A National Biobanking Effort to Understand Feline Idiopathic Cystitis

Presentation Description / Summary: Feline idiopathic cystitis (FIC) represents >50% of cases of lower urinary tract disease in cats making it by far, the most common presentation for feline lower urinary tract disease. Affected cats represent 6% of the total feline emergency case load annually and present with a wide range of symptoms from hematuria, pollakiuria, stranguria and in severe cases, urethral obstruction, which can be life threatening. FIC also negatively affects the welfare of cats as inappropriate urination, which often accompanies this disease, is a major risk factor for relinquishing cats to shelters or even euthanasia. In a survey of >600 veterinarians, 81% reported challenges with owner compliance for behaviorally managing this disease and 37% have recommended rehoming cats as a solution. FIC is often a diagnosis of exclusion, and its etiology is poorly understood, though there appears to be a link between environmental stressors and bladder inflammation. Despite its prevalence and the financial and emotional cost it presents for cat owners, robust evidence-based research supporting the etiology and management of this disease is lacking. Ethos Discovery, a non-profit incubator of scientific innovation, seeks to evolve the existing perspective regarding FIC with our successfully recruiting biorepository to generate new knowledge to elucidate the underlying cause(s) of this disease and generate new therapeutic and management solutions to improve outcomes for cats suffering from this devastating disease. In this presentation we will share our progress and review preliminary findings from the high-level evidence gathered from the Feline Idiopathic Cystitis Urine, Serum and Stool repository (FICUSS).