Prognostic Factors in Cats with Feline Panleukopenia

Abstract

Background: Feline panleukopenia is a highly contagious and often lethal disease. Objective: The purpose of the study was to identify prognostic factors for survival of cats with panleukopenia. Animals: Between 1990 and 2007, 244 cats were diagnosed with panleukopenia in the Clinic of Small Animal Medicine, LMU University of Munich, Germany. Diagnosis was established by electron microscopy, polymerase chain reaction of feces or blood, antigen ELISA of feces, pathognomonic histopathological lesions at necropsy, or some combination of these procedures.Methods: Medical records of each cat were evaluated retrospectively. Results: Survival rate was 51.1%. No significant correlation was found between outcome and living conditions, age, vaccination status (unvaccinated versus one or more vaccines administered), or severity of clinical signs. However, of the vaccinated cats, none had received a vaccine later than 12 weeks of age as a kitten. Nonsurvivors had significantly lower leukocyte and thrombocyte counts at presentation compared with survivors. The relative risk of death for patients with o1,000/mL leukocytes was 1.77 times as high as in patients with a leukocyte count of 1,000-2,500/mL (P 5 .038), and 1.85 times as high as in patients with 42,500/mL leukocytes (P 5 .001). The likelihood of a fatal outcome was higher when serum albumin concentration was o30 g/L or serum potassium concentration o4 mmol/L.Conclusions and Clinical Importance: Vaccination strategies that do not include vaccination of kittens beyond 12 weeks of age may not be adequate to prevent panleukopenia. Leukopenia, thrombocytopenia, hypoalbuminemia, and hypokalemia are negative prognostic factors in cats with panleukopenia.

Prognostic value of systemic inflammatory response syndrome and serum concentrations of acute phase proteins, cholesterol, and total thyroxine in cats with panleukopenia

“…Compared with dogs, only 2 studies evaluated the prognostic factors associated to feline parvovirus (FPV) infection in cats . The clinical variables correlated with a higher risk of nonsurvival in FPV‐infected cats are the presence of lethargy, rectal temperature <37.9°C and low body weight at hospital admission .…”

Achados patológicos e imuno-histoquímicos em felinos domésticos com panleucopenia felina

“…Quanto à idade, o estudo apresenta maior prevalência de felinos menores de um ano de idade, o que está de acordo com o descrito na literatura (Truyen et al 2009). A ocorrência da doença em animais com mais de um ano de idade já foi descrita em outros trabalhos (Kruse et al 2010) e pode ser decorrente de inúmeros fatores, como falta de vacinação e imunossupressão (Pollock & Postorino 1994, Truyen et al 2009). Fig.4.…”

“…Os sinais clínicos mais frequentes foram vômitos e diarreia, considerados como os mais característicos nessa doença (Parrish 1995, Addie et al 1998, Kruse et al 2010. Em alguns casos, a suspeita clínica de peritonite infecciosa felina pode estar relacionada à semelhança de sinais clíni-cos entre as duas enfermidades e faixa etária em que elas se apresentam (Pedersen 2009, Tsai et al 2010.…”

“…A doença acomete principalmente animais jovens de até 12 meses de idade, com mortalidade que pode chegar a 100% (Greene & Addie 2006, Gelberg 2013, Kruse et al 2010. Em um estudo retrospectivo com felinos de até 16 semanas de idade a panleucopenia felina foi a principal doença, responsável por 25% das mortes (Cave et al 2002).…”

Thrombocytopenia

“…HIT has not been reported in small animal veterinary medicine. 13 Maintenance of vascular integrity in cases of inflammation and endothelial injury also may consume platelets and cause mild to moderate thrombocytopenias. 5,6 In human medicine, thrombocytopenia has been associated with decreased survival in a mixed medical and surgical ICU population.…”