Survival of dogs with glomerular disease in Europe: insights from the European Veterinary Renal Pathology Service.

Authors

Eric Zini, Francesco Rossi, Silvia L Benali, Alice Nicolo, Donatella Gelli, Barbara Contiero, Francesco Dondi, Luca Aresu

Published in

Journal of veterinary internal medicine. Volume 40. Issue 4. Jul 01, 2026.

Abstract

Although glomerular disorders contribute to chronic kidney disease in dogs, few studies have evaluated the usefulness of renal biopsy for predicting outcome.
Investigate morphologic diagnoses, clinicopathological findings, comorbidities, treatment, and their associations with survival in dogs after renal biopsy.
One hundred ten client-owned dogs with glomerular disease.
Retrospective cohort study of medical records from the European Veterinary Renal Pathology Service (2018-2023). Data were obtained before referral for renal biopsy and during follow-up. Survival analysis was performed using the Kaplan-Meier method, followed by log-rank tests. Relative risk was calculated using contingency tables.
Dogs were classified into 3 groups: immune complex glomerulonephritis (ICGN) (61 dogs, 56%), non-ICGN (39 dogs, 35%), and juvenile nephropathy (JN) (10 dogs, 9%). Survival was longer in ICGN dogs than non-ICGN (mean ± SEM: 951 ± 78 days vs. 613 ± 92 days; P = .02), with no difference versus JN (1004 ± 169). No survival differences were observed among the morphological subtypes of ICGN. Dogs with amyloidosis had shorter survival than all other morphologic non-ICGN subtypes (384 ± 95 vs. 650 ± 56 days, P = .02). Risk of a creatinine increase of ≥50% during follow-up was greater in the JN group (RR = 2.78; 95% CI, 1.60-4.84; P = .03). Reduction in proteinuria ≥50% during follow-up did not differ between groups. Immunosuppressive treatment was more frequently administered to ICGN dogs (P < .001).
Immune complex glomerulonephritis dogs had better outcomes and slower disease progression than non-ICGN and JN. Proteinuria decreased by approximately 50% within each group over time; however, the retrospective design precludes conclusions regarding the effect of antiproteinuric treatment.

PMID:
42561145
Bibliographic data and abstract were imported from PubMed on 07 Aug 2026.

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