Investigations of kidney damage in cats with feline infectious peritonitis

The aim of this master's thesis is to investigate kidney damage and loss of function in cats with Feline Infectious Peritonitis (FIP). Feline infectious peritonitis (FIP) is a highly contagious and lethal Coronavirus infection of cats. The infection develops in cats as a wet form, characterized by fluid accumulation in the abdominal and chest cavities, and a dry form, characterized by granulomatous or pyogranulomatous lesions in various organs. Cats are known to develop lesions in various organs such as the brain, liver, kidneys and eyes. However, studies on organ damage in cats with FIP are mostly conducted at macroscopic and histopathological levels. Studies on determining renal damage and loss of function using renal biomarkers in cats with FIP are extremely inadequate. In the study, nested-PCR test was used to diagnose cats with FIP. As a result of this test, 20 FIP positive cats and 10 clinically healthy negative cats were used as study and control groups, respectively. The cats were consisted of different ages, genders and breeds. Serum (s) and urine (u) samples were taken from these cats and biochemical and kidney biomarker (symmetric dimethylarginine; SDMA, neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin; NGAL, kidney injury molecule 1; KIM-1) analyzes were performed on these samples. KIM-1 and NGAL analyses. In the study, it was determined that sSDMA, sKIM-1 and uSDMA, uKIM-1 nad uNGAL values of cats with FIP were significantly higher than healthy cats. The results of the study reveal that acute tubular damage and early chronic kidney damage develop in some of the cats with FIP. Additionally, SDMA, KIM-1 and NGAL were found to be more sensitive than creatinine in the early detection of kidney damage in cats with FIP.