8 Acute abdomen
The term acute abdomen refers to a syndrome that involves the acute onset of clinical signs secondary to an intra-abdominal disorder which typically has the potential to be fatal. In a significant proportion of these cases, abdominal pain is a strong feature but may be harder to detect in cats. There are a large number of potential causes of acute abdomen, many of which require emergency surgical intervention following stabilization of major body system abnormalities. An important part of the early management of a patient with acute abdomen is to determine whether emergency surgical intervention is required. Some of the more common causes of acute abdomen are listed in Box 8.1.
