Cartoon cat Garfield's Mid-Life Crisis Sheds Light on the Danger of Cat Kidney Disease

Monheim, Germany (ots/PRNewswire) - A new campaign
launched today will educate cat owners about the risk of chronic
kidney disease (CKD) that their pets may face as they grow older and
urge them to seek kidney function tests for cats over the age of
seven. A brand new animation featuring Garfield (as licensed by Paws
Inc.) in the midst of a mid-life crisis and a new educational website
will kick the campaign off. The website will feature a range of free
downloadable tools for owners to help them to plan for their ageing
cat's health needs.

CKD is common in cats aged seven or over and almost one in three
over the age of 10 suffer from the disease.[1] It can significantly
reduce a cat's quality of life and is a leading cause of death in
older cats. Early intervention is essential to slow deterioration of
kidney function, but this can be challenging as the clinical signs of
CKD are often not evident until 75-80% of the nephrons are
non-functional.

"This humorous campaign is designed to educate cat owners about
the unseen risk of kidney disease as cats age and to encourage them
to speak to their veterinarian about kidney function testing," said
Dr Joy Olsen, Global Veterinary Services Manager, Bayer Animal
Health. "We believe that this will provide veterinarians with new
opportunities to offer their clients both valuable advice and
treatment options - including Renalzin as a supplementary feed for
the support of renal function in case of renal insufficiency in cats
- to help them to protect the kidney health of their cats."

Renalzin(R), which effectively binds dietary phosphate even with
normal feline diets,[2] is the newest generation phosphate binder for
cats.

Controlling phosphate levels is an essential part of the
effective management of CKD and can prolong and enhance quality of
life. Restriction of phosphate plays an essential role in curbing
kidney secondary hyperparathyroidism, soft tissue calcification and
progression of kidney failure.[3],[4] Often a kidney (renal) diet is
the first step in kidney therapy. Cats fed a restricted phosphate
diet were shown to survive approximately 2.4 times longer than cats
fed a diet without phosphate restriction.[5] However, cats with CKD
are very sensitive to changing their diet and often refuse this.
Renalzin, which can be used with wet or dry food, offers phosphorus
control with a normal or specialist kidney (renal) diet.

Renalzin(R) binds to dietary phosphate, rendering it
indigestible. As a result it significantly (p=0.05) increases faecal
phosphate excretion and reduces urinary excretion of phosphorous
which reduces the burden on a cat's compromised kidneys. Clinical
studies in cats have demonstrated the beneficial effects of
Renalzin(R). Over two months, cats given Renalzin(R) together with a
standard diet demonstrated: decrease in serum phosphate levels,
maintained or increased appetite and improvement in clinical
examination scores.[6]

Renalzin(R) is specifically formulated for cats and is simply
added to a cat's usual food. The standard recommended dosage is 2 mls
applied with the cat's food, once or twice daily depending on the
cat's feeding regime.

Notes to editors

Garfield's mid-life crisis can be viewed here
http://www.youtube.com/user/RenalzinGarfield and cat owners can log
on to http://www.renalzin.com/garfield.htm to find out more about
kidney disease in cats and the steps that they can take to prevent
and manage it.

About Bayer HealthCare AG

The Bayer Group is a global enterprise with core competencies in
the fields of health care, nutrition and high-tech materials. Bayer
HealthCare, a subgroup of Bayer AG with annual sales of more than EUR
16.913 billion (2010), is one of the world's leading, innovative
companies in the healthcare and medical products industry and is
based in Leverkusen, Germany. The company combines the global
activities of the Animal Health, Consumer Care, Medical Care and
Pharmaceuticals divisions. Bayer HealthCare's aim is to discover and
manufacture products that will improve human and animal health
worldwide. Bayer HealthCare has a global workforce of 55.700
employees and is represented in more than 100 countries. Find more
information at http://www.bayerhealthcare.com.

With a turnover of EUR 1.120 million (2010) Bayer HealthCare's
Animal Health Division is one of the world's leading manufacturers of
veterinary drugs. The division manufactures and markets more than 100
different veterinary drugs and care products for livestock and
companion animals.

Forward-Looking Statements

This news release contains forward-looking statements based on
current assumptions and forecasts made by Bayer Group management.
Various known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors
could lead to material differences between the actual future results,
financial situation, development or performance of the company and
the estimates given here. These factors include those discussed in
our annual and interim reports to the Frankfurt Stock Exchange and in
our reports filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission
(including our Form 20-F). The company assumes no liability
whatsoever to update these forward-looking statements or to confirm
them to future events or developments.

References:

---------------------------------

[1] Polzin DJ. et al, Medical management of feline chronic renal
failure. In, Bonagura JD, Kirk RW (eds). Current Veterinary Therapy
XI. Philadelphia, PA, Saunders, 1992: 848-853.

[2] Schmidt B et al, Bay 78-1887, J Vet Pharmacol Therap 2006, 29
(Suppl 1): 206-207.

[3] Rubin SI. Chronic renal failure and its management and
nephrolithiasis. Vet Clin Small Anim 1997, 27(6): 1331-1354.

[4] Barber PJ. et al, Effect of dietary phosphate restriction on
renal secondary hyperparathyroidism in the cat. J Small Anim Prac
1999, 40: 62-70. 6.

[5] Elliot et al 2000.

[6] Schmidt B. et al, The use of Renalzin, a new intestinal
phosphate binder, in feline chronic renal failure. Proceedings of the
Vetoalp 2008 Conference, March 2008, Chamonix, France, p. 69.

Contact:
Kathrin Statz, +49-2173-384019
Kathrin.statz@bayerhealthcare.com

ots Originaltext: Bayer Animal Health
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