Tricky Feline Case- Louise Is Not Acting Herself

Course overview

Sick feline patients often present with mild or vague clinical signs such as appetite change vomiting weight loss and or change in behavior. Since cats in a multi cat household often share food dishes and litter boxes and since cats are naturally secretive pet owners may not always notice the subtle differences exhibited by an ill cat. When owners do notice signs they may attribute their observations to increasing pet age change in household routine etc. In addition many cat owners believe that vomiting is normal for healthy cats. When cats are presented for evaluation because they are just not themselves the differential list can be extensive. The Louise story illustrates a problemoriented approach to the diagnosis of one such patient beginning with a minimum laboratory database then adding specialty tests and imaging. Incorporating a targeted fully quantitative pancreatic lipase assay such as the Catalyst Pancreatic Lipase Test into the initial phase of a comprehensive workup of a feline patient that presents with vague or mild signs of systemic illness is recommended to improve clinical efficiency and proficiency.