Rusty has been diagnosed with Hepatic Lipidosis (Fatty Liver Disease) Advice needed please x

Hi everyone, just a quick run down of the past few weeks. My 6 yrs old baby girl, Rusty, stopped eating just over 2 weeks ago. We took her to the vet where they told me she has Fatty Liver disease. I had never heard of this, and researched on the Internet. Very scary reading. Any how, the vet kept her in for a few day, and had her on a drip, but she refused to eat the food they were offering. Its a special medicated food to promote healing. The vet thought it would be best she came home. Which was right. But the vet told us she had to eat a finger tip of food ever 3 hours. I did this, but Rusty hates the food. The vet said to force feed her, by opening her mouth and putting the pate in the her palette. This causes a lot of stress for her. Which I think would not be helping the situation as this disease is supposed to be caused by stress. I had to come up with different ideas of how to get her to eat without forcing. On Monday we returned to the vets, where she gave Rusty another vitamin injection, and she explained Rusty needed to be eating 1 tin of this special food a day. Near on impossible as she hates it. Then Monday night I remembered, she hates duck flavoured food. So I started putting other food under her nose to get her interested, such as ham. She wants the ham and tuna and not the medicated food. I am getting hardly any sleep as I'm having to try and feed her something. They only do feeding tubes here as a last resort. Can anyone please give me any advice on how she can eat this food, as I believe it only comes in one flavour. I don't want to lose my baby, and I'm at my wits end. I do want to add she is drinking on her own, and is interested in non medicated pate, and is always purring, but she is still a little jaundice. And hates my guts as I'm the one feeding her. Any advice will be greatly received. Many thanks in advance x

Feed her regular cat food. It is more important that a cat eat, than what she eats. Fatty liver disease is caused by a cat not eating and losing weight too fast. She needs to eat. Forget about the prescription food for now and just get her eating, whatever she will eat.

Why did she stop eating in the first place? I'd be getting a second opinion from another vet at this point.

Please keep us posted!

Thank you for the reply Otto.

We think what caused this problem, was that she was on special urinary biscuits as she suffered from kidney stones 18 months ago, but she put on a lot of weight, so the vet put her on an obesity food. She is a fussy eater, and I never realised she had gradually stopped eating. My fault, which I'm now having to live with.

We took her for a review today, and the vet has kept her in and put her on a drip. They don't want to fit a feeding tube as they think this will cause her more stress, (she suffers alot with stress). The vet did say we could try her on ordinary food, but when I rang at 5pm, she said she had been drinking and peeing, but still wouldn