Diagnosis and Therapy of Renal Disease in Dairy Cattle

Abstract

There are a large number of diseases that may primarily affect the kidneys of dairy cattle. 1 The majority of these cattle with renal disease will be first identified by the clinician because of gross abnormalities observed during the cow's urination, abnormal rectal examination findings involving the urinary system or clinical laboratory data suggestive of renal dysfunction. Except for renal toxicities which may involve multiple animals in a herd, the incidence of any o_ne particular renal disease is most likely to be sporadic in a bovine population. The sporadic incidence of many of these diseases may make the diagnostic, therapeutic and prognostic approaches more difficult than more familiar diseases of other systems. It is the intent of this presentation to provide a review and update on the causes, clinical signs, laboratory finding, methods of diagnosis, therapy and prognosis in cattle with renal disease.