Liver Disease, Kitty in Hospital

my 12 year old had a feeding tube from 9/07 to 11/07 due to jaundice, weightloss. right now i'm going through the same thing with him again. he's at the emergency hospital and they been trying to force feed him.the way it looks he's going to get a feeding tube tomorrow. still no clue as to the cause of it.

I'm afraid I don't really have any changes to report yet. I'm dreading going back to school on Monday and trying to figure out how to get these feedings in throughout those 13 hours I'm at school. I get enough of a break to run home and get something in her belly, but they won't be very evenly spaced.

Basically, I'm a stressball, and she's more or less the same she was last time I checked in. I had to give her a little bit of a bath with a towel today, since she's not up to cleaning herself. She's still jumping up and down off of the bed and I caught her clawing at some cardboard that's piled up in the corner, but that's about all that's happening at the moment.

I will get her into the vet on Wednesday for a recheck - if not another liver panel, at least a weigh-in to see if she's still losing weight or gaining any back. I'm not sure if doing another blood panel would change anything as far as treating her goes (there's not anything else to do besides the e-tube, is there?), so I might just skip the blood test and put the money towards the rx food.

I don't think you will see much progress on the next blood panel, if you run it next week, but do not get discouraged... It can take a bit longer for you to see some good progress. Of course there will be progress, but in that short time, do not expect a lot...

Now, always stimulate her to eat by mouth as well, as the feeding tube will get pulled, and she will have to eat on her own... So, always offer food for her. Arthur's parents had a great trick for that - they offered him his favorite wet food first, warmed up, tried to make him eat as much as possible, making that available for about one hour. Only after that they would would feed him with the tube. This way they used his hunger to stimulate feeding by mouth.

All the vibes in the world for your girl! :vi bes:

So far she has had absolutely zero interest in any food. :-/ I'm still offering it to her, and my other cat sure is glad to eat it up for her. Guess I don't have to worry about his liver!

Have you tried to tempt her with baby food meats (the ones without onion and garlic)? turkey, chicken, beef....I like the Beechnut brand because all it has in it is meat and broth (with no spices, onion or garlic). I used this when my cat was not eating. It slowly got him to eat again. I even resorted to putting freshly grated parmasean cheese onto the foods, using sardines, tuna and tuna juice. Anything and everything to try to tempt him to eat. The baby food worked well....

Originally Posted by violentdayzie

So far she has had absolutely zero interest in any food. :-/ I'm still offering it to her, and my other cat sure is glad to eat it up for her. Guess I don't have to worry about his liver!

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Years ago I had to practically stand on my head to get one of my cats to eat when he was sick w/cancer. What worked was adding water to canned food until it was a soupy consistency, warming it in the microwave and letting him lick it off my finger or from a spoon. I also pureed cooked chicken and turkey and added warm water. Good luck to your baby! Hang in there.

She's still too nauseated to try eating just yet. The mirtazapine hasn't had any effect on that front. She had a pukefest today, all over my bed. Gee, it'd be nice to have my own washer and dryer! It's the first time it's happened since the tube was put in, and I'm sure it was a case of too much/too fast that prompted it. I got a little minifeeding in her just now to try to make up for some of what she lost.

Definitely going to ask the vet for something for the nausea on Wednesday. Then maybe the tempting her with food bit will have more effect. Also, I don't own a microwave (weird, yeah?) so I've been warming her food using a bowl of boiling water and setting the smaller cup with her food inside the bowl, then waiting for the water to cool down. This seems to get the food fairly warm and then I've got warm water to flush the tube out with.

Wish me luck on the school/work schedule vs cat feeding bit this week. I might end up having to drop some of the time at work (if they'll let me).

If you can - try and get somethng for the nausea sooner then Wednesday. And remember you might be able to get it cheaper at a local pharmacy.

The way you are warming it up is actually the better way to go (not as convenient as a microwave) so good on you

Originally Posted by violentdayzie

She's still too nauseated to try eating just yet. The mirtazapine hasn't had any effect on that front. She had a pukefest today, all over my bed.

Gee, it'd be nice to have my own washer and dryer! It's the first time it's happened since the tube was put in, and I'm sure it was a case of too much/too fast that prompted it. I got a little minifeeding in her just now to try to make up for some of what she lost.

Definitely going to ask the vet for something for the nausea on Wednesday. Then maybe the tempting her with food bit will have more effect. Also, I don't own a microwave (weird, yeah?) so I've been warming her food using a bowl of boiling water and setting the smaller cup with her food inside the bowl, then waiting for the water to cool down. This seems to get the food fairly warm and then I've got warm water to flush the tube out with.

Wish me luck on the school/work schedule vs cat feeding bit this week. I might end up having to drop some of the time at work (if they'll let me).

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Sorry to hear about the vomiting. could you post a pic of her in her feeding tube? I'd like to know what it looks like. Does it get messy? How do you keep it clean?

I don't own a microwave either!

I, too, warm up cat food by sitting it in hot water. First I run the hot water over the dish, leaving a little of the hot water in the bottom to mix with the food, stir it well, and if it's still not warm enough, I sit the dish in another bowl of hot water until it is warm enough.

