The association of bacteriuria with survival and disease progression in cats with azotemic chronic kidney disease.

Abstract

BackgroundCats with chronic kidney disease (CKD) have an increased prevalence of positive urine cultures (PUC). Limited information is available regarding the prognosis of cats with CKD and concurrent PUC.ObjectiveTo determine the association of PUC with survival time and disease progression in cats with CKD.AnimalsMedical records of 509 cats diagnosed with azotemic CKD between 1997 and 2018.MethodsCats were classified as having “no‐PUC” or “PUC.” The PUC cats were further classified as having 1 or multiple PUC, and also were classified based on the presence or absence of clinical signs of urinary tract infection (UTI). Progression of CKD was defined as a plasma creatinine concentration increase of ≥25% within 365 days of CKD diagnosis; PUC also must have occurred within this time frame. Survival time and frequency of CKD progression were compared between groups.ResultsNo significant difference in survival time was found between cats with no‐PUC and cats with any number of PUC (P = .91), or between cats with no‐PUC, 1 PUC or multiple PUC (P = .37). Also, no significant difference was found in the frequency of CKD progression between PUC and no‐PUC cats (P = .5), or among no‐PUC, 1 PUC and multiple PUC cats (P = .22). When assessing cats with clinical signs of lower UTI, no significant difference was found in the frequency of CKD progression between cats with true UTI, subclinical bacteriuria or no‐PUC (P = .8).Conclusions and Clinical ImportanceWhen treated with antibiotics, PUC in cats with CKD do not affect disease progression or survival time.