Kidney Donor Programs For Cats

Many donor programs for cats find donor cats through animal rescues, explains JD Foster, VMD, DACVIM (SAIM), internist and director of extracorporeal therapies at the Friendship Hospital for Animals in Washington, D.C. But with one requirement.

"It's really interesting—the kidney donors and cats from many hospitals might be cats that were adopted from an animal shelter. So the program can take cats that otherwise might have a questionable future being in an animal shelter, and they're adopted, they get to be a kidney donor—which certainly they don't get to choose, you know, they don't sign a consent form saying that they do, which I fully acknowledge there are some ethical questions whether that's OK— but I think the saving grace is these cats are being adopted by that family who is getting a kidney transplantation for their cat.

So these cats are being adopted to a family that cherishes cats well enough to be able to do a transplantation for them. They probably can't find a better home."