To investigate the effects of acute hypercalcemia on exocrine pancreatic secretion, anesthetized cats were given calcium intravenously. Increasing hypercalcemia (3.7-6.3 mmol/L) evoked a dose-dependent increase in enzyme output that was 12 times greater than in normocalcemic controls (p less than 0.001) and was 60% of subsequent maximal stimulation with intravenous cholecystokinin (CCK). The effect of hypercalcemia on enzyme secretion was abolished when CCK was administered 60 min before calcium and at a dose to cause maximal enzyme output. Atropine did not prevent the calcium-induced increase in enzyme secretion. Pancreatic fluid and bicarbonate outputs were not influenced by hypercalcemia during intravenous administration of small amounts of secretin, but were increased by addition of CCK to the secretin infusion. Hypercalcemia did not induce macroscopic or light-microscopic changes in pancreatic morphology. Plasma levels of both CCK and gastrin were increased (p less than 0.01) during hypercalcemia, with and without precalcium administration of CCK; atropine significantly inhibited (p less than 0.05), but did not abolish the calcium-induced releases of both peptides. These data suggest that in the anesthetized cat, acute hypercalcemia induced by intravenous calcium infusion stimulates pancreatic secretion of enzymes, but not fluid and bicarbonate. Acute hypercalcemia also causes release of CCK and, as shown previously, gastrin. The findings suggest that the stimulatory effect of hypercalcemia on pancreatic enzyme secretion is not dependent on intact cholinergic pathways and is probably not exclusively mediated by release of CCK or gastrin.