Can my veterinary clinic print and hand this out?

Yes, freely. Print it, photocopy it, put it in your new-diagnosis folder, add your own clinic name and phone number to it. No permission needed, no charge, no attribution required, and nothing to sign. If it saves you ten minutes of a difficult conversation, it's doing its job.

Why is there no PDF download?

There will be. For now the print version of this page does the same job and can't go out of date, which a downloaded PDF can. When there's a PDF it'll be linked here, and it'll be the same content.

What does the handout cover?

One page: what chronic kidney disease is in two sentences, the numbers worth knowing, the first two weeks in order, the signs that mean call the same day, and what to have ready when you phone. It's deliberately not comprehensive. It's what a frightened person can absorb on the day of diagnosis.

Can I translate it or adapt it?

Yes. Translate it, shorten it, put it on your own letterhead. The only thing I'd ask is that if you change any of the clinical content, take my name off it, because I can't stand behind wording I haven't seen.

Is there a printable handout about cat kidney disease?

Q: Is there a printable handout about cat kidney disease?

Yes, it's on this page. Press Ctrl+P, or Cmd+P on a Mac, and you'll get a clean black-on-white sheet with the site navigation, colour panels and links stripped out. It covers what CKD is, the numbers that matter, the first two weeks, and the signs that mean phone the vet.

Is there a printable handout?

Yes. It's below, and the way to get it is to print this page.

Press Ctrl+P, or Cmd+P on a Mac. The page prints as plain black text on white, with the navigation, the colour panels, the links and everything else stripped out. It won't eat a clinic's toner and it won't come out of a LaserJet as a grey rectangle.

Any veterinary practice is welcome to print this and hand it out. No permission, no charge, no attribution, nothing to sign. Add your own clinic name and number to it if that's useful. If it saves you ten minutes of a hard conversation on a busy afternoon, it's doing what it's for.

Your cat has been diagnosed with chronic kidney disease

What it means. Her kidneys have permanently lost some of their filtering capacity, so waste builds up in her blood and she loses more water than she should. It happened slowly and it won't reverse. In a great many cats it's manageable for years.

What it doesn't mean. It isn't an emergency today, it isn't contagious to your other pets, and it almost certainly isn't the result of anything you did or fed her.

Four numbers worth knowing

Creatinine and SDMA. Waste products her kidneys should be clearing. Her stage is based on creatinine.
Phosphorus. The value that most changes how she feels. Lowering it is the single most useful thing we do.
Potassium. Drives muscle strength. Usually runs low early on and can run high in late-stage disease.
Her weight. The most useful thing you can track at home, and the most often skipped.

Two more that aren't on the blood panel and get missed: urine protein (UPC) and blood pressure. Both are treatable, and neither shows up unless somebody asks for it.

The first two weeks, in order

Get more water into her. Wet food instead of dry where she'll take it, more bowls in more rooms, wide and shallow rather than deep.
Treat nausea before you fight about food. Most kidney cats who won't eat are nauseated, not stubborn, and most never vomit. Ask your vet about an anti-nausea medication.
Start one medication at a time, two or three days apart, so you know what caused what.
Book the recheck before you leave. Ask when specifically, because it isn't the same interval for every cat.
Buy a kitchen scale. Weigh her weekly, same day, and write it down with the date.
Sort the food out slowly. A canned kidney diet is best if she'll eat it. Take two to three weeks to switch, and never on a day she feels rough. A cat eating an ordinary food beats a cat refusing the correct one.
Put the medications on the fridge with the times you actually give them, and tick them off.

Call the vet the same day if

She's eaten nothing for twenty-four hours, or far less than normal for three or four days
She's vomiting repeatedly, or can't keep water down
Her ears, paws or legs feel cold against your cheek
Her gums are pale, white or yellow
She's weak, wobbly, collapsed, or can't stand
She's breathing fast, hard, wetly, or with her mouth open
She's straining in the litter box and producing nothing. In a male cat, go now
There are no wet clumps in the box in twelve hours
She hasn't passed stool in two days, or her stool is black and tarry
She's restless and can't settle, and it's worse at night

Have these ready when you phone

Her weight. When she last ate, and what. When you last saw wet clumps in the box. Every medication she's on and when you last gave each one. Whether she's had fluids, how much, and when.

Never give her

Any anti-inflammatory or painkiller meant for a person. Ibuprofen, naproxen, aspirin, and especially acetaminophen (Tylenol), which is lethal to cats. Also never a leftover anti-inflammatory prescribed for another pet, and never a human enema, because phosphate enemas can kill a cat.

Full guides at kidneycats.org, written by Dr. Steve Pelton, DVM. Free, no products, no sign-up.

For veterinary practices

If you want this in your new-diagnosis folder, print it and use it. A few notes that might help:

It pairs well with your own clinic's contact details written at the bottom, and I'd rather you added them than had a client phone me instead of you. If you change any of the clinical content, please take my name off it, because I can't stand behind wording I haven't read. And if there's something you'd want on a handout that isn't here, tell me, because you're seeing the same conversations I am and I'd rather the sheet was useful than mine.

A downloadable PDF is coming. For now this page prints cleanly, and it has the advantage of never being an out-of-date file sitting in somebody's downloads folder.

What this deliberately leaves out

Staging, prognosis, survival figures, the full medication list, fluids technique, and everything about the end. Not because those don't matter, but because none of them belong on a sheet handed to somebody in the first ten minutes.

Those live here: IRIS stages, life expectancy, every medication explained, subcutaneous fluids, and knowing when it's time.

Medically reviewed by Dr. Steve Pelton, last updated July 26, 2026. First published July 25, 2026. Reviewed quarterly.

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