Hepatic Lipidosis diagnosis - Wobbly??

My dear 7 yo Robin has a probable diagnosis of Hepatic Lipidosis. Vet understands that I cannot afford to run all the tests to positively diagnose her, and has urged me to treat her at home, which I am attempting.
She is on Recovery formula, High Cal and an antibiotic. Its been 2.5 days of treatment now, however she was undiagnosed for a long time. She is severely jaundiced, lost a lot of weight and is weak.
This afternoon after I fed her (syringe feedings), she vomitted it up, so I decided to wait till later. However, when she walked away from me, she staggered real badly and her legs collapsed under her. I am terrified that I waited too long to take her to the Vet and may lose her anyway. Prior to this collapse, I had noticed her legs were weak and slightly wobbly, but this was the first time she fell.
I feel like such a bad mommy for not taking her in sooner, but there was no money, and sadly now there is no money to take her in again.
Has anyone else experienced this illness who could offer advice or support???

I don't know how much you are feeding her, but to start and to prevent vomiting, she needs little and often - only 10-20cc at a time, maybe every hour or two And very light liquid food, but with high nourishment quality. Beaten egg yolk in water, KMR or goat milk, diluted fromage frais, home made salt free chicken stock reduced to a good consistency. As soon as she shows any sign of wanting to eat, and is keeping food down, let her have more but of a soupy consistency. Increase it as long as she is not vomiting. Good luck with her, it is a difficult thing to combat once they go into shut-down.

Has the vet given any anti-nausea meds? If not, you really should ask about them. She needs to be able to keep something down. She needs to get the appropriate treatment or her liver will fail and she will die.

Will your vet let you make payments? You can look into www.carecredit.com to see if you qualify for that. If you can't or won't take her in for help, it might be best to surrender her to a rescue that is willing to see to her care. Please don't let her suffer.

I do not have much advice to give as I am working with a foster right now with H.L. I have never had a cat with this disorder, so I am learning too. I will say there are a lot of people around here that know a lot about the disorder. I will say that I noticed last night that giving Tiger (that's my foster girls name) sub-q fluids was helpful.

I've unfortunatly had lots of experinece with HL, including a cat who had it very severely! as far as I know hind end weakness is not a symptom, that is generally neurological, however the jaundice and vomitting is classic HL. As mentioned you need to feed high calorie foods, little and often. Anti nausea meds are a HUGE help, will help your cat keep their food down.... you also need to buy a scale and weigh the cat daily, if your cats weight is going down then your cat WILL NOT get better and you need to feed more!

Often the initial cause of the HL goes undiagnosed, my concern with the weakness is that there is another problem causing the HL..... however the only way you'll know is tests at the vets.....

Thank you all, I did call the vet about the hind end weakness, they assured me that it is just that, weakness. I did notice that the pads of her feet are really dry and could be causing her to lose grip/traction on the linoleum (trying to stay positive). I am going to see how she does this weekend with keeping the foods down, and if not so well, the vet did mention anti-nausea meds - so I will get some monday.

I've been feeding her a high nutrient Medi-Cal food that the vet sells, its a slurry, supplemented (mixed in) with the High-Cal malt stuff. I was trying to give her 1 oz every 3-4 hours, but have cut back to 1/2 oz every 2 hrs or so, to try to get her to keep it down. She is drinking from the water bowl, I just dont know how much water she is getting - if its enough.

Its just super bad timing right now fund wise....her brother Batman was at the vet 3 weeks ago with constipation and cost me $350....hubby was off work for a month due to stressors, and oldest daughter just got her braces put on - costing me close to $1000.....Any other time the money would not be such an issue, thankfully my vet understands this and is willing to do what he can in our situation. I am not making excuses, but if it does come down to it, I will try to find someone who can care for her the way she needs. Until then I am committed to my Robin. Thanks.

at the end of the day, besides the drugs or surgery there isn't much a vet can do for you for HL. Calories are the only thing that will save her, if you are up to the task of force feeding her, for potentially weeks, there is a good chance she'll get through it....

I hope your kitty is still holding her own. I had a cat who suffered from fatty liver disease two different times in his life. He did lose muscle tone in his hind end and had trouble jumping up. My kitty lost several pounds and just quit eating and drinking. My vet's plan of treatment was expensive. He surgically inserted a feeding tube in Dudley's stomach, and I had to feed and water him through this tube, several times a day. I had to buy special expensive canned food (can't remember the name of it now, this was 6 years ago). I had to mix this food in a blender with some water to make it thin enough to syringe into the feeding tube without plugging it up and also had to water him through the tube several times a day. This continued each time for approximately 3 months, and the vet said he should have had an interest in food & water by then, so had me cut back in the amount and number of feedings I was doing. That worked and he finally started to eat and drink on his own. So it is definitely curable if caught in time and treatment can be afforded. But it did cost around $1200 all told for the hospital stay, surgeries (yes, he pulled the feeding tube out once and thereafter had to wear a collar so he couldn't pull it out again). Hope you can work something out with your vet. Oh, and I did try force feeding at first, but vet said that often does not work.

Hmmm..thank you Fluffy,

Robin is still hanging in there, tolerating my tormenting her with feedings. It is going reasonably well. Hubby does a better job of it, but he works too much.

the problem I am having is my hand is severely cramped now and fingers blistered from using the syringe. I seem to not have the strength to push it anymore either. I am going to call the vet and see what they suggest today.
I have been giving her water in a syringe too.

She has been up and about a bit more in the last 24 hours, mind you it has only been 5 days since treatment started. How long before I might start to see improvement in her strength and/or jaundice resolve??

Hi, I am sorry to hear about your ill Robin kitty. I don't understand why your hand would become blistered by using a syringe, what size are you using? Small ones (that hold about 3 cc) are best for assist feeding.

You can always go to dropper feeding, it's not as efficient, but better than nothing.

Please keep us updated on your beloved Robin.

I'm not sure what kind of stores you have by you, but I bought a syringe from Walgreens that works great. It is actually syringe to medicate children, it works really well. I know at the shelter some of the standard syringes become hard to use as the rubber on the plunger dry out. This syringe does not have that and is standing up well to force feeding & multiple washings.

I am very sad to report that Robin passed to the other side late wednesday night/early thursday morning, we found her on Thursday morning - on our daughters 13th birthday (

I should have known it was coming, maybe I did, but I am always the optimist and hoped for the best.

She deteriorated very quickly at the end, I hope she went peacefully. Wish I had been there holding her. When I put her to bed that night, I told her she could go, it was okay and we loved her.

She will be greatly missed by her family especially her brother Batman.

I'm so sorry for your loss

Rest in peace, Robin

Moderators, could you please close this thread as the kitty has crossed the Bridge.

With deepest sympathy for the passing of your sweet Robin, we will now close this thread. Please post a tribute to Robin in the Rainbow Bridge forum.