Here's a picture of the tube - sorry for the blur. 6am is way too early to take pictures. It's pretty small, though super long. I might see if we can trim a bit off because it's just a plastic end stuck in the end of the tube, and I don't see why it couldn't be shortened a smidge. I have a hard time getting it to stay taped up when it's not in use.

As far as keeping it clean goes, do you mean the incision, or the end of the tube itself? I haven't messed with the incision at all. As you can see, it's wrapped up pretty tightly, and I've had no reason to undo it. I've just kept an eye on the area where the tube meets the bandage to make sure there's no leaks or signs of infection. When she gets her recheck, they'll make sure she's healed properly and rewrap her. One of the sutures has come undone and they'll probably redo that too. The end of the tube has just been getting wiped down with a paper towel when we're finished.

So far, I haven't had any real messes to clean up. I've just been going to wherever she's lying or putting her on my lap, and she hasn't had any problems except yesterday. I should have stopped when I saw her getting nauseated and licking her lips, but there was only one or two cc's left and I thought we could do it. Completely my fault.

The vomiting is just frustrating... but totally normal.... so don't get down on yourself about it. Maybe when you take her into the vet next you could get them to give her a shot of anti-nausea meds, they work better then the oral pills. Either way you're doing great, the tube doesn't look too scary I wouldn't worry too much about leaving food out for her right now or encouraging her to eat on her own if she is still that nauseous, it won't be overnight... I mean, obviously have it available but don't stress about that part too much right now. Generally with these cats one day they literally just start eating...

God, that looks so long! Can they shorten it? I bet it is awkward for her to move around with that thing... Let alone the danger to get stuck somewhere... It does look pretty good though!

Normally I have it wrapped up with the end of the bandage and taped down so it's not in any danger of getting pulled out. I am going to see if my vet will shorten it though, because the bandage doesn't want to "stick" anymore.

Wow, when Bashful had his feeding tube, it went directly into his stomach. This one looks like it close to her neck (maybe it's just the picture - I'm on drugs today myself, so might not be seeing straight). I do know that his tube was fatter around, and somewhat shorter, and he wore a very tight king of sweater-type deal to keep it right next to his stomach so it didn't catch on anything.

And if I fed him too quickly, it came right back up (through his mouth), so I learned very fast to give it to him quite slowly. I think I took about 15 minutes per feeding, as I recall.

Originally Posted by mrsgreenjeens

Wow, when Bashful had his feeding tube, it went directly into his stomach. This one looks like it close to her neck (maybe it's just the picture - I'm on drugs today myself, so might not be seeing straight). I do know that his tube was fatter around, and somewhat shorter, and he wore a very tight king of sweater-type deal to keep it right next to his stomach so it didn't catch on anything.

And if I fed him too quickly, it came right back up (through his mouth), so I learned very fast to give it to him quite slowly. I think I took about 15 minutes per feeding, as I recall.

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THis cat has an E-tube, it goes into the esophagus, not the stomach, it's not "as" effective, but it's a safer surgery and still works quite well.

I just had to take my 3 year old female (indoor only) into the vet today because she's been losing weight (slowly over time) and has had liquid in her eyes. The vet told us she has Liver Disease and said I have 2 choices:

1) put her down

2) get a blood test and some medicine in her and see what the results are tomorrow.

I picked #2 of course but i'm really sad/freaked out now. It sounds like Quincy has a similar problem to your cat. She lost her appetite for probably 2-3 days this past weekend but has never thrown up because of any of this.

Based on your story I have to try to save her. I just hope i'm not too late. I'll post my dilemma tomorrow once I hear back from those test results. You've guys have given me some hope though. I'm still so scared of losing her though.

Does it sound like she can be saved? The vet really seemed to jump to maybe having to put her down...

Here is a good article to read regarding Fatty liver disease
http://www.veterinarypartner.com/Con...S=0&C=0&A=1455

Ursodial and SAMe (which is Denosyl or Denmarin) are given as important supplements for the liver. I would add Milk Thistle in there as well.

Originally Posted by Denali

Here is a good article to read regarding Fatty liver disease
http://www.veterinarypartner.com/Con...S=0&C=0&A=1455

Ursodial and SAMe (which is Denosyl or Denmarin) are given as important supplements for the liver. I would add Milk Thistle in there as well.

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So when a cat has FHL I should feed her Hill's with a syringe (orally), Ursodial and SAMe? And if I want to have more on top of that I'll add milk thistle?

If this is the very beginning of her treatment for FHL should I just ask the vet for the feeding tube straight off the bat? seems like most people on here think that having an e-tube is best option to treat this.

For me, it's been much less stressful for both of us having the tube. It took me about a week to try everything else and it was waaay more expensive than if we'd just done the tube first. If you want to try the syringe route for a bit first (especially if it's this early on) and see if you can get your kitty to eat, by all means save the surgery for when you're comfortable with it. It doesn't take long at all for them to start going downhill fast with the liver disease, though. Weigh the pros and cons - time is a BIG issue here..... it's really hard to get enough food in her over the course of the day.

If my cat had HL, I would get a tube pretty quickly - nutrition is so essential for their healing, pretty much the most important thing, and I just can not see it possible for me to feed about 150-200 calories a day by sirynge. That is about or over a can of food depending of the cat, and 15-20 x 10ml syringes (depending on the food)... My goodness the stress of that!

I would not think twice.