Jaundice!

Can anyone tell me what to expect?

My poor kitty is meowing unhappily now. I can't tell if she's meowing because she's in pain, or because she's just feeling bad, or because she wants out, or because she wants me to stop shoving that darn syringe in her face. Is it a good sign or not? Do cats start meowing more as they feel better?

I dont know, I think if they were feeling really crappy they wouldnt be meowing at all.

Usually cats withdraw as they get sicker. Her trying to "communicate" sounds like a good thing to me...

sorry to respond here...I think teddy blocked from eating soemthing-he was always trying to eat plastic and week before this all started we came home with groceries and one was left on table. I still blame myself for that but he never ate those kind of bags before-usually went for ziploc type. the other liver cat I had was SO out...I only knew what my vet told me with my last cat of if you even have a chance it would be to take him to the er vet for min 5 days hospital...sorta shocked to hear so many bounce back... is there any reason that this happens(i understand its cause they stop eating than the liver but is it early stage liver makes them stop eating in the first place or is it a totaly different reason...sorry losing two cats to this I want to know more from ppl who exped it

Has your vet recommended denosyl for the liver. It really improved Hoggie's liver values when his liver was failing. Unfortunately cancer was the underlying cause for him, but fatty liver disease can be cured. The liver is a remarkable organ in terms of it's healing properties and the denosyl seems to work really well in helping it to repair itself. Keep your kitty eating and hydrated and we will all keep our fingers crossed

Originally Posted by Sicycat

I dont know, I think if they were feeling really crappy they wouldnt be meowing at all.

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I think it's a good sign that she is meowing. Jake was totally withdrawn and silent when he was so sick. She may be just confused because of all the activity around her and all the fuss about her. I wouldn't worry about it as long as you can give her the syringe feedings. But I'd also really encourage her to also eat on her own. With Jake, I took a little bit of dry food and put some warm water over it. He seemed to like that even over wet food at the time. (I forgot to tell you that in the PM I sent you back).

Thanks, guys... it makes me feel a little better to hear it! It was breaking my heart to go in there yesterday and hear her howling. She only howls when I'm in there, or she can hear me outside, so I guess that's a good sign it's probably not pain. I was able to stay in a bit longer today and pet her, thanks. Though since I'm causing her such distress, I'm afraid she won't like me nearly so much if she gets over this! She usually leans into pets, you know, she's an Olympic cuddler... she's only done that once today.

Did her morning assist feed... she tried to heave up the first bite. But then she was good. Aside from only getting half the food in her mouth, the rest on me. And hearing her howl like I'm trying to drown her. I don't have kids, but I'm realizing that if I can handle this, I can handle babies! Husband leaves the room whenever I'm feeding her, heh.

I tried to clean her chest and neck, which seems to catch the brunt of the food drips. Will try to brush it later....

She's playing with a little ball on a dangle I brought in for her, so that's good. It's still pretty weakly, though, so it hurts to watch. Just got back from her grabbing it and retreating with it into her carrier to hide, howling... breaks my heart. I'm hoping so hard.

Fingers crossed for her - trying to play sounds positive though.
Ryanjay - 70% of cats with fatty liver disease will survive, but it needs a lot of aggressive treatment and can take months. I wouldn't have thought jaundice is necessarily a pts case though, obviously depending on the reason.

Originally Posted by livedeeply

Thanks, guys... it makes me feel a little better to hear it! It was breaking my heart to go in there yesterday and hear her howling. She only howls when I'm in there, or she can hear me outside, so I guess that's a good sign it's probably not pain. I was able to stay in a bit longer today and pet her, thanks. Though since I'm causing her such distress, I'm afraid she won't like me nearly so much if she gets over this! She usually leans into pets, you know, she's an Olympic cuddler... she's only done that once today.

Did her morning assist feed... she tried to heave up the first bite. But then she was good. Aside from only getting half the food in her mouth, the rest on me. And hearing her howl like I'm trying to drown her. I don't have kids, but I'm realizing that if I can handle this, I can handle babies! Husband leaves the room whenever I'm feeding her, heh.

I tried to clean her chest and neck, which seems to catch the brunt of the food drips. Will try to brush it later....

She's playing with a little ball on a dangle I brought in for her, so that's good. It's still pretty weakly, though, so it hurts to watch. Just got back from her grabbing it and retreating with it into her carrier to hide, howling... breaks my heart. I'm hoping so hard.

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It sounds like she's doing pretty well since she's playing and howling. That means she has at least enough energy to do that! And as far as her not liking you because of the distress you've caused her... I don't think that will be the case. In my experience, it's almost like they know you've saved their life and there is a stronger bond there!

Good news!

Feeding kitty the last few times has been ...well, like herding cats. But tonight I wrapped her up and got the syringe, and she yeowled a couple of times just for effect, I think, but then didn't struggle like she has been. She got more of it down than usual. Maybe she's starting to understand? Starting to get hungry, even? Please, God!

Originally Posted by livedeeply

Good news!

Feeding kitty the last few times has been ...well, like herding cats. But tonight I wrapped her up and got the syringe, and she yeowled a couple of times just for effect, I think, but then didn't struggle like she has been. She got more of it down than usual. Maybe she's starting to understand? Starting to get hungry, even? Please, God!

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Yes, it sounds like she is starting to understand and get an appetite back. You're doing a great job! Does she attempt to eat out of a bowl on her own yet?

How is your kitty doing? Even though it's only been a day or 2 since we got an update, it feels like forever!

