis are most common. For cats with FIC, decreasing stress, environmental enrichments, increased water intake (moist foods), and stress and anxiety modification with nutrients and dietary ingredients have been shown to decrease the frequency of signs.

What you’ll learn:

• The prevalence of the aetiologies of feline lower urinary tract disease
• The pathophysiology of feline interstitial cystitis
• Environmental and nutritional management of feline urolithiasis