Regular blood pressure monitoring in cats with kidney disease and other at-risk conditions is essential welfare infrastructure, enabling early treatment before target organ damage occurs.
Renal hypertension monitoring welfare is defined by what happens when monitoring is absent - silent target organ damage progressing to sudden blindness, cardiac remodeling, and worsening renal function. The welfare case for regular monitoring is that the consequences of untreated hypertension are severe and largely irreversible, while the monitoring itself is low-stress when conducted appropriately and the treatment is effective and well-tolerated. Building blood pressure monitoring into routine senior cat care visits is a welfare standard that should be universal for cats with known risk factors.