Intermittent Hemodialysis

Our Critical Care Department offers hemodialysis for the management of acute or chronic pet kidney failure. The kidneys have many roles, including filtering waste products, drugs, and toxins out of the body and when the kidneys fail these normal waste products build up to toxic levels. Intravenous fluids may help flush these toxins out of the body, however, when this type of medical management is unsuccessful, dialysis is indicated to help remove these toxins. For acute kidney failure, dialysis is used to allow the kidneys to recover function or until it becomes clear that the kidneys are not going to heal. Most of the time kidneys repair themselves within about four weeks. With chronic kidney failure the kidneys are permanently damaged and dialysis is continued three times each week for the rest of a pet's life. In this situation, kidney transplant is the only alternative to chronic dialysis. There are different forms of dialysis and our Critical Care Specialists will evaluate your pet and determine the best plan for them.