Inflammation of the small intestine or enteritis can affect our little felines. Most of the enteritis that affect cats are parasitic, bacterial or viral, so vaccination and deworming are key to avoiding this pathology. Enteritis in cats can cause gastrointestinal symptoms if the stomach is also affected, such as vomiting and diarrhea. Sometimes, it is accompanied by fever, anorexia, abdominal pain, anemia, lowered defenses and bloody diarrhea.
Keep reading this article on our site to learn more about enteritis in cats, the types, symptoms and treatments to be applied according to the agents or the pathology that affects your feline.
What is it and what causes enteritis in cats?
Enteritis refers to inflammation of the small intestine (duodenum, jejunum and ileum). On many occasions the stomach is also affected, in this case being called gastroenteritis.
In many cases, the cause is that the cat eats or drinks something contaminated, in poor condition or ingests a foreign body, often from the garbage. The latter in cats is not usually so frequent because they are more selective. Other causes of enteritis or gastroenteritis in cats are:
- Coccidia (Isospora spp.).
- Protozoa (Giardia spp., Tritrichomonas fetus, Toxoplasma gondii or Cryptosporidium parvum).
- Parasitic worms (Toxocara cati, Toxascaris leonina, Dipylidium caninum, Ancylostoma tubaeformae).
- Enteropathogenic bacteria (Campylobacter jejuni, Salmonella, Escherichia coli and Clostridium).
- Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD).
- Food hypersensitivity.
- Plant poisoning.
- Feline Panleukopenia Virus (feline infectious enteritis).
- Feline enteric coronavirus.
Symptoms of enteritis in cats
The symptoms of enteritis in cats can vary depending on the cause of the intestinal inflammation.
Food Poisoning Enteritis Symptoms
In cases of acute enteritis or gastroenteritis due to ingestion of contaminated food or water or foreign bodies, the main symptoms are:
- Acute vomiting and/or diarrhea that may be watery, urgent, and bloody.
- Anorexy.
- Lethargy.
- Mild abdominal pain.
Coccidiosis enteritis symptoms
Isospore coccidiosis causes no symptoms in adult cats, but in juveniles causes enteritis with clinical signs such as:
- Watery diarrhea.
- Vomiting.
- Loss of appetite.
- Discomfort.
- Dehydration.
- Weakness.
Feline panleukopenia enteritis symptoms
Feline panleukopenia virus causes severe enteritis with:
- Decrease in white blood cells.
- Fever.
- Depression.
- Anorexy
- Severe vomiting.
- Bloody diarrhea.
Feline enteric coronavirus typically causes mild, self-limiting diarrhea in kittens. The problem is when this virus mutates and produces the devastating feline infectious peritonitis.
Symptoms of protozoan enteritis
In cases of enteritis caused by protozoa…:
- In giardiasis, although many are asymptomatic, in others highly variable clinical signs may appear, from acute, foul-smelling diarrhea with mucus to diarrhea with alternating normal stools, with weight loss and sporadic vomiting.
- In cases of Tritrichomonas fetus, the last segment of the small intestine is usually affected along with the colon. Cats have chronic large bowel diarrhea that is not stopped by common antidiarrheal or antibiotic treatments and can progress to watery, foul-smelling small bowel diarrhea.
- Cryptosporidium parvum infections do not usually cause diarrhea, like Toxoplasma gondii, causing symptoms of enteritis with vomiting and/or diarrhea in some small or immunocompromised kittens.
Symptoms of enteritis due to other diseases or parasites
Depending on the disease or parasite, the symptoms may be the following:
- Parasitic worms: Parasitic worms typically cause weight loss, vomiting, diarrhea, dull fur, and abdominal discomfort. In the specific case of hookworms, anemia will also occur with pale mucous membranes and blood in the stool.
- Bacteria: enteropathogenic bacteria cause acute or chronic diarrhea in cats, being much more important in young cats from communities or immunosuppressed. The enterotoxins in some of them may directly affect intestinal tissue or promote fluid and electrolyte secretion by interacting with mucosal receptors. They can also affect the large intestine causing acute enterocolitis with mucous stools, urge to defecate and hemorrhage, along with vomiting, fever and anorexia.
