Exocrine pancreatic insufficiency in dogs and cats

In exocrine pancreatic insufficiency (EPI) there is insufficient production or secretion of digestive enzymes by the pancreas with associated maldigestion. Usually multiple enzymes need to be affected to show clinical disease, although there is one report of a patient with a lipase-only defect. Since lipase is the rate-limiting enzyme in pancreatic digestion, deficiency in just that single enzyme can also result in EPI.