Sepsis in Dogs and Cats-Consensus Definition and Clinical Criteria.

Area of Science:

• Veterinary Medicine
• Critical Care
• Infectious Diseases

Background:

• Sepsis is a major cause of death in veterinary critical care.
• Current veterinary sepsis definitions are misaligned with human medicine.
• Accurate sepsis identification impacts patient outcomes.

Purpose of the Study:

• To define sepsis in cats and dogs by consensus.
• To systematically review veterinary evidence for sepsis identification.
• To recommend clinical identification criteria for sepsis in small animals.

Main Methods:

• Consensus-based definition of sepsis in companion animals.
• Systematic literature review of veterinary sepsis evidence.
• Development of recommendations for clinical sepsis identification.

Main Results:

• Sepsis is defined as a life-threatening syndrome from a dysregulated host response to infection, causing organ dysfunction.
• Organ dysfunction identification is crucial for diagnosing sepsis in infected dogs and cats.
• Formal illness severity assessment using validated scores is recommended.

Conclusions:

• Recommended veterinary sepsis definition emphasizes organ dysfunction.
• Clinical identification requires assessing organ dysfunction via validated scores and physiological/laboratory parameters.
• Updated guidelines improve sepsis diagnosis in small animals.