Cats can avoid fatty liver syndrome

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Cats can avoid fatty liver syndrome
Updated: 11/17/2006 5:04 AM
By: Dr. Tom Watson, News 14 Carolina

A condition unique to cats is called hepatic lipidosis, or fatty liver syndrome. It occurs when there is an accumulation of excessive triglyceride in the liver.

The condition is caused by several factors. One of the most common is anorexia and obese cats.
Another factor can be diabetes melodus, and certain drugs and toxins can cause this.

The most common clinical sign that a veterinarian will see is icterus. Most people have heard of the term jaundice, which means the same thing. The skin in the inside of the ear and the gums would be yellow to even orange in color.

Another common sign is anorexia, where the cat is not eating, vomiting or has dramatic weight loss, up to and even over 25 percent of their body weight. It would be like a 10 pound cat losing 2 1/2 to 3 pounds.

The diagnosis of this disease would be based on laboratory or blood work and x-rays. The vet would actually see a large liver, and a definitive diagnosis would be a liver biopsy.

Once the condition has been diagnosed, the treatment would involve nutritional support.

The prognosis for success with this disease depends on aggressive nutritional and fluid support and most cats will respond within three to six weeks.

There is a 65 percent success rate. So if a cat is obese, he should lose weight, but always make sure there is plenty of food available and that they are eating.

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