Long-term outcome of cats and dogs with acute kidney injury treated with intermittent hemodialysis: 135 cases (1997-2010).

Objective: To determine the long-term outcome for small animal patients with acute kidney injury (AKI) treated with intermittent hemodialysis (IHD).

Design: Retrospective case series.

Animals: 42 cats and 93 dogs treated with IHD for AKI.

Procedures: Medical records of cats and dogs treated with IHD for AKI from January 1997 to October 2010 were reviewed. Standard methods of survival analysis with Kaplan-Meier product limit curves were used. The log-rank, Mann-Whitney, and Kruskal-Wallis tests were used to determine whether outcome, number of IHD treatments, or duration of hospitalization was different when dogs and cats were classified according to specific variables.

Results: The overall survival rate at the time of hospital discharge was 50% (21/42) for cats and 53% (49/93) for dogs. The overall survival rate 30 days after hospital discharge was 48% (20/42) for cats and 42% (39/93) for dogs. The overall survival rate 365 days after hospital discharge was 38% (16/42) for cats and 33% (31/93) for dogs. For all-cause mortality, the median survival time was 7 days (95% confidence interval, 0 to 835 days) for cats and 9 days (95% confidence interval, 0 to 55 days) for dogs.

Conclusions And Clinical Relevance: Cats and dogs with AKI treated with IHD have survival rates similar to those of human patients. Although there was a high mortality rate prior to hospital discharge, those patients that survived to discharge had a high probability of long-term survival.