The complex welfare considerations of kidney transplantation in cats with end-stage renal disease.
Feline renal transplantation raises important welfare considerations for both donor and recipient animals. Recipient cats with end-stage CKD face a terminal prognosis without transplantation — the procedure offers a realistic chance of extended quality life. Post-transplant cats can achieve good quality of life for months to years, though lifelong immunosuppression creates its own welfare risks including infection susceptibility and neoplasia.
Donor cat welfare is the most ethically complex aspect. Donor cats undergo a major surgical procedure — unilateral nephrectomy — which carries surgical and anaesthetic risk. Post-operative recovery requires appropriate pain management and welfare monitoring. The requirement that recipient owners adopt the donor cat post-procedure provides ongoing welfare monitoring and a home for the donor, but the fundamental ethical question of performing major surgery on a healthy cat requires careful consideration.
The welfare case for transplantation must be made on a case-by-case basis, balancing the benefit to the recipient against the risk to the donor. Careful case selection — recipients with good general health other than renal disease, committed owners, and thorough donor assessment — optimises welfare outcomes for both animals.