Therapy of Potassium Disorders

A wide variety of underlying disease processes in dogs and cats can be associated with potassium disorders. Both moderate-to-severe hypokalemia and hyperkalemia can have immediately life-threatening consequences and veterinary clinicians must be adept at rapid recognition and correction of dyskalemias. The mainstay of hypokalemia therapy is the treatment of the underlying disease process with concurrent parenteral and/or enteral replacement of potassium. Hyperkalemia therapy aims at stabilizing the cardiac membrane potential to prevent life-threatening complications, transiently increasing intracellular potassium uptake to mitigate the effects of high extracellular potassium concentrations, and enhancing or re-establishing urinary potassium excretion.