When a young animal is diagnosed with renal failure, it could have a congenital, juvenile or familial renal disease. Congenital renal diseases are present at birth and can be either due to a genetic abnormality or in utero exposure to adverse environmental factors. Juvenile renal diseases are present at an early age but were not necessarily detectable at birth. A familial renal disease is one that occurs in a group of related individuals. Many animals with familial renal disease have normal appearingand functioning kidneys at birth but progressive morphological and functional deterioration occurs early in life. A familial renal disease may have a genetic basis; however, only a few of these diseases have been characterized well enough to have the mode of inheritance established. While juvenile renal diseases have been reported in at least 46 breeds of dogs and 6 breeds of cats, many of these reports are limited to a single case and a familial nature has not been established. The purpose of this presentation is to discuss a limited number of the familial renal diseases affecting dogs and cats: hereditary nephritis, amyloidosis, polycystic kidney disease and renal dysplasia. Approximately 57% of the familial renal diseases of dogs and cats can be classified into these four diseases.
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