Bear's Liver Issues Thread. (part 2)

Ok, time for a new Bear thread. The other one is way long and slow to load.


I am going to do a recap, so no one gets lost:
More details here: Bear is at the vet. He's very sick, liver looks horrile(old thread).

Thanks! We haven't run out of the kittie brand flakes yet, but I will keep that in mind.

The University just said "Oh we are supprised he is still alive, it sounds like FIP. You should get a liver biopsy." I wasn't supposed to hear anything else from them, that was it. I am saving up for the Biopsy, it is really hard though, when I have $100 for the surgery.... that is when Bear's meds are running out. It is costing over $200 for his meds/fluids/Rx food per month. Biopsy is $300-500, depending on complications and whatnot. I cut back on getting his bloodwork, trying to save up. Now his color seems a bit better, and I need to get $80 up for a exam/blood work. He is so worth it though.








It is about the same, but that is still good. It takes a long time for it to fade, it IS way better than it was 3 1/2 months ago. He looked radioactive back then, like he would glow in the dark if you turned the lights off. Now he is a little yellow inside his mouth and on his belly, and I can hardly tell if he is yellow on his ears. It's hard though because I take him out on the porch to check his color, he gets all wiggley wanting to go back inside. My cats are divas, their precious paws cannot get dirty, and who knows, those wild squirrles and bugs might have rabies.







I know, I felt like I was going to lose my mind for a while, but I learned to just take it day by day.

I saw your thread, how is he doing?

Nooooo, I didn't ignore requests for pics lol:



Spidey cat! (spiderman)
I put him on a low branch, he loved it.





Making faces at the dog. Our dog, that he sees EVERY day. Same dog that lives in the house. lol. For some reason Bear was all "Omg, a dog. It looks funny." He was tugging the leash because he wanted to run AT the dog, probably to bop her in the face lol. I guess he didn't understand that is HIS dog, not a strange dog.






"I don't know about this... outside stuff." All of my cats hate outside, after 5 mins they want IN. NOW! They are spoiled diva indoor cats. They think they are going to catch rabies or something from the dirt/bugs/grass lol.





He is at a great weight.... because I syringe feed him. If I didn't he would be skelatal, no actually he could not have lived if I hadn't force fed him. He still eats 1 cup dry at the most on a rare super fabulous great day, but he eats no food for days still too. He averages about 1/4 cup on normal days right now.





The flash made him look brown lol. You can see where his fur is still growing back.






The pics DO NOT show his true color, it is hard to get a pic of the actual color. And his color looks different in every pic.




That is my boy!

I think that is what it is. He just took a nap next to the dog, lol. I agree about outside, Cody got loose one day. (someone was replacing part of the floor, someone else let him out of the bedroom he was locked in) Thank GOD he just went under the house! He would not move, at all. He was scared stiff, I had to go under and get him. There are black widow spiders under there, are probably snakes. And you know what I was concerned about? I was worried that if I did get him out asap that he would get bit by a spider/snake. After I crawled back out with him, I realized that I didn't even think about the possibility of ME getting bit by a snake/spider. Then I quickly got all of the spider webs off of me!!! I was just in "OMG MY CAT IS OUT" mode.



It's not is coat.. well that too, but his jaundice doesn't photograph well either. Some pics make it look worse than it is, others make it look like there is no jaundice. These pics make it look like he is super pale, lol.




The Weebly finally has a functioning Paypal button, that is very gracious of you. I am trying to see if I can get yet another student loan... I know I am going to be screwed in the future, paying it all back. But I will just worry about that later.




Thanks!








I do have a big announcment.... I give up seperating him. It broke my heart every single second. I am still putting him by himself at night, with a huge bowl of food.

If I could free feed I would just leave him out at night, but my cats, like me, have no portion control lol. And Chicken will LITERALLY eat until she barfs. She even did it as a tiny kitten, I had to do schedule feedings with her ever since I had her (she was about 5wks when I found her) I had to, she was loosing weight. Funny enough, she is the same reason that I have to hide the cat/dog food bags. She will tear them up to get to the food. A couple weeks ago I was cleaning the closet out that I keep their food in. I had the dog food sitting against the wall next to the closet. (you see where this is going...) I left to go get some juice, come back and Chicken has the bag ripped from top to bottom. Luckily she didn't make it through all of the layers of the bag! None of the other cats do that. Once she gets a bag open (yes, she has ripped many bags of cat food wide open - 3 big bags at once before!) the other cats will sit there and pull the food out with their foot. Little criminals.



