EXPRESS: Gastrointestinal microbiota and fecal fatty acids in cats with exocrine pancreatic insufficiency

The gastrointestinal microbiota and fecal fatty acids (FA) of cats with exocrine pancreatic insufficiency (EPI) have not been studied.Objectives-To identify differences in fecal analytes (i.e., microbiota, FA) in cats with EPI compared to healthy controls, and describe clinical signs at baseline and short-term follow-up.Methods-Cross-sectional, observational study. 55 client-owned cats with EPI, 37 healthy client-owned blood donor control cats. Eligible cases had a feline trypsin-like immunoreactivity (fTLI) consistent with EPI. Fecal samples were analyzed for fecal microbiota dysbiosis index (DI) and FAs. Serum and fecal analytes from controls were compared to EPI cats using parametric and nonparametric methods including general linear models to adjust for potential confounding by signalment differences. Clinical signs were described for cats with EPI at enrollment and for one short-term follow-up time point.Results-Fecal DI and FAs were abnormal in EPI cases compared to controls. Cats with EPI had a higher median DI (1.5; range -2.6 to 3.8), total FAs (74.1 µg/g; range 4.7 to 162), arachidonic acid (2.54 µg/g; range 0.03 to 17), and nervonic acid (0.37 µg/g; range 0.02 to 1.5) than controls (-3 [-4.4 to -0.6], 19.7 µg/g [9.4 to 75.2], 0.57 µg/g [0.32 to 1.51], and 0.17 µg/g [0.09 to 0.54], respectively), and a lower median Peptacetobacter hiranonis (4.8 log DNA; range 0.1 to 6.1) compared to controls (5.9 log DNA; range 3.2 to 6.8). The most common clinical signs were weight loss and appetite disturbances.Conclusions and relevance-Cats with EPI have alterations in fecal microbiota and FA, and clinical signs in this population of cats were similar to those previously reported.