McMinnville, Oregon 97128
Office phone: (503) 472-9418
Cholangiohepatitis
Definition
Cholangiohepatitis
is a long and intimidating word that means an inflammation or infection in the
gall bladder (cholangitis) and liver (hepatitis). It is a disease that is fairly common in cats of any age.
The
liver produces bile that is vital to digestion. Although it is constantly produced, it is only needed when food
is in the stomach or upper intestines.
Therefore, unneeded bile is sent to the gall bladder for storage.
The
upper small intestine (duodenum) not only needs bile for digestion, but it also
needs bacteria. These are considered
“good bacteria” as long as they stay in the duodenum and aid digestion.
The
gall bladder is connected to the duodenum by the bile duct. This duct is designed to have one-way flow
of bile. However, occasionally normal
duodenal bacteria leave the duodenum and ascend the bile duct to the gall
bladder and liver. This creates the
infection we call cholangiohepatitis.
We
do not know the precise circumstances that cause bacteria to enter the liver
and gall bladder. Therefore, we
consider this to be a disease of unknown cause.
Cats
with cholangiohepatitis are usually quite ill.
They often do not eat and usually have fever. Dehydration often results.
Any
disease that affects the liver has the potential to produce icterus or
jaundice. Cholangiohepatitis does this
in most cats resulting in a yellow color to the skin and whites of the
eyes. Liver disease also may cause
vomiting.
Treating
any infection requires that we use antibiotics that are effective against the
specific bacterium. If we can perform a
culture of the infected site, we can make that determination. However, it is not usually possible to
culture the liver or gall bladder without surgery.
Fortunately,
we know that the typical bacteria that inhabit the duodenum are fairly limited
in number. We also know that a few specific
antibiotics are almost always effective against these bacteria. Therefore, most cats are treated very
successfully with antibiotic therapy.
It usually takes 1-2 weeks to clear this infection. Do not discontinue
antibiotics before the prescription is completed, no matter how well your cat
appears to be doing.
Some
cats are very ill and require hospitalization so fluid therapy and nutritional
support can be given. The hospital stay
usually lasts 3-7 days. When your cat
is discharged, antibiotics are usually dispensed to be continued at home.
A
very large majority of cats with cholangiohepatitis recover completely without
any long-term effects. Therefore, we
definitely encourage treatment.
Because
cholangiohepatitis is caused by the cat’s normal intestinal bacteria, the
disease can occur again. However, in
reality, very few cats have this disease a second time.