Ultrasound and clinical signs in a cat with fatty liver disease

Abstract

Feline hepatic lipidosis is one of the most common and potentially fatal hepatopathies that affects domestic cats. Most of the time it affects cats deprived of food or who have gone through prolonged periods of anorexia. It is a pathological process that affects adult cats, and may be associated with cholangiohepatitis, biliary obstruction or intrahepatic neoplasia or idiopathic character. Normally, the fatty acids that circulate in the liver are picked up and metabolized to produce energy or converted to triglycerides and are segregated back into the circulation. The disease may occur as a result of a disorder in the fatty acid oxidation by hepatocytes, or the inability of the liver to secrete the lipoproteins in charge of transporting the triglycerides through the bloodstream. The disease is quite common, and tends to affect obese cats. Prolonged anorexia can cause significant accumulation of fat in the liver and the onset of clinical manifestations. Whatever the metabolic cause of hepatic lipidosis, recovery of the animal requires early diagnosis, immediate initiation of symptomatic therapy, and feeding probe for nutritional support.