The pancreas is a small but important digestive organ in animals. When cats suffer from pancreatic inflammation and other diseases, they often only have some atypical symptoms, such as depression, loss of appetite, and weight loss... The disease slowly extends its claws to the pancreas and other organs, constantly tormenting the cat, which can be called a cat The "invisible killer".

What is feline acute pancreatitis?

Acute pancreatitis is a serious reaction in which pancreatic enzymes are activated in the pancreas due to various causes (normal pancreatic enzymes should not be activated in the pancreas), thereby digesting the own pancreatic tissue, leading to edema, bleeding or even necrosis of the pancreatic tissue. Feline acute pancreatitis has three difficulties: it is difficult to find the cause, it is difficult to diagnose, and it is difficult to treat. Cats of all ages may suffer from the disease.

Clinically, it is characterized by sudden severe anterior abdominal pain, shock and peritonitis. The course of the disease in most cats can be divided into two stages, namely the consumption period and the later stage of the disease.

1. Consumption period

· Depression

· Loss of appetite/refuse to eat, abdominal pain after eating

· Vomiting, diarrhea, blood in the stool, sensitivity to palpation, abdominal tenderness and hunched back

2. Late stage of disease

· Highly depressed and lethargic

· Lower blood pressure and body temperature

· Intensification of vomiting and diarrhea, or even bloody diarrhea (antidiarrheal drugs must not be used without permission)

·Abdominal wall tension and severe abdominal tenderness

Note: Even if fluids have been replenished at this time, the condition will still deteriorate rapidly (loss of consciousness, body convulsions, etc.), leading to shock or even death

The symptoms of cats suffering from acute pancreatitis are usually very similar to the clinical characteristics of many intestinal and intra-intestinal diseases of acute abdomen. They have no obvious characteristics and are easily underestimated or ignored by parents. Therefore, parents need to send cats to regular hospitals in time when they have the symptoms described in the consumption period above, and have them diagnosed by doctors to avoid delaying the condition.

How to diagnose?

· Imaging diagnosis

Abdominal X-ray examination. X-rays of sick cats usually show the presence of fluid in the body cavity, and most of them are serum-like fluid in the chest and abdominal cavity. X-rays can help rule out similar symptoms caused by foreign bodies in the intestines.

· Urine test and blood test indicators

Liver transaminases are elevated, bilirubin is elevated, blood sugar is elevated, blood cholesterol is elevated, and serum calcium and potassium are reduced.

· Laboratory analysis

When peritoneal effusion occurs, peritoneal fluid can be collected by puncture for cytological examination and special biochemical examination.

Note: Feline pancreatitis has very low sensitivity to ultrasound examination, so abdominal ultrasound examination is not required; when the above changes in laboratory indicators occur, it strongly indicates acute pancreatitis; laboratory diagnosis can be used as a confirmatory test.

Causes of acute pancreatitis:

It is currently difficult to determine the cause of acute pancreatitis in cats clinically, but common causes include:

· Feeding high-fat foods for a long time;

· Acute injury to the pancreas caused by infectious peritonitis, trauma or trauma;

· Ascaris and other roundworms block the pancreatic duct, causing the pressure in the pancreatic duct to increase, the pancreatic alveoli to rupture, and pancreatic enzymes to escape, leading to pancreatitis. Commonly seen in tube spasm, duodenitis, etc.;

· Bile duct disease, common bile duct Vater's ampulla obstruction (gallstone incarceration, tumor compression, and local edema often cause common bile duct Vater's duct obstruction), causing trypsin to activate in the pancreas and damage the pancreas.

· Fatty liver may be the cause or the result of acute pancreatitis, and both often occur at the same time;

In addition, the side effects of certain drugs, toxic diseases, hyperlipidemia, hypothyroidism, diabetes, etc. can damage the pancreas, leading to the occurrence of acute pancreatitis.

Treatment and prognosis:

The current treatment methods are mainly symptomatic treatment and supportive therapy, including rebuilding the integrity of the circulatory system, maintaining body fluid and electrolyte balance, reducing pancreatic secretion, pain relief, and anti-infection. The main treatment principles are infusion therapy and fasting and water restriction to avoid stimulating pancreatic secretion and aggravating the condition.

1. Mild pancreatitis (applicable to mildly sick cats with only mild dehydration but no azotemia)

· Subcutaneous injection of isotonic electrolyte solution (such as normal saline, lactated Ringer's solution) for rehydration; oral administration of potassium chloride.

· Give a small amount of water and bland food (low-salt baby food or low-fat cat food/dog food) at least 24 hours after the last vomiting. Feed 4 times a day. If the cat does not vomit after feeding, the feeding can be gradually increased. quantity.

The overall prognosis for cats with mild pancreatitis is good. To prevent recurrence,The diet should be regulated and low-fat, high-carbohydrate, and moderate-protein diets should be used. Overweight cats need to lose weight. There is no need to use other drugs (such as antibiotics and anticholinergic drugs), and recovery takes about 7 days.

2. Severe pancreatitis (applicable to cats with severe dehydration, persistent vomiting, and even hypothermia and other shock symptoms.)

· Combined intravenous injection of octreotide preparations and ulinastatin, the former can reduce the content of urinary amylase in the blood, and the latter can inhibit the activity of various trypsins that have been released.

· Intravenous infusion to correct dehydration and meet nutritional supply. If metabolic acidosis needs to be corrected, baking soda can be added appropriately.

· Do not eat or drink for 2-3 days.

· Infuse plasma to increase serum anti-protease activity.

· Inject broad-spectrum antibiotics to prevent secondary bacterial infections.

· If vomiting is too frequent, use centrally acting antiemetics.

· Use analgesics to relieve abdominal pain.

If necessary, you must fast for 5 days or longer to reduce the stimulation of pancreatic secretion. Nutrition can be injected or supplied through a jejunostomy tube. After the cat resumes eating, in order to increase appetite, some cooked rice and skimmed milk powder cheese can be added to the prescribed diet.

Note: The treatment method is for reference only. Parents should not make any decisions without authorization. The specific treatment method should be judged by the doctor at the consultation meeting.

Prevention:

· In view of the elusive cause, this disease is difficult to prevent. What parents can do is to try to minimize the factors that may induce acute pancreatitis

· Pay attention to nutritional balance in daily feeding. Blindly feeding cats’ favorite foods or high-nutrition and high-fat foods will only · increase the possibility of cats suffering from acute pancreatitis or other diseases

· Strengthen exercise to prevent cats from becoming obese

· Carry out regular deworming work

· Currently, there is no diagnostic method that is quick, convenient, specific, sensitive, and less damaging. It can only be comprehensively analyzed based on clinical symptoms, laboratory results, and imaging results. If the diagnosis still cannot be confirmed, exploratory laparotomy and pancreatic biopsy can be performed, but pancreatic biopsy may cause existing inflammation to worsen, so decisions need to be made with caution.

· Cats suffering from both fatty liver and acute pancreatitis often have a poor prognosis and require extra careful care from parents.

·Acute pancreatitis has no characteristic and typical symptoms. Parents need to observe the status of cats daily, and seek professional veterinary help promptly when abnormalities are found, so as to detect and treat them early and reduce the pain of cats.