Metabolic Acidosis in cats: causes, symptoms, remedies
Metabolic acidosis is a disease that can affect cats of any sex, age, breed and size. Let’s find out some more details.
There are diseases to which some specimens are more prone than others; the discriminating factors can be sex, age, race or size. In this case it is easier to be aware of the possibility that the animal can contract that specific pathology. However, some, such as metabolic acidosis, affect various categories of cats indifferently : let’s find out what this disease consists of.
What it is and what causes it
Metabolic acidosis is a medical condition that is embodied in an abnormal increase of acidic substances in the blood of cats. The phenomenon can also occur due to the reduction of bicarbonate (alkali) or due to the inability of the kidney to excrete acid.
The abnormal accumulation of acids can also be due to the intake of substances from the outside (think of ethylene glycol): a typical case is the ingestion of antifreeze. A strong shock can also be the source of the problem.
In cats with renal insufficiency or chronic kidney disease, metabolic acidosis can cause severe symptoms, which can seriously affect the quality of life of the animals.
Symptoms of metabolic acidosis in cats
Metabolic acidosis can manifest itself in cats with different clinical signs, related, in a generic way, to many other pathologies; also for this reason the symptoms are not easily attributable to the disease, especially for those who have no expertise in the field of veterinary medicine.
The symptoms could then also manifest themselves differently depending on the other pathologies that may afflict the cat (for example, one of the causes of metabolic acidosis is diabetes mellitus).
The most common symptoms associated with the disease include vomiting, fever, shortness of breath, lethargy. Another typical clinical sign of metabolic acidosis is diarrhea in cats.
How to cure
In the presence of the aforementioned symptoms it is necessary to go promptly to your trusted veterinarian, who can diagnose the onset of the disorder even with a simple blood count.
Once it is established that the level of acid substances in the cat’s blood is abnormal, it will be necessary to understand the origin of the disease.
In fact, it will be necessary to treat the underlying disease (such as renal failure or diabetes mellitus) in order to decrease the level of acid in the blood, without prejudice to the adoption of a possible coeval therapy to rebalance the aforementioned values.
A severe form of metabolic acidosis may even require hospitalization for several days; and if it depends on a chronic pathology, the cat will be constantly monitored. The recovery time required for recovery from a mild form, on the other hand, is usually a few days.
