Systolic blood pressure, routine kidney variables and renal ultrasonographic findings in cats naturally infected with feline immunodeficiency virus

Objectives Hypertension is a common cause of proteinuria in HIV-infected people. In cats, feline immunodeficiency virus (FIV) infection appears to be associated with proteinuria. Therefore, the results from systolic blood pressure (SBP) measurements in naturally infected FIV-positive cats were reviewed to assess whether hypertension contributes to the observed proteinuria in these cats. Ultrasonographic findings in FIV-positive cats were reviewed to complete renal assessment and to extend the scant knowledge on renal ultrasonography in cats. Methods Data from client-owned, naturally infected FIV-positive cats were retrospectively reviewed. To obtain a control group, records were reviewed from age-matched, privately owned, FIV-negative cats. Results Data from 91 FIV-infected and 113 control cats were compared. FIV-infected cats showed a significantly lower SBP ( P 0.4) occurred more frequently in FIV-infected cats ( P Conclusions and relevance Hypertension can be excluded as a common cause of renal damage leading to proteinuria in FIV-infected cats. Proteinuria and poorly concentrated urine are common in naturally infected FIV-positive cats, in contrast to azotaemia. Clinicians should cautiously interpret ultrasonographic abnormalities as these occur in over half of FIV-infected cats.