Did you know that we see high blood pressure in cats?

Why do we worry about it? Just like in people, high blood pressure if left untreated can cause problems such as vision loss, kidney disease and heart problems. Also, high blood pressure can indicate there is another disease at work, like kidney failure or feline thyroid disease.

Veterinary Partner has a great article on high blood pressure in pets, if you are looking for general information. If you’d like more in-depth information, check out the Cornell University Feline Health Center or the International Society of Feline Medicine articles.

Because we worry about urinary tract health in cats, an easy way to help increase the amount of urine is to increase sodium or salt in the diet. Many manufacturers use this approach, but there is concern about increased salt causing blood pressure problems in other species.

A recent study looked at sodium (salt) levels in cat food and whether this affected blood pressure or other health parameters. Thankfully, the common levels of sodium in commercial cat foods do not appear to pose a risk for high blood pressure in cats.