In a prospective survey, one hundred and eleven dogs with canine chronic renal disease, presenting to 24 veterinary practices in East Anglia and the West Midlands (geographical area 8,600 square miles) were identified. More than 20 different breeds were represented. In 76 cases, clinical details, blood and urine biochemistry, serology and kidney tissue for light and electron microscopy, and immunohistochemistry were obtained. Forty (52%) had glomerular (GN) and 36 (48%) non-glomerular (NGN) disease. Types of GN identified were (W.H.O. classification, number of cases in brackets): focal glomerulonephritis (gn) (5), diffuse mesangial proliferative gn (8), diffuse endocapillary proliferative gn (2), mesangiocapillary gn type I (8), diffuse crescentic gn (1), diffuse sclerosing gn (7), amyloid (6), unclassifiable gn (3). Eight dogs with GN and 13 with NGN had extra-renal lesions. In only one GN case (bacterial endocarditis) was the etiology clear. Proteinuria, but not age, breed, sex, serum creatinine or hematuria, discriminated between GN and NGN groups. This prospective survey identifies GN, with morphological types as found in humans, as a common cause of canine chronic renal disease.

Eight cases of familial nephropathy in Cocker Spaniels aged between 10 and 24 months were referred to the Renal Unit of the Small Animals Centre from 1977–1982 (cases 1–8). The disease took a rapid course and progressed to a fatal outcome within 2 months of what may have been an insidious onset. Five of these cases were from litters in which at least one other dog had died with uraemia. Autopsy material was received from twelve other young Cocker Spaniels. In four of these cases urinalysis was performed and in a further four; biochemical evidence of renal failure was obtained. The most striking pathological changes in the kidneys were found in the glomeruli.