Blood pressure monitoring in pets

It might surprise some people that our pets can suffer from high blood pressure, as they don’t smoke or worry about the mortgage, and they don’t deposit cholesterol in their blood vessels! However, they do suffer from systemic hypertension (high blood pressure) and it can cause serious problems.

The eye is especially at risk, and high blood pressure can cause sudden or gradual blindness. The kidneys are also at risk as they rely on tiny vessels to filter toxins from the bloodstream. Kidney disease is an important cause of high blood pressure and also progresses far more rapidly with it. Many of our older feline friends suffer from both chronic kidney disease and high blood pressure. In one study, it was found that over 60% of cats over the age of 8 had high blood pressure.

Chronic kidney disease is one of the most common diseases seen in cats over the age of 10. The good news is that there are many effective treatments for feline kidney disease, and treating high blood pressure, if present, is a very helpful part of the treatment plan.

Blood pressure is measured in pets similarly to the way it is in humans. An inflatable cuff is fitted snug around the pet’s leg or sometimes tail. It is inflated, then deflated slowly while a stethoscope is placed over the artery being occluded by the cuff, to listen for the point where the blood pressure is adequate to pump the blood through the partially occluded vessel.

Blood pressure is treated effectively with a couple of types of medication, and the effectiveness of the treatment can be monitored as needed.