Pinning down feline pancreatitis

Pinning down feline pancreatitis


Feline pancreatitis doesn’t get as much buzz as the canine variety, but cats know what it means.

Pancreatitis refers to inflammation of the pancreas, which can cause enzymes to leak into the abdomen and damage other organs.

As with the canine form, feline pancreatitis can be acute or chronic. As the name implies, acute pancreatitis comes on suddenly, and clinical signs can be very severe. With the chronic form, cats may show only mild signs, often just lethargy and a poor appetite. About 50% of cats show the gastrointestinal signs that are so common in affected dogs. And unlike pancreatitis in dogs and people, most cats don’t have much abdominal pain.

However, while we can often pinpoint the cause of pancreatitis in dogs, that’s not so with cats. Unfortunately, that means there’s no obvious way to prevent the disease.

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