Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Giant cell hepatitis and liver fluke infection in a Japanese cat
By Kobayashi, Natsumi et al.·Published in Journal of veterinary diagnostic investigation : official publication of the American Association of Veterinary Laboratory Diagnosticians, Inc·2025·Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology, Japan·View original on PubMed →
PetCaseFinder translated the abstract of this peer-reviewed paper into plain English so pet owners can read it. We do not publish original research — every detail traces back to the citation above. How we work →
Original publication title: Giant cell hepatitis withinfection in a Japanese domestic cat.
- Species:
- cat
Plain-English summary
A 6-year-old spayed female mixed-breed cat showed signs of not wanting to eat, losing weight, and having watery diarrhea before sadly passing away. Tests revealed high liver enzyme levels and mild anemia. During the examination after death, the cat had yellowing of the skin and a liver that appeared yellow with dark red spots. The diagnosis was giant cell hepatitis, a serious liver condition, and it was found that the cat also had flukes (a type of parasite) in its bile ducts. Unfortunately, despite the findings, the cat did not survive.
People also search for: cat jaundice symptoms · cat liver disease treatment · why is my cat losing weight and not eating
Abstract
A 6-y-old, spayed female, mixed-breed cat developed anorexia, weight loss, and watery diarrhea, and later died. Elevated liver enzyme activities and mild anemia were present antemortem. Generalized jaundice and a diffusely yellow liver with dark-red foci were noted at postmortem examination. Cytologically, hepatocytes contained abundant fine-to-large vacuoles, and multinucleate giant hepatocytes were present. Histologically, the liver had severe centrilobular necrosis, severe biliary congestion, and multinucleation of hepatocytes, leading to the diagnosis of giant cell hepatitis. In addition, flukes present in bile ducts were identified asby morphologic and molecular analyses. These flukes were genetically similar toin Southeast Asia and South America.
Find similar cases for your pet
PetCaseFinder finds other peer-reviewed reports of pets with the same symptoms, plus a plain-English summary of what was tried across them.
Search related cases →Original publication on PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/40878627/