Jaundice in Cats: Why Yellow Skin or Eyes Is Always Urgent

In this guide

Jaundice, also called icterus, is not a disease in itself but a visible sign that something has gone wrong with how your cat's body processes a pigment called bilirubin. Whatever the underlying cause, jaundice in a cat is always a reason to see a vet promptly.

How to spot it

Because most of a cat's skin is hidden under fur, jaundice is easiest to see in the gums, the whites of the eyes, and the inside of the ears, where thin skin and fur make the yellow tinge more visible. It can be harder to notice in cats with naturally dark pigmented gums, so checking the eyes and ears is often more reliable.

Three broad causes

• Pre-hepatic, or before the liver: excessive breakdown of red blood cells, called haemolysis, overwhelms the liver's ability to process the resulting pigment. This can stem from an immune reaction, certain infections, or toxins.
• Hepatic, or within the liver itself: liver disease or damage prevents the organ from processing bilirubin normally. Hepatic lipidosis, a dangerous fatty liver condition that can develop after just two to three days of a cat not eating, is one of the more common causes, particularly in overweight cats that stop eating. This is also why deliberately fasting a cat, whether for weight loss or before a procedure without a vet's specific instruction, carries real risk and should never be done casually.
• Post-hepatic, or after the liver: a blockage in the bile duct, often from inflammation, gallstones or a tumour, prevents bile from draining normally into the intestine.

Other symptoms that often accompany it

• Lethargy and reduced appetite
• Vomiting
• Weight loss
• Dark coloured urine

Diagnosis and treatment

Diagnosing the underlying cause typically involves blood work to assess liver values and red blood cell health, a urinalysis, and abdominal ultrasound to look at the liver, gallbladder and bile ducts. Treatment depends entirely on what is found, ranging from nutritional support and hospitalisation for liver disease, to immune suppressing medication for haemolytic conditions, to surgery for a bile duct blockage. Because the range of possible causes is so wide, and several of them can become life threatening within days, any cat showing yellow gums or eyes needs urgent veterinary attention rather than a wait and watch approach.

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