- Inflammatory bowel disease: Anorexia, diarrhea and chronic vomiting often occur in inflammatory bowel disease.
- Food hypersensitivity: Cats with food hypersensitivity can be affected by both gastrointestinal signs and skin signs with pruritus and otitis externa.
Diagnosis of enteritis in cats
To diagnose acute enteritis or gastroenteritis due to ingestion of contaminated food or water or foreign bodies, a good history must be taken, demonstrate the absence of a cause for these symptoms and the rapid response to symptomatic treatment. To do this, do the following:
- Analysis and smear of feces: in the diagnosis of parasitic enteritis, an analysis and smear of feces should be done to diagnose Tritrichomonas fetus and giardiasis. This latter infection can be seen by a zinc sulfate fecal flotation.
- Stool culture: In bacterial enteritis, fresh stool culture or fecal cytology is useful for the diagnosis of Campylobacter jejuni or Clostridium spores.
- Coprological analysis: The stool analysis is performed to detect parasitic tapeworms, ascarids and hookworms.
- Diet change: The diagnosis of food hypersensitivity is made by feeding the cat a hydrolyzed or novel protein diet for a while, and return to the previous diet for confirmation if clinical signs return.
- Biopsy and ultrasound: To diagnose inflammatory bowel disease, an intestinal biopsy and ultrasound should be performed.
- Specific tests: Specific tests are performed for the diagnosis of viral enteritis due to Panleukopenia virus and feline coronavirus.
Feline enteritis treatment
Depending on the cause of origin, enteritis treatments in cats will consist of:
- Supportive treatment: Treatment of acute enteritis or gastroenteritis due to ingestion of contaminated food or water or foreign bodies consists of therapy support until the clinical signs subside based on water and an easily digestible diet, fluid therapy and antiemetics.
- Antiparasitic treatment: Giardiasis treatment consists of applying an antiparasitic treatment with metronidazole or fenbendazole and decontaminating the environment by cleaning and disinfection of the environment with quaternary ammonium compounds. For their part, as parasitic worm infections are treated with different types of antiparasitic drugs depending on the causative pathogen.
- Sulfadimethoxine: Coccidiosis is treated with sulfadimethoxine.
- Antibiotics: The therapy for bacterial enteritis will consist of the use of antibiotics, according to the results of the antibiogram. They are only used if there are very serious symptoms or they do not stop at Salmonella enteritis, due to the development of antibiotic resistance. Also, the treatment of inflammatory bowel disease consists of the use of antibiotics such as metronidazole and a novel diet for at least two weeks, and the use of drugs such as prednisolone if the disease is more serious or does not respond to the above. If they do not respond well to this treatment, immunosuppressants such as chlorambucil are added.
- Elimination diet: to treat food hypersensitivity, an elimination diet with hydrolyzed or novel protein should be chosen.
For its part, feline panleukopenia has no specific treatment, so, due to its high contagiousness, the cat must be isolated and treated with broad-spectrum antibiotics and fluid therapy for dehydration.
Prevention of feline enteritis
The best way to prevent viral and parasitic enteritis is through vaccination and deworming, respectively:
- Deworming: internal and external deworming should be carried out at least three times a year, whether or not they go outside.
- Vaccination: Panleukopenia vaccination is carried out together with herpesvirus and calicivirus, in the feline trivalent or triple viral vaccine. The first dose should be applied at 6-8 weeks of age, with revaccination every four weeks until week 16. Cats at risk should be revaccined annually and those that do not present it, every three years.
Plant poisoning can be prevented by preventing our feline from being in contact with any of the plants that are toxic to cats.
Contamination of feed or water can also be prevented by frequent cleaning of containers and feeding them quality food, as well as such as preventing them from rummaging through the rubbish or ingesting any type of foreign body.
On the other hand, inflammatory bowel disease and food hypersensitivity cannot be prevented, but it is possible to take the feline to the veterinarian in the presence of any symptom indicative of enteritis such as diarrhea, vomiting, anorexia and weight loss, so that it is diagnosed and treated as soon as possible.
