Pancreatic candidiasis in a cat

An 11-year-old female spayed Maine Coon cat was referred for assessment of hyporexia, weight loss, vomiting and diarrhoea. An abdominal ultrasound revealed an enlarged and hypoechoic pancreas containing two large fluid-filled structures. Fine-needle aspiration of the cyst-like structures was performed, and cytology revealed moderate-to-marked predominantly suppurative inflammation with yeast cells. Candida glabrata was cultured from the fluid. The patient was treated with oral itraconazole and the clinical signs resolved, although repeat abdominal ultrasound and cytology revealed persistence of the infected cyst-like structures. The patient remained asymptomatic for 8 months after the discontinuation of antifungal medications, despite the persistence of the pancreatic infection with C glabrata.

To our knowledge, this is the first report of pancreatic infection with Candida species in a cat, followed by a chronic subclinical infection persisting for at least 8 months after treatment discontinuation.