Anecdotally, several other cats on the same commercial diet had been presented to our nutritionist with clinical symptoms indicative of steatitis. It is interesting to note that there have been rare reports of feline steatitis in which the diet was based on white fish and even one case where liver, chicken and beef, with only a very small amount of fish, was fed. In another report, the authors were unable to confirm the exact nature of the diet eaten by the cat. Panniculitis, necrotizing, suppurative and histiocytic, diffuse, moderate, with focal intrahistiocytic yellow pigment, domestic shorthair cat, feline. Pansteatitis in cats presents clinically with discomfort and pain on handling, fever, decreased appetite, and lethargy.
Mortality varies in the published literature.
With removal of suspect foods from the diet, forced feeding, and administration of vitamin E and corticosteroids, full recovery is possible. However, cats left untreated or diagnosed late in the course of the disease often die. Grossly, the subcutaneous fat is firm, nodular, and yellow to brown due to ceroid pigment deposition. Histologically, the characteristic feature is fat necrosis with pyogranulomatous panniculitis. A review and report of four spontaneous cases.