You should seek the advice of your veterinarian if your pet is ill as only he or she can correctly advise on the diagnosis and recommend the treatment that is most appropriate for your pet.

Description
Pancreatitis is relatively common in dogs but feline pancreatitis has only recently been described and it is a diagnostic challenge.

Diagnostic tests in cats

In cats Amylase and lipase are not helpful.

In one study of Feline Trypsin-like Immunoreactivity (TLI) - the normal serum range was reported to be 17-49 ug/L. Normal cats had a mean of 33ug/L. Cats that were ill but without pancreatitis had a mean TLI of 34ug/L. Cats with pancreatitis had a mean TLI of 100ug/L. This would suggest that TLI might be helpful but unfortunately there was wide overlap between these groups - normal cats had TLI's up to 88ug/L and cats with pancreatitis had TLI's as low as 14ug/L. In addition, other authors have reported cats which do not have pancreatitis with a TLI of 184ug/L.

Ultrasound : abdominal ultrasound is less sensitive and less specific than it is in dogs. Ultrasonographic changes (hypoechoic pancreas) are found quite frequently in vomiting cats, but they usually do not have pancreatitis.

Some authors consider the most reliable test for the diagnosis of pancreatitis in cats to be biopsy. 3 forms are currently recognised :

• Necrotic pancreatitis
• Suppurative pancreatitis
• Lymphocytic pancreatitis

At the North American Veterinary Congress 1999 one author (M.D.Willard - Texas A & M) reported seeing lymphocytic infiltration in feline pancreas biopsies and his group are speculating about a possible relationship between the antigens that cause intestinal lymphocytic infiltrates (part of the Inflammatory Bowel Disease syndrome) and those that may cause pancreatic inflammation.

Feedback Request

Provet would like to hear from you about cases of feline pancreatitis that you have seen, and in particular if the disease was associated with inflammatory bowel disease. feedback@provet.co.uk 

Last updated : October 2013