Jaundice!

livedeeply

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Oh God... oh God. My cat's skin is definitely yellow. This is NOT GOOD. I don't know what to do... I don't know what to do!!! Should I call an emergency vet number? Should I wait until they open on Monday?

For background, see the post below, "Food to keep down"....
 

mzjazz2u

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Originally Posted by livedeeply

Oh God... oh God. My cat's skin is definitely yellow. This is NOT GOOD. I don't know what to do... I don't know what to do!!! Should I call an emergency vet number? Should I wait until they open on Monday?

For background, see the post below, "Food to keep down"....
I'm so sorry your kitty is sick. All I can tell you is, If it were me, I'd call an emergency vet. If the cat is visably yellow, then it is serious.
 

pat

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I am sorry, I do agree. I would not wait until Monday. Please keep us posted, and know we are all sending get well vibes to your kitty.
 
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livedeeply

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I just got back from the emergency vet. They have her in ICU overnight and are doing tests. Probably will be keeping her there for five days, sonograms, etc. And the vet told us it didn't look good.

She's the sweetest cat I've ever seen... she kept cuddling with us at the vet. It was so awful. I was crying.

It's $800 just for tonight. This is such a nightmare.

I'm trying to help pay for the expenses at ebay...
http://search.ebay.com/_W0QQsassZhdb-artQQhtZ-1
...so, if you like art, please take a look.
 

kitte

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oh, I feel for you!!! I'm going through emergency vet at the moment too... it's not fun either... *many many good vibes for kitty health*
 

mzjazz2u

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Originally Posted by livedeeply

I just got back from the emergency vet. They have her in ICU overnight and are doing tests. Probably will be keeping her there for five days, sonograms, etc. And the vet told us it didn't look good.

She's the sweetest cat I've ever seen... she kept cuddling with us at the vet. It was so awful. I was crying.

It's $800 just for tonight. This is such a nightmare.

I'm trying to help pay for the expenses at ebay...
http://search.ebay.com/_W0QQsassZhdb-artQQhtZ-1
...so, if you like art, please take a look.
I am so sorry your kitty is so sick. But I am very glad you took him in right away. I know how expensive it is since I've recently been in that situation. I got lucky when Jake got so sick. It was Friday and I was getting a surprise bonus on the MOnday so I wrote a bad check! But I knew it wouldn't go through before I could make a deposit on Monday. I will go look at your stuff on ebay.

Did they say they were going to put kitty on any IV nutrition or IV antibiotics in the mean time?
 

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I'm so sorry to hear that! Please keep us updated.
 

pat

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I know you are worried, but your kittie is getting the care it needs...good for you for going to the emergency vet.

Sending "get better" vibes,
 
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livedeeply

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They gave us a quote today at over $3000. I still don't know what to do. Our options are running out.

They have her on antibiotics, not sure if they're IV or not, and IV food and water. They think it might be a bowel blockage. I am so upset that the vet didn't find this the FIRST time we took her.

Thanks for the good vibes, at least.
 

sicycat

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I'm so sorry about your kitty. I know you must be beside yourself, as I would be if any of my babies were sick. Can they set up a payment plan for you maybe?
 

mzjazz2u

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Originally Posted by livedeeply

They gave us a quote today at over $3000. I still don't know what to do. Our options are running out.

They have her on antibiotics, not sure if they're IV or not, and IV food and water. They think it might be a bowel blockage. I am so upset that the vet didn't find this the FIRST time we took her.

Thanks for the good vibes, at least.
Oh my... what a delimma and how hard this must be on you. That's a huge quote. Ask them to prioritize the list of things they want to do. That's what I had to do. Then ask them what is absolutely necessary. In my case, Jake was already an adult so he had established eating patterns etc. And I had an idea what was going on. so I opted out of "less necessary" things. That may be harder for you to do but sit down and talk to them about it. For an example, my vet wanted to do a bunch of xrays/ultrasound to "see how bad the liver failure was." I cut that out because I already knew he was yellow and either he'd come out of it, or it was too advanced and he wouldn't. So in Jake's case, the radiology stuff wasn't absolutely necessary. It wouldn't make a diagnosis (in Jake's case) and it wouldn't change his treatment.

