Kidney disease in cats: why caring for them wears owners out, and what helps
☕ Includes a question for the family ↓
Cats and kidney diseasePart of a story we are following · 3 articles · See every update
If you are caring for a cat with kidney disease, and you feel worn out, you are far from alone. Kidney disease in cats is one of the most common illnesses in older cats, and a new survey found that nearly half of the people looking after them feel a heavy load.
The useful part is what the survey found about what makes it lighter. Feeling backed by your vet team and sharing the work with someone both went along with lower stress.
How the study worked
Researchers recruited 339 people who had experience caring for a cat with chronic kidney disease. They found them through social media and asked them to fill out an anonymous online survey. The survey used a standard tool called the Zarit Burden Interview, adapted for pet owners, where a score of 18 or higher means a significant burden. The results appeared Oct. 7, 2026, in the Journal of Feline Medicine and Surgery. Because people chose to take part, they may not speak for every owner, and a survey shows links rather than causes.
What they found
About 46% of caregivers scored 18 or higher, which counts as a clinically significant burden. Some situations pushed the scores up. Others pulled them down.
| Situation | Typical burden score |
|---|---|
| Cat in advanced stages (IRIS 3 or 4) | 20.0 |
| Cat in earlier stages (IRIS 1 or 2) | 14.5 |
| Rarely or never sharing care | 20.0 |
| Sometimes or always sharing care | 15.0 |
| Coaxing the cat to eat every day | 22.8 |
| Never coaxing the cat to eat | 14.5 |
| Always feeling supported by the vet team | 13 |
| Feeling supported only sometimes or never | 23 |
The gap for vet support was the widest in the table. Owners who always felt supported by their vet team scored 13. Owners who felt supported only sometimes or never scored 23.
The daily job of coaxing a cat to eat also stood out. Owners who did it every day scored higher than those who never did it, and higher than those who did it one or two days a week (19.2).
What does IRIS stage mean?
IRIS stands for the International Renal Interest Society. Vets use its stages, 1 through 4, to describe how far a cat’s kidney disease has gone. Stages 1 and 2 are earlier. Stages 3 and 4 are more advanced. In the survey, owners of cats at stages 3 and 4 felt more strain, which makes sense, since those cats usually need more care.
What you can do today
Pick one care task from this week and make it lighter. It could be handing off one job to a family member or friend. It could be asking your vet for a clear plan, a demo of giving fluids, or ideas for a cat that is picky about food. Your vet team is part of the care, and asking them for help is part of the job.
Talk about it at home
A cat’s kidneys work a bit like a kitchen strainer, sorting out what the body needs to keep from what it can let go. Scientists asked a large group of people who care for cats with kidney trouble to answer questions about how heavy the job feels. They noticed that people who felt helped by others tended to feel lighter.
Question for the table
People who felt helped also felt less tired, so how could scientists tell whether the help is really the reason, and not something else?
Keep exploring
Copies this article and its questions so you can paste them into ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini or the AI you use, and keep the conversation going.
Questions and answers
- How many cat owners felt a heavy load?
- In this survey of 339 people, 46% had a score showing a clinically significant burden.
- What made caregiving harder?
- Having a cat at an advanced stage, rarely or never sharing the care, and coaxing the cat to eat every day.
- What was linked to feeling lighter?
- Sharing care with others and always feeling supported by the vet team.
- Does this prove vet support lowers stress?
- No. It is a survey, so it shows a link, not a cause. Still, the link was clear.
