Cranial cruciate ligament (CCL) rupture in cats is far less commonly diagnosed in cats than in dogs, for reasons that remain unclear, although this clinical syndrome has recently been receiving more attention is cats than it has in the past. Degeneration of the CLL, as defined by specific histologic changes, has been proposed as an important predisposing factor in canine CCL rupture.

The results of a recent prospective study investigating the histologic appearance of CCLs in cats with CCL rupture suggests that degeneration does not play as important a role in feline CCL rupture as it does in canine CCL rupture. Rather, the authors propose that CCL rupture in cats is more likely a result of physiologic response of the CCL to normal physiologic forces than of preexisting degenerative changes to the CCL.

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