Longevity Tests For Your Cat

I’m going to let you in on a sad secret.  The so-called “Longevity Tests” that are currently out on the market — the methylation clocks, cheek swabs, etc — just haven’t been validated yet in our pets.

I’m actively meeting with veterinary lab owners from one end of the country to the other in an effort to learn more about the accuracy of the tests currently available, and will keep you in the loop on what I find out.

For right now, though, here’s the deal.  Longevity tests for cats REALLY boil down to EARLY DIAGNOSIS of diseases like hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, chronic kidney disease, and  high blood pressure.

Here’s What You Need to Know About the FOUR TESTS that will increase your cat’s lifespan.

Questions about longevity tests for your cat?  Let’s Chat.

Longevity Tests  for Your Cat — Blood Pressure

Longevity Tests for Your Cat — The Urinalysis

Urinalysis?  A Longevity Test?

I can hear the chorus of boos from here… but let me explain. Here’s what I am looking for in your kitty’s urinalysis… and every one of these things can shorten your cat’s life.

• The presence of bacteria, or a UTI.
• The presence of protein in the urine, which is an early warning of kidney disease.
• The urinary pH and presence of urinary crystals– ESPECIALLY in male cats.

I know that you guys have the UTI down cold.  But let’s talk about urinary protein and pH/crystals for a sec.

URINARY PROTEIN:  We don’t see any protein in normal urine.  But when the kidney filters, or glomeruli, start to go bad they let protein into the urine.  This is usually the EARLIEST sign of kidney disease, and both your and your cat’s lives will change at this time.

URINARY pH/CRYSTALS:  Your cat’s diet will dictate how acidic their urine is.  If it’s not acidic enough, two things will happen: 

• your cat will get a UTI
• your cat will form crystals in their bladder.

Why are crystals a big deal?  Well, they’re sharp, for one thing, so they cause bladder inflammation.  But the bigger issue is that crystals are simply baby bladder stones.  As they grow, your male cat may try to pee them out.  If those stones are too big to pass down the very narrow cat urethra, your male cat’s urethra may become plugged.

This means massive pain for your cat… and your wallet.  Or sometimes a dead cat.

So, yes, a urinalysis can be a Longevity Test.

Longevity Tests for Your Cat — The ProBNP Blood Test

Longevity Tests for Your Cat — SDMA and Cystatin B

The earlier we catch kidney disease in our cats, the longer they will live.  It’s that simple.  

And for years we used the old biomarkers of BUN and creatinine to detect kidney disease.  But here’s the problem — they don’t become abnormal until about 2/3 of our cat’s kidney function has been lost.  That’s over one kidney lost, and that’s WAY too late.

SDMA and Cystatin B blood tests can catch kidney disease almost as early as the protein in the urine I mentioned above.  

This enables you to make the diet, lifestyle, and monitoring changes needed to give your cat with kidney disease a fighting chance.  

And that’s what we all want. 

Questions about the SDMA or Cystatin B kidney blood tests for your cat?  Let’s chat.