My cat has an enlarged liver. Is it serious? What tests are needed?

Question

hi. my cat has been diagnosed with liver enlargement. i want to know what is liver enlargement, is it a deadly thing and only a blood test and xray are enough for the diagnosis? thank you. Pet's info: Cat | Domestic Shorthair | Female | spayed | 10 months and 10 days old | 11 lbs

Tomasz Wnuk · Accepted Answer

Hello and thank you for contacting Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach. Liver enlargement means that the liver is bigger than it should be. It could be because of liver inflammation due to infection (bacterial or viral) or toxins ingestion. In young cats like Arya liver tumors are very uncommon, but enlargement of one liver lobe could be caused by a liver abscess or a cyst. The best way to assess liver size is ultrasound scan and/or x-ray. Blood test tells about liver function. In other words, it tells if the liver, ,despite being enlarged or diseased, is still able to maintain its function. Blood test also can assess the extent of liver damage. It is hard to say anything about the prognosis without knowing why the liver is enlarged and what are the blood results. In general, liver have huge capacity to recover from any insult, but again it really depends what has happened.

My cat has an enlarged liver. Is it serious? What tests are needed?

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