Recent advances in managing feline lower urinary tract diseases: therapeutic rights and wrongs

摘要

Over the past decade, knowledge of specific causes and natural course of feline LUTDs has increased, allowing diagnostic and therapeutic efforts to be directed toward identification and elimination of specific underlying causes. However, there is considerable controversy about symptomatic treatment of idiopathic forms of LUTD in male and female cats. This is not surprising since clinical signs associated with this form of the disease are frequently self-limiting and of short duration. In this setting, any form of therapy might appear to be beneficial, as long as it is not harmful. The self-limiting nature of clinical signs in many cats with idiopathic LUTD underscores the need for controlled prospective double-blind clinical studies in order to prove the efficacy of various forms of therapy.