Eosinophilia in cats.

Re: Eosinophilia in cats.

Kate Richardson — Wed, 06 Oct 2010 10:07:34 GMT

How old is the cat?

Causes of a persistent eosinophilia- 1. parasitism- I would feel unlikely to be this high and free living GI parasites less likely to cause inc eos compared to parsites which migrate through the tissue eg heartworm and ascarids so worth checking travel history.

2. Hypersensitivity responses or inflammation esp associated w skin disease and food hypersensitivity, so check skin thoroughly. Asthma and pneumonia have also been associated with inc eos. Also occas associated with chronic soft tissue inflammation eg lower urinary tract disease/pyometra (although am assuming cat is speyed?) so given plump indoor cat worth checking urine.

3. neoplastic syndromes eg mast cell tumours, lymphoma and carcinomas

4. Hypereosinophilic syndrome (HES) and eosinophilic leukaemia (EL)- unknown cause, GI involvement common (eosinophilic enteritis), as well as spleen, mesenteric lymph nodes, liver and bone marrow. rare and bad. Skin occas involved. Lots of overlap between HES and EL, usually more immature eosinophils in circulation w EL than HES.

5. Miscellaneous- has been associated with Hyperthyroidism, hypoadrenocorticism, pemphigus foliaceous, panleucopaenia, FIP, methimazole tx and IMHA.

Response to pred prob not surprising given possible causes although hasn't reduced eos count by the sounds of it.

If no obvious skin/parasite problems/bloods and urine otherwise normal, I'd probably get an abdo ultrasound done as first step in investigating.

Re: Eosinophilia in cats.

Alex Allen — Wed, 06 Oct 2010 09:03:55 GMT

Hi Hannah,

Had something very similar many years ago => gastric mast cell tumour. Other case reports describe similar eosinophilia with or without palpable mesenteric LN enlargement. As I remember these visceral forms of MCT carry poor prognoses with local LN and hepatic metastases - worth checking with an oncologist if a mass is found....

Alex

Re: Eosinophilia in cats.

Richard Fox — Wed, 06 Oct 2010 08:19:06 GMT

The 3 things I would think of would be again hypereosinophilic syndrome, Lymphoma (esp GIT), Eosinophilic IBD/sclerosing eosinophilic enteritis/Enteric Mast cell tumour. How old it the cat? Do the GIT symptoms include weight loss and d+? Mature Eosinophilic leukaemia would seem very unlikely (I would expect there to be a much higher count). Is there any ultrasound evidence of enlarged abd. lymph nodes or mural gut thickening? Unless there is a marked resp. disease I would not think of lung worms etc but if there is resp disease Feline asthma may also warrant condiseration.

Re: Eosinophilia in cats.

Martin Jones — Tue, 05 Oct 2010 12:04:59 GMT

It would rather depemd on where the parasite burden was. Have yopu thought about some serology with this in mind? Or perhaps kick off with tailored antibiosis / wormer?

Re: Eosinophilia in cats.

Hannah Ridgwell — Tue, 05 Oct 2010 11:34:08 GMT

A blood smear was sent to lab and there was no comment on irregularity, just numbers. I'm sorry-made a mistake about initial symptoms-was no facial paralysis, just left sided. The cat is fairly plump, single cat household and mainly indoor. Would have thought we would see some weight-loss, ill-thrift, doarrhoea etc with a big enough parasite burden to cause this eosinophilia. Apparenetly it can be paraneoplastic but rare?

Re: Eosinophilia in cats.

Roberta Prina — Mon, 04 Oct 2010 21:06:26 GMT

I am sorry I don't have any advice, but I am curious to know if your cat's eosinophils look normal at the microscope or not.

Re: Eosinophilia in cats.

emma o'connor — Mon, 04 Oct 2010 20:38:38 GMT

There is a recognised feline hypereosinophilic syndrome, but I believe it is fairly rare. Eosinophilia, weight loss, gastrointestinal signs, and dermatological signs are all reported. I believe biopsy of affected organs is advised for diagnosis, and treatment is with corticosteroids, but generally prognosis is poor. I found this paper from 1996 when I suspected I had a case a few months back . http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1576524/pdf/canvetj00108-0041.pdf.

good luck

Re: Eosinophilia in cats.

Martin Jones — Mon, 04 Oct 2010 20:03:55 GMT

Parasites? Lots and lots of parasites?

Admittedly, tend to see more apparent eosinophilic meningitis cases in dogs, and then not always with circulating eosinophilia, but generally steroids and anti-parasitics go a long way to helping.