even in the absence of azotemia,ref

even in the absence of azotemia,reflects marked renal damage and signals the need for nutritional management regardless of the CKD stage.CLINICAL IMPORTANCE Prevalence of Chronic Kidney Disease CKD is a common cause of morbidity and mortality in dogs and cats. In a survey of 1,600 pet dogs over five years of age examined at a European veterinary college for a variety of reasons,approximately 20% had abnormally increased markers of renal function. It is not known how many of these dogs had kidney disease (Leibetseder and Neufeld, 1991). In a crosssectional study of 31,484 dogs and 15,226 cats evaluated in private practices across the United States in 1995, the prevalence of kidney disease was 2.2% in cats and 0.8% in dogs (Kirk et al,2001).During 1990,the diagnosis of CKD in cats of all ages reported to the Veterinary Medical Data Base was 16 cases/1,000 cats examined.By 2000,diagnosis of CKD in cats of all ages was 96 cases/1,000 cats examined (Ross et al, 2006).Increased diagnosis of CKD in cats may be due to their living longer, more of them being screened for CKD and/or increased awareness of CKD by veterinarians. CKD appears to be a common cause of death in dogs and cats. In a retrospective study of dogs, 2% died from chronic nephritis, 2% from pyelonephritis and 1% from glomerulonephritis (Bronson, 1982). Thus, the overall mortality from kidney diseases was 5%.With the exception of cancer,kidney disease was the most common cause of death in this study. In a 1991 survey by the Morris Animal Foundation of readers of Companion Animal News, respondents indicated that of 325 cats that had died,94 succumbed to kidney disease (MAF,1991).By co