I know for sure my first cat had to be pts(vet said he was dying as everything was failing but now i am wondering about teddy-I called and said hes all yellow and much more serious(then just a sick cat exam/bloodwork) ok guys now I know i won't sleep. only thing I am thinking now tho is either way he went into the not eating, liver cause he blocked from eating a bag...which would be treatable but not in my range.

I am glad you cat seems so perky !!!
Does she have to go for a check up or as long as she improves alls good?

I haven't updated because things haven't changed much. She's still alive... I'm still feeding her... I still can't tell if she's getting better or not. :/ Since she'll either get better or die, I'm afraid to speculate.

If we do take her back to the vet, it will have to be after we have some money, so... that'll be if she lives. Hopefully, then, we can find out what's causing all of this.

I called the vet the other day to ask about the meds mentioned here, and see if we could get some kind of discount for them not picking up on this when we first took her to the vet in DECEMBER for vomiting and not eating. He said he didn't think it was related. Right! I swear, I want to strangle them right about now. They could have at least mentioned feline anorexia and syringe feeding as an option, before it got this bad!

Thanks for wondering, guys!

I hope your kitty gets well soon...What were her signs of being sick? my kittygirl has not been feeling well and she is going to the vet on saturday...but..I am trying to get some idea before we go.....the vet was so quick to pronounce my dog with liver failure and told us to put her to sleep...she has no hope...i wish i got another opinion before we let him put her down..I have this nagging feeling...anyway...my kitty is eating a little, but she is not playful..sleeping alot...can't tell if she is yellow cuz she is a light orange, beige color. Her belly seems swollen and she was just trying to poop and I don't think anything cameout...she was going good the other day when i checked her...worried about a blockage. I have been weighing her and
she is the same weight. This is heartbreaking ..that they can't tell us what hurts. I love my little girl and probably would put myself in further debt to make her well...I just want to go to the vet more informed this time.
Thinking about your baby and I hope and pray for the best!!

Hmm, you might check the insides of the ears. Not much hair there, to let you see if the skin is yellow. It's a really unmistakable deep yellow. Looks kind of like dirt, if I could only think of any yellow dirt-like substance a cat might get into. Maybe swimming around in food dye? (Anyway, it's obvious. Kind of like a light smear of blood has that unmistakable reddish color on skin, you know?)

Here's a page with some pictures.
http://www.asiahomes.com/singaporeau...hunting_3k.htm
There's an article on the cat at the very bottom of the page.
Those pictures look pretty washed out. Our cat wasn't pastel yellow, she was YELLOW. More like this:
http://host158.ipowerweb.com/~little...ge_icterus.jpg

Anyway, kitty was vomiting foam and not eating in December. She started peeing outside the box, too, but that was only for a couple of days, probably in response to the stress of all my relatives showing up for the holidays. We took her to the vet and they said all the tests came back normal. I spent the next month or two buying food after food, trying to find one she would eat, but all in vain, sigh.

Hope your kitty turns out fine!

i just compared my kitty to ur pictures and she is not yellow at all. I think she is constipated....i went out and bought hairball/laxative medicine and hopefully this will help her...she went a little and it was rockhard. She is eating a little ,but not enough to sustain her! Thankyou for taking the time to send those pictures. How is your Kitty doing? I hope better I am to searching the pet stores for food for her..i even bought kitty milk for her
I think stress from getting new kitties did all this...but she is still Queen !
Thanks alot and you take care!! Prayers for kitty toooo!!!

Something else that works well for constipation is a bit of canned pumpkin.

I just took Kitty Girl to the vet. She has an upper respitory infection, so he gave her two shots and some antibiotic for a week. I thank God she is going to be ok, I feared the worst!
LiveDeeply...How is ur kitty, please give an update...hoping and praying she is doing better!

Laurie, I'm glad your kitty is being healed. Wonderful! I'm on the tail end of a nasty resperatory infection myself right now, so I know it can be overcome...

My kitty is still here. All else aside, that seems like the best sign. I wasn't sure if she'd last this long. I'm trying not to look at every little symptom and make myself crazy, wondering, you know. I'm afraid all of my worries will leak through to her, by tension, or smell, or the way I handle her, because animals are so perceptive. So I convince myself she's doing better every time I feed her, just in case.

I syringe fed her Fancy Feast once last night instead of the Science Diet I'd been giving her every few hours, because I'd read here that it's Cat Crack.... (even though I'm not posting, I do read here a lot) ...even if it's not that nutritional, by God, I was hoping it would make her want to eat. She'd been sort of subdued all day, which I was worried about. And she stood over the Fancy Feast FAR longer than she's been glancing at the other food I've been putting out, so it must be tempting!

So fed her the Fancy Feast, and tried to play with her dangly thing. She wouldn't look at it. As soon as I stopped playing and petting, she yakked it all up. Poor kitty! I'm hoping it was just the food change that made her yak, and the nausea that made her not want to play... not a downturn. It was kind of nice that she didn't yak till I stopped petting her... it means I was being soothing and distracting, at least.

I couldn't bring myself to force more food down her after that, so I was worried about leaving her hungry overnight. Went in there this morning, and she's doing just fine. It's a good sign... I hope. I hope she kept at least a little down.

Back to the Science Diet today. I've heard iffy things about it, but the vet gave me a week's worth for free, and I'm at a point where I can't be picky. Oh, my auctions end tonight, if anyone hasn't looked. I've made a little, which is much better than nothing! (I was thrilled to find ramen at Wal-Mart for 10c, cheaper than 17c at our local supermarket. Sad, huh? God, can't wait till I get my paycheck! Got a second job Wednesday, though, and I'm so happy! It's a fun job I've had before, a clothing outlet store.) Okay, sorry for all the whining. Anyway, things are looking up for the next vet visit. Especially the chance that there might be one!