Systemic signs include anorexia, depression, weight loss, fever, and weakness. Immune-mediated hernolytic anemia, thrombocytopenia, glomerulonephritis, and polyarthritis may also be present. Definitive diagnosis of SLE is rarely based on just one diagnostic finding. Skin biopsy may reveal classic lesions of SLE-hydropic interface dermatitis and intraepidermal vesicular dermatitis. The prognosis for cats with SLE is guarded.
Treatment is similar to that for pemphigus foliaceus.
Nasal biopsies showed interface dermatitis and direct immunofluorescence testing showed immunoglobulin deposition at the basement membrane. The condition was successfully managed with oral vitamin E, topical glucocorticoids, and avoidance of sunlight. Recently, cats with histologic, immunologic, and serologic findings consistent with DLE were described. These cats had variable pruritus marked truncal exfoliation, and vesicles and papules on the periocular margins and mucocutaneous junctions. Treatment with systemic glucocorticoids produced variable improvement.