Diarrhoea
From Felipedia
Contents |
Introduction
There are numerous causes to diarrhoea in cats.
When diarrhoea persists as a chronic illness (more than 7-10 days), despite treatment with anthelmintics and antibiotics, then this chronic diarrhoea becomes part of a syndrome known as irritable bowel disease (IBD). An umbrella term for any chronic diarrhoea in cats that is non-responsive to standard treatment, IBD is relatively common in purebred cats, with certain breed predilection for Ragdoll, Siamese and Burmese.
Clinical signs
The clinical signs of diarrhoea vary with the location of the inflammatory process; duodenal and gastric lesions usually present as vomiting and weight loss while small and large intestinal lesions present as diarrhoea and/or weight loss. There are also some cats in which the inflammatory response extends beyond the intestinal tract and affects the liver (+/- gallbladder) and pancreas. This is fondly termed 'triaditis'.
| Area affected | Symptoms |
| Small intestine | +/- vomiting, normal frequency of motions, little pain associated, smelly, may be black if bleeding involved, often watery |
| Large intestine | Frequent and 'urgent', usually cow-pat appearance, bright-red if bleeding involved |
| Triaditis (small intestine, liver and pancreas) | vomiting, and symptoms of small intestinal involvement (i.e. watery and smelly +/- black blood) |
Causes
There are many causes of diarrhoea in cats, including small and large intestine and combinations:
Diagnosis
Mucosal biopsies collected from the stomach and duodenum via endoscopy, are relatively non-invasive and less expensive than laparoscopy. Unfortunately, mucosal biopsies alone may miss a diagnosis of lymphoma in cats, especially in individuals with intestinal but not gastric involvement. In addition, standard GI endoscopy does not allow evaluation of the jejunum or ileocecocolic junction. Full-thickness biopsies obtained by abdominal exploratory laparotomy or laparoscopy are ideal for diagnosis of IBD and the exclusion of lymphoma, but may allow fine needle aspiration of a lymph node or a focal area of intestinal thickening for a cytological diagnosis of lymphoma. Lack of normal intestinal wall layering suggests nheoplasia and warrants surgical excision or full-thickness biopsies for clients who would pursue chemotherapy for lymphoma.
Serum folate and cobalamin concentrations may also be useful in planning biopsies. Low serum folate is consistent with proximal small intestinal malabsorption. This finding, along with duodenal thickening on ultrasonography, suggests that endoscopy might be adequate to sample the affected area. A decreased serum cobalamin suggests ileal cobalamin malabsorption, either due to infiltrative ileal disease or pancreatic insufficiency.
Abdominal ultrasound can be useful in deciding between endoscopy and full-thickness biopsies. Thickened intestines or mesenteric lymphadenopathy cannot reliably distinguish between more severe IBD and diffuse intestinal lymphoma
Pancreatic insufficiency is rare in cats, but a serum feline trypsin-like immunoreactivity (fTLI) test should be submitted if weight loss and polyphagia are present in a euthyroid, non-diabetic cat. If fTLI is normal, ruling out pancreatic insufficiency, cats with low serum cobalmin concentrations may be best taken to surgery for full thickness biopsies of the duodenum, jejunum and ileum. Because pancreatitis can be present concurrently with IBD, cats with chronic GI signs should also be screened for elevated serum feline pancreatic lipase immunoreactivity (fPLI), especially if the pancreas appears mottled on ultrasound examination or abdominal discomfort is detected on physical examination.
Unfortunately, a long duration of signs (> 1 year) does not rule out lymphoma.
Treatment
Dietary manipulation is a critical first step in the management of diarrhoea in cats.
Novel protein (elimination) diets are designed to avoid exposure to proteins to which the cat's gut mucosal immune system may have been previously sensitised. Most commercial elimination diets contain a novel protein source, are milk-, corn- and wheat-free, and are highly digestible with a moderate amount of soluble fibre.
Dietary manipulation alone has a fairly high efficacy in treating chronic GI disease in cats, and avoids the side effects associated with immunosuppressive therapy. In fact, up to 50% of referred cats with idiopathic (unknown) GI signs will respond very well to an elimination diet trial, using a home-cooked novel protein source or one of the many commercial elimination diets now available. A commitment to a 4-6 week dietary trial has previously been recommended, which may dissuade some clinicians and owners. However, in most cases, many cats respond in a much shorter time (within 2-3 days), so a shorter dietary trial is acceptable (e.g. 1 week to allow for dietary transition).
An alternative to elimination diets are hydrolysed protein diets (e.g Hill's Z/D Royal Canin Hypoallergenic diet). They minimise the antigenicity of intact dietary protein. Hydrolysed protein diets may be ideal as 'sacrificial diets' during initial induction therapy, while glucocorticoids are used to try to avoid sensitisation to any formerly novel intact proteins.
In cats that are not responsive to dietary change, immunosuppressive therapy remains the standard of care, but will hopefully be replaced in future by more specific therapies.
- Prednisolone - standard first-line of treatment for IBD, given at 1-3 mg/kg/day, tapered.
- Chlorambucil - a chemotherapy agent useful in refractory cases of idiopathic IBD and intestinal lymphoma at 2mg/cat every 48-72 hrs. Is well tolerated by cats compared with cyclophosphamide.
- Budesonide - low dose glucocorticoid used anecdotally in cats at 0.5-0.75 mg/cat/day
- Ciclosporin - an effective immunosuppresant that inhibits T-cell function, specifically IL-2 production. Anecdotally effective in cats with refractory IBD at doses of 5mg/kg once or twice daily. Inappetance and vomiting are common side effects.
Probiotics, omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids and cobalamin are also strongly recommended as adjuncts to any therapy for IBD.
