Clinical presentation and outcome of bromethalin toxicosis in preweaned kittens: a case series.

Bromethalin toxicosis in kittens has variable prognosis; serum DMB detection remains positive for >30 days.

This case series documents bromethalin toxicosis in 12 preweaned kittens across 5 litters, presenting with neurologic disease. The study characterized clinical signs, diagnostic approaches, and outcomes while establishing the detection window for desmethylbromethalin (DMB) in serum. Ten kittens were diagnosed postmortem through histopathologic findings of white matter vacuolization and tissue DMB analysis via LC-MS-MS. Three kittens in one litter were diagnosed antemortem based on littermate autopsy findings. Notably, neurologic prognosis was not uniformly grave: two kittens developed clinical signs that resolved within 6 weeks, while one remained asymptomatic. Serum DMB was detectable for over 30 days after presentation in surviving kittens, with detection possible up to 46 days post-exposure. This work demonstrates that bromethalin exposure can occur in neonatal cats and establishes LC-MS-MS serum analysis as a valuable confirmatory diagnostic tool with an extended detection window. The variable neurologic manifestations and potential for recovery challenge assumptions about uniformly poor prognosis in bromethalin toxicosis.

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