Why monitor your pet’s blood pressure?

Blood pressure monitoring at home is important for managing any known illness, and to be alerted to any blood pressure issues that may negatively impact your pet’s health. There are certain medical conditions where blood pressure monitoring is vital, and this can be a very helpful tool to your veterinary surgeon while treating your pet’s ongoing health conditions. We have been stocking the Contec 08A Veterinary Blood Pressure Monitor for the past 10 years, and it is an extremely popular home use device.

How to take a blood pressure reading

Before taking a reading, it is important to make sure your pet is at rest and hasn’t just undergone a large amount of activity. The ideal position is having your pet sit or lay down. Cuff size is incredibly important when obtaining blood pressure, as too small a cuff will cause too much pressure and a cuff that is too large will not create enough pressure. A blood pressure cuff must be approximately 40% of the limb circumference. The cuff must be placed on a peripheral artery on either a front leg or back leg; most pets are far more comfortable with a front leg.

The lead coming from the cuff must be at the back of the leg and the Velcro must be secure. There should be no movement of the cuff once the Velcro is secured. When you are ready, push the start button to start your reading; the cuff will slowly inflate, and this will occlude the artery. Once fully inflated, the cuff will begin to deflate. The pressure changes within the cuff are used to determine the systolic and diastolic pressure.

The first reading is a calibration so should not be recorded. Once your first reading is displayed you can continue to take another reading by simply pushing the start button again. It is recommended to take the average of 3 readings.

Watch this short video below, featuring the Contec 08A-Vet, to see how to secure a blood pressure cuff on a dog:

Blood pressure will vary throughout the day depending on your pet’s level of activity and stress levels. Normal systolic values should be between 120-130mmHg (millimeters of mercury) in both cats and dogs; diastolic values should be 60-90mmHg.

If a pet is stressed, a systolic value of up to 160mmHg may be considered normal, but the test should be repeated when the pet is calm. If repeated readings are lower when the pet is calm, any readings above should not be considered as accurate results.

For which medical conditions should blood pressure monitoring be considered?

Kidney Disease

Renal disease can be acute or chronic. Acute renal disease can be caused by toxins, infectious disease, and obstruction or rupture of the urinary tract. It would be unlikely that you would need to monitor blood pressure at home for these reasons. Home use tends to be for monitoring blood pressure for chronic renal disease. Chronic renal failure is a progressive disease with no cure, and often 65-75% of kidney function can be damaged by the time it is detected. Monitoring blood pressure gives veterinary surgeons access to important information which may lead to a change in current medications or diet. Ensuring that your pet’s treatment plan is correct will help to control other effects of kidney disease, such as hypertension (high blood pressure).

Heart disease

In so many types of heart disease – whether that be dilated cardiomyopathy, mitral valve disease, or congenital heart defects in younger patients – blood pressure monitoring is vital, along with regular heart scans (timing of which will be determined by your veterinary surgeon) to ensure your pet is on the best treatment plan. Cardiac disease can directly affect blood pressure within the arteries. This could result in hypertension (high blood pressure) or hypotension (low blood pressure), but by monitoring blood pressure this will allow early identification of problems.

Endocrine disease

Endocrine glands secrete hormones into the blood, to be delivered to organs around the body. Each hormone has a different affect on metabolic processes. Overall, endocrine disorders are due to insufficient or excessive production of hormones, caused by dysfunction of one or more glands. Many of these patients will present with tachycardia (high heart rate), which is due to the patient having a high metabolic rate due to endocrine disease. This can also result in hypertension, which is a common side effect of endocrine disease.

Hypertension

There are 2 types of hypertension: primary and secondary. The reason hypertension occurs without a specific cause is unknown, but secondary hypertension is, by definition, caused by another disease process in the body. We have covered some of these above, with renal failure or endocrine disease being two notable examples. It is important to monitor a pet’s blood pressure while they have hypertension, as it could result in worsening chronic renal failure or congestive heart failure. Hypertension can also cause retinal degeneration and stroke (both of which should be treated as an emergency and taken straight to your veterinary practice).

Often control of the primary disease and medication should be sufficient to control blood pressure, and any possible side effects managed.