Anyway, Bear is about the same today. He ate about 1/3 cup of dry in 24hrs, still haven't seen him drink. He still follows me around, I don't understand it. If someone forced me to eat, poked me with a huge needle, and gave me 6 meds (some twice a day), I would resent that person. He does not hold it against me at all. I love this silly cat.

Great update....

Bear's appetite has slowly been improving over the last few days, I really think this may be it. He might be over this in 2-5 weeks if he keeps improving at this rate.

I was force feeding him 3-4 times a day, but earlier this week I felt comfortable enough to cut back to 2 times a day because he was eating enough for me to cut back some more. Yesterday & today I only force fed him once per day. He has been eating about 2/3 cups of dry food per day for the last 2-3 days.

Tonight I got him a few cans of Fancey Feast and Meow Mix in the plastic cups, just to give it a try again. He has not been eating wet on his own for a long time, except every once in a while where he woult eat a teaspoon of it, then make a face and walk away. I just gave him one of the Meow Mix cups, he ate about half of it. It was a 2.75oz cup!!! I took it up and put it in the fridge, I will see if he will eat more in a couple hours.

Guys, you have NO IDEA how happy I am about this!!!! I am scared to get too happy, because he could easily go back downhill but he is SO CLOSE to being normal again!!!!



I think he weighs close to 11lbs now, which is slightly overweight for him. I am not going to cut back his food anytime soon though. Not with known liver issues. When he gets better, and his bloodworks come back normal THEN I will focus on his weight.


I just had to share the news, I can't even believe it myself.

I think it is because he has more room to run around and play. He spent a good 5mins trying to catch a fly today. He didn't act like he missed the cats much, he is sleeping on the foot of the bed right now... by himself. He is ok with or without other cats, it doesn't seem to matter to him. Bear is a *very* happy-go-lucky cat, I have never really seen him get sad/mad before honestly. If one of the cats bop him in the head, he just loooks at them like "whaaaa... ?" and walks away. He does cuddle with Chicken or Cody once in a while, but he mostly sleeps by himself.

He follows me around alot, which is unbelievable. Most cats would run away from the person who gives them meds/fluids.

I think of it like this... If I layed around all day I would eat less, I would not be that hungry because I wouldn't be burning many calories. But if I was getting out and exercising all day, then I would be hungry from buring calories.

You helped me out A LOT, you do know that right? You and ML, and everyone else who has helped Bear. I have no idea what I would have done.... I mean, I don't even want to think about it. You know though, you've been in my shoes. I can't thank you enough. You got the wheels rolling so that I could help Bear to my best ability.







I was afraid of jinxing myself, almost every time I said "oh, he seems a little better" he would go into a puke fest, stop eating, levels went higher, ect.

But this time I can feel it, he IS getting better. Thanks for following his progress and offering advice, at times I felt hopeless but you guys (all of you) helped keep me sane. It was a aweful feeling, waking up in the morning or just walking in the door... and that horrible feeling hits you. "Is he still hanging on?" That was the worst thing ever.







It's not over yet, but he is sooooo close.

I still haven't seen him drink water, but the last few days he was sperated it did seem like there was some water missing here & there. He could have just splashed some water out of the bowl though, it was a small amount. If I can get him to eat more wet food then I will try cutting his fluids back a little. He gets 100 units per day, but I skip one day per week. Just to give him a break from being poked and because when I did it every day it was taking longer for the fluids to absorb. If I can get him to eat more wet, I will try 75 units of fluids and see how he does.

One more thing....




















I just gave him the 1/2 Meow Mix that was left....













HE ATE IT! He finished 2.75oz in 4hrs (with a break in between). WOOOOO HOOOO!!!

I got trigger happy and gave him a can of the Fancey Feast, but he didn't want it. I put it in the fridge for later. If he keeps eating these foods, I am going to be keeping an eye out for UTIs. He is super prone to them and I worry about the fishy foods. He had to have p/u surgery in 2008 for it and I have been keeping it under control with a proper diet, but that is out of the window right now.




Thanks Farleyv, you are so right. At the begining of all of this... I though I would be writing a "Bridge" thread, I really did. This cat does not give up, he is making it and we are almost there! I haven't got his boodwork in forever, I am scraping the money together and going as soon as I can. I know the vet will think Bear has passed by now, the last time I called I was asking him questions and he kept talking about Bear in the past tense... I was like "... well, he is still hanging on..." I forget what the vet said after that, it was something to the effect of "well I hope he keeps improving!" He will be floored when he sees Bear. Bear now looks like he use to, my siggy pic is from Jan before he got sick and he looks just like that now, if not fatter lol. He has come a lonnnnng way, little cat has a huge heart.


