What is Polycystic Kidney Disease - PKD?

Polycystic Kidney Disease is an inherited kidney disease that has been found in Persian/Exotic cats, or cats that have been out-crossed to Persians or exotics. Feline Polycystic Kidney Disease (PKD) is cysts in the kidneys and as the disease progresses the cysts become enlarged and fill with fluid, thus stopping normal kidney function.

How is PKD diagnosed?

The only sure way of diagnosing PKD is by DNA testing, this is done by 2 mouth swabs and sent to a testing lab like Gribbles Molecular Science in VIC Australia. This test will show 99.99% if a cat has the diseased genes or is negative to this disease, if both parents are PKD DNA Negative then all kittens will be negative for this disease.
A reputable breeder should have breeding cats tested, the cost of the tests is only $45 and these days are so easy to access.
A breeder should supply you with a copy of the parents test before purchasing a kitten for pet or breeding, it is most important to see these certificates prior to purchasing a kitten so that you know that the kitten you are purchasing is also Negative.

What does this disease cause in cats?

Polycystic Kidney Disease is a slowly progressive disease. It clinically shows up later in life (late onset), with enlarged kidneys and kidney dysfunction on average at seven years of age.
The condition is inherited and cysts are present from birth. The size of cysts can vary from less than one millimeter to several centimeters, with older animals having larger and more numerous cysts. Problems occur when these cysts start to grow and progressively enlarge the kidney, reducing the kidneys' ability to function properly. The ultimate end is kidney failure.
Some of the clinical signs are depression, lack of or reduced appetite, excessive thirst, excessive urination and weight loss. There is a marked variability in how quickly individual cats succumb, with the possibility of the symptoms of PKD developing late enough in life that the cat can die of other causes before kidney failure. However, kidney failure is certain when and if the cysts grow and cause problems.

How does a breeder eliminate PKD from a breeding colony/cattery?

As PKD is the result of an autosomal dominant gene, it is relatively easy to track and eliminate from the breeding population. All breeding animals need to be DNA tested to detect the possible presence of kidney-cysts. The quickest way to eliminate the problem is to neuter or spay the affected individuals and only breed from PKD-negative cats. A PKD-negative cat is also genetically PKD-free!
If a particular breeding-stud or queen is extremely valuable, there is still a possibility to produce PKD-negative kittens. To achieve that, one parent has to be PKD-negative and the other parent heterozygous in its gene.

Cenedra & PKD

We have chosen to be very vigilant and work only with healthy lines in our breeding of our Burmillas, we have gone to great lengths to achieve this. All our breeding cats have been DNA tested for PKD and returned a Negative result.

It is important for us to know that our cats are healthy.

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