I'm here if you need to talk. You can PM me anytime. IN fact I'll send you my email address as I check that more often then my PM's. I'm not an expert or anything but I've delt with the fatty liver stuff so I can empathize and share my experience.
 
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livedeeply

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Welllll....

I was wrong about the bowel blockage. I overheard it on the phone. Turns out it was out of context or something. They're still only guessing about what's wrong with her. Fatty liver is the best theory, cancer comes in second.

We could only afford to let her stay another night, and that's with a mortgage payment spent into the red. After that we're bringing her home and I'm going to try to feed and water her as much as possible... try to reverse the fatty liver. I know the prognosis isn't nearly as good at home as it is at the vet. But they were saying it didn't look good at the vet, either. Hopefully she can last another two weeks so we can get her back to a vet then. If not... well... I'd rather have her die here at home, with us. Letting her know we love her.

The emergency vet has no way at all to work out payments, it's all up front. Except that they recommend Care Credit. So we applied, and they just gave us a tiny bit of credit, which we already spent today. I'll apply for the other options posted here and see how that goes. Still, it would be impossible to get any of that before we're supposed to pick her up at 8am.

Even if we took her to another vet... we're still seriously in debt with all of this, no matter how good any payment plan would be, they'd still want something soon. Seriously, I've been looking into giving blood and such, just to try to earn money for food.

I just have to cut myself some slack. We've done all we can for now. She has to come home in the morning, regardless. It's up to her, for the next week or so, to get better or not. Thanks for the all the suggestions and good vibes. Hope she feels them.
 

mzjazz2u

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If they've been giving her IV's all this time then likely she's had enough to help her. But when you bring her home, you may still have to do some forced feedings (syringe feedings). Fatty liver is almost always secondary to something else. For example, Jake's was brought on because he was under stress (temporarily rescued a kitten), I had been slowly changing his food and so he got an inflammed bowel. Because of the inflammed bowel, he wasn't eating well, which then brings on fatty liver. Anyway... I hope the antibiotics and IV's have been enough to get her over the hump and that you'll soon have your baby back.

livedeeply, how is she doing? Is she home now? I'm on pins and needles wondering how she is doing.
 

cloud_shade

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You might want to ask about whether a feeding tube is an option for her--it would make it easier to do the feedings at home.
 

ryanjay

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anything new? I lost two cats to liver failure...one wwent into a coma and was put to sleep in 2005 the other i lost 2 weeks ago...I was making a sick vet visit appt and had him outside and noticed he was yellow called back and told them It was a euthanization visit
..The first cat was Dusty and when I took him to vet clueless except the yellow he said even if i went all out and took him to er clinic chances weren't good so had him put to sleep. Teddy was two weeks ago...I just knew he was going down fast and when I saw the yellow I was like no way am I putting him through any more pain. hard thing to do but I have seen a cat die when I copuld not take him to er vet...i called and they said he would probably die within half hour-hour and it took a little more then hour to drive so I let him be-and figured I would wait hour for normal vet to open...he gasped and it was horrible so I would never let cat die at home again-my opinion...
 

kellyyfaber

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livedeeply, I just want to wish you the best if you bring your kitty home for care. My Sandy had fatty liver a few years back. She stayed at the vet's for about a week and the vet told me that he had done all he could do, then he released her to my care. With the vet's advice, her meds, and syringe feedings, she was back in good health in a few months. She actually started eating on her own in about a week. I just want you to know that if you do have to bring her home for care...there IS hope
 

ryanjay

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kelly how soon did you catch it? was Sandy still fully awake? so great to hear she did so well. I should clarify the cat who died at home went into failure of all organs basically-NOT JUST LIVER failure...
 

mzjazz2u

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Originally Posted by ryanjay

the other i lost 2 weeks ago...I was making a sick vet visit appt and had him outside and noticed he was yellow called back and told them It was a euthanization visit
Just because a cat is yellow doesn't mean it has to be euthanized necessarily. Jake was pretty yellow and lost about 45% of his body weight. 2 1/2 days of IV's and some supplemental syringe feedings for a couple weeks and he is completely normal now. Feline hepatic lipidosis (fatty liver) is reversible when treated agressively.
 
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