Feline Chronic Pancreatitis

Treatment of Feline Chronic Pancreatitis

We are currently enrolling cats with chronic pancreatitis in a study that aims to investigate the efficacy of cyclosporine as a treatment for cats with chronic pancreatitis.

Patient Eligibility

Inclusion Criteria

• Cats of any age, breed, or sex are eligible to be enrolled.
• Cats that are diagnosed with chronic pancreatitis for more than two weeks based on clinical evaluation (i.e., medical history, physical examination)
• Cats that have a recent serum fPLI > 10 µg/L, with a normal cobalamin (400-1500 ng/L) and folate (9.7-21.6 µg/L) concentrations.

Exclusion Criteria

• Cats that have a diet change(s) within 2 weeks before enrollment
• Cats that have been treated with any medication that might cause pancreatitis (e.g. phenobarbital, organophosphates, calcium.)
• Past (within 3 months) or current use of steroids or immunosuppressants.

Duration of the Study

• The duration of the study is 3 weeks.

Required Sample

• 1 EDTA blood sample (at least 2 mL)
• 1 fasted serum sample (at least 2 mL)

Owner Commitments

Owner must be able to:

• Attend 3 scheduled veterinary visits with your primary care vet over a period of 3 weeks.
• Administer study medication (cyclosporin) as directed for 3 weeks.
• Keep the same diet and supplements during the study period.

Client Incentives

For patients with ALL completed forms, we offer the following:

• Cyclosporine (Atopica) prescribed as instructed for 3 weeks for free.
  We ask the attending vet to prescribe the medication. The clinic will have to
  cover the assigned immunosuppressant first. We’ll ask for the invoice and
  reimburse after the completion of 3-week study.
• CBC, biochemistry, GI panel (serum cobalamin, folate, fTLI and fPLI) up to 3 times (before starting treatment and 2 rechecks (10th, 21th day of treatment)).
  • o Samples are batched for biochemistry testing so won’t be immediately
    available

• All shipping costs related to sending samples to our laboratory

The owner will be responsible for costs other than the items listed above (e.g. visiting fee, other medication, cost of assigned immunosuppressant after the 3-week study period, lab works performed in the clinic)

Enrollment

Final enrollment is based on clinical signs of chronic pancreatitis and serum feline pancreatic lipase immunoreactivity concentration.

Please email Dr. Wu at yuanwu@cvm.tamu.edu  for further details.

Please note: If you are the owner of the cat and not a veterinarian, please have your veterinarian contact us directly.