HEPATOPATHY ASSOCIATED WITH EXCESSIVE HEPATIC COPPER IN A SIAMESE CAT

A 2-year-old spayed female Siamese cat was presented with clinical liver disease characterized by anorexia; depression; elevations in serum levels of alanine aminotransferase, aspartate aminotransferase, and lactate dehydrogenase; hyperbilirubinemia; and icterus. Liver biopsy diagnosed hepatocellular degeneration with marked centrilobular hepatocellular accumulation of rhodanine-positive brown granules. Subsequent postmortem examination revealed similar granular material in the epithelium of the proximal convoluted tubules and collecting ducts of the kidney and alveolar epithelium and macrophages in the lung. The liver and kidney copper concentrations were 4,074 and 792 ppm dry weight, respectively. Hepatic degeneration in this cat apparently was due to excessive accumulation of copper.