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Acute feline pancreatitis
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Feline pancreatitis is one of the most commonly encountered diseases in small animal practice. Professor Allenspach offers a brief overview of the disease and discusses a holistic approach to treatment.
Karin Allenspach
DVM, FVH, Dipl. ECVIM-CA, PhD, FHEA, AGAF
Dr. Allenspach qualified from Zurich University in 1994 before undertaking an internship in emergency and critical care at Tufts University. She followed this with a residency in small animal medicine at the University of Pennsylvania and gained her ECVIM Diploma in 2001. She was awarded her PhD for studies in immunology in 2005 and is currently Professor of Internal Medicine at Iowa State University.
Key Points:
- Pancreatitis in cats is a common yet often overlooked condition, and diagnosis should be based both on clinical signs and appropriate tests.
- Early intervention in any anorexic cat with pancreatitis is desirable; a high-protein diet given by the enteral route is the preferred method to supplement nutrition.
Introduction
Pancreatitis in cats is a very common disease: in one retrospective study, 67% of 115 cats had histological lesions found on post-mortem examination ( 1 ). However, the condition is also probably underdiagnosed, as many of the clinical signs associated with feline pancreatitis are very non-specific. The etiology of pancreatitis in cats is, as with dogs, largely unknown; however, unlike the situation in dogs, dietary indiscretion is not a common cause in cats. However, one specific consideration is to include toxoplasmosis as a potential infectious cause of feline pancreatitis ( 2 ). Other etiologies that have been associated with acute onset of pancreatitis in cats are recent general anesthesia, hypoxia secondary to acute heart failure episodes, and organophosphate intoxication.
Clinically, cats with pancreatitis show less specific signs than dogs, with anorexia, lethargy, dehydration, weight loss, hypothermia, vomiting, icterus and fever being amongst the most common signs. In a few cases, abdominal pain can be present, and the patient may also have diarrhea. However, it is important to consider the possibility that any cat with suspected pancreatitis could have abdominal pain, and appropriate treatment may greatly improve the clinical demeanor of the cat.
Diagnosis
On hematology, many affected cats show anemia or hemoconcentration; either leukocytosis or leucopenia is also common. The biochemistry profile often includes hypoalbuminemia, which can also be a negative prognostic indicator. Hypocalcemia may also be present (from saponification of the mesenteric fat) and should be treated if present. [...]
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