I kept forgetting to mention, when his Bilirubin was high his eye color was different. They went from yellow (healthy) to a really golden color, a bit darker too. You can kinda see it in his old pics.

He will only eat fishy stuff right now, and it seems like he doesn't like chunks now either. He completly refused the other MM cup today, it had huge chunks. The first cup was not as chunky. I did get him to eat some dry c/d last night tho!




I thought about that, but he is still mainly eating dry. Last night he ate about 1/2 cup of dry c/d, and so far today he ate about 1/3 can of FF (3oz). I force fed him once yesterday, and once so far today. If he doesn't eat a little more today then I will have to force feed for a 2nd time today. I am terrified of his liver shuttng down again, if it is Chlorangiohepatitis then he can relapse again at any time.

That said, he was on a 100% wet diet most of this time (the l/d crap I force feed him) and he still needed the fluids. He is getting alot less wet food now (only what I force feed and the little bit I got him to eat). It really is a balancing act, I am way more paranoid after Boo got heart failure from too many fluids. I kinda go day by day, if he pukes I give him a little extra fluids. If the fluids take longer than normal to absorb into his body (you can tell, it leaves a bulge of fluids until they absorb) then I skip a day. The days I skip fluids he doesn't show any extra intrest in water (or food).

Today he only got 75 units of fluids because I am trying to wean him off of them. If I can get him to eat 50% wet (or more) then I will try cutting the fluids back, maybe in half, I will ask the vet.

Thanks for bringing it up, I was posting about it in my update but the page refreshed before I pushed "submit reply" and it got lost. I forgot about it after that lol.








I love the "Go Bear" chant lol, I believe that everyones well wishes and prayers helped us alot too. Your right, a lot of people on here have not been so lucky, or are battling their own battle right now.
Thank you!






Thanks, it's been quiet the battle!!

Thanks everyone, it really does mean alot to me!

He didn't eat much of anything yesterday on his own so I had to force feed again. BUT he ate a CUP of dry c/d on his own last night!!!

He hasn't eaten much today either, but maybe he will do like yesterday & eat at night. If not, I will have to force feed again. He wouldn't eat the wet food, and he picked at some tuna but didn't eat over a spoonful, and he ate a small amount of dry so far.

I still have hope, he did eat the cup of dry last night.

Took Bear to the vet today!!!!!!! His bloodwork is almost normal!!!!!!!!!!!!

All of the levels are perfect except for ALT. It is 541 when it should be 100. That is still great because it was 1228 the last time!!!!

My regular vet was not there, but the 2 vets that saw Bear & his bloodwork results today were FLOORED. They both have seen Bear since he has been sick. They can't belive he made it, one said "Bear came back from the land of the lost." He said that cat's usually die when their liver gets that far gone. They both remembered how yellow he was too, before even looking at my record one vet said Bear's color is fantastic! Both vets were smiling from ear to ear, lol. They told me over and over how amazing this is.

He weighs 10.5lbs now, he was under 9 last time. The vet said Bear is not fat, that he has alot of muscles. He also said Bear's fur was the sofest fur he had felt. He took Bear off of the antibiotics too. He said I should keep on doing the fluids every few days, as needed since Bear is not drinking water still.

Yesterday Bear only ate 1 Meow Mix cup, it is 1.75oz of wet food (compare that to a 5.5oz can of food...) so I had to force feed him. I just go day by day, some days he barely eats and once in a while he will pig out. But we are getting there!!!

Iam going to find a "thank you" card tomorrow and send it to the vets, they all are so awesome at my office! I am going to call Bear's regular vet Monday & let him know about Bear's new bloodwork. Apparently he doesn't work on Fridays, it is the same office though.

If I had enough "thank you" cards & stamps you all would be getting cards too, lol! I got pretty down in the dumps for a while.... I remember a while back, thinking Bear was getting better, but when I took him in for bloodwork it turned out that he was a little worse. I went home that day and just had a total breakdown, I was doing my very best and he was worse. I felt so helpless. But you all really helped keep my spirits up & keep trying.



This is such a breath of fresh air, it feels like I've been holding my breath forever & now I can breathe.

I have to be the HAPPIEST cat mommy ever!!!!!!!!!!!