Recovering from Hepatic Lipidosis

Hello all,

I am new to the forums. I have an eight year old orange tabby who at one point weighed 24 pounds. In March, he was diagnosed with Hepatic Lipidosis and although it has been a trying month and a half, he is stable at 12 pounds and is almost 100% back to normal, except he still won't eat.

He has an esophageal feeding tube that we feed him a can and a half of Hills A/D through. He is on anti-nausea medication and seems like he should be ready to eat, but he just won't.

I have tried baby food, tuna, turkey, various dry foods, Fancy Feast and he just has no interest. My concern at this point is that he has no interest in eating by himself again; that he likes the fact that we feed him throughout the day.

My vet (and this is a whole other story in and of itself) is a joke, so asking her is useless.

Any ideas on how to get Stoli to eat again? Do I have to ween him off of the feeding tube?

Any assistance would be greatly appreciated!

Thank you in advance!

- Stoli's Mom

I have no advice, but would like say how sorry I am for your difficult situation and send Healthy vibes for ({({({({({Stoli})})})})}) and hugs for you.

There are many here that will have some good suggestions for you soon I'm sure.

there are appetite stimulants and valium works as an appetite stimulant on cats as well. Once you get him to eat, you take him off the drugs and see if he continues to do so.

Thank you Trudy, it has been a roller coaster ride!!

Thank you Gailuvscats!

I am assuming the stimulants are prescribed and not otc?

Thank you again! Anything I can do to get Stoli eating again would be great!!

I am sorry you and Stoli are going through this.

Have you tried baby food meat? When my RB kitty Roo wouldn't eat I would give her baby food meat and she would eat that, she liked the veal best.

Just make sure it has no salt or garlic added.


ETA: I just noticed you did try baby food Did you warm it up first? That helps.

Yes, they are RX from the vet, so is the valium if the stimulants don't work. surprised your vet did not recommend these before a feeding tube? this must be very difficult.

I just read your first post again saying your vet was a joke, sounds like it, is there not another one to go to?

There are other vet options, but with $1500 already involved, I hesitate to go spend more money to start all over again with another vet.

Stoli is doing very well...alert, moves around a lot, purrs, head butts us (one of his favorite things to do) -- he really is back to him old self; albeit 12 pounds lighter.

He just won't eat. He was eating some dry food for a few days, but is back to refusing to eat it again. I asked my vet about the appetite stimulants and she said that she is hesitant to prescribe them to him because they are not good for cats with liver problems...?? He seems to do better when he has the anti-nausea medication, but I am starting to wonder if the tube actually bothers him when he is trying to eat. I am just afraid that if I take the tube out too prematurely that he is going to spiral back into the critical condition he was in a month ago.

I don't know what to do...

I know he's on a feeding tube, but with the foods you are offering, have you tried syringe/assist feeding? I know you probably have, but sometimes the easiest answers are the simplest so I figure why not suggest it. I hope he gets to eating for you soon! Orange tabbies/tubbies are my favorite!!

Devlyn

Yeah, that's what I thought about. I have no experience with any of this, but it seems to me that if syringe feeding is do-able that it might help him get interested in food again...I mean if he can taste the food (rather than getting it through the tube) that should be helpful. Easier said than done, but if it broke the cycle then it would be worth it.

I have read that valium is hard on the liver...but then again I have heard of giving it in these situations too. Might be a matter of the benefit vs. the risk.

You don't have to start all over with a new vet -- just get the records from the old one and take this poor kitty to somebody who knows what he's doing. Surely it's worth it to find out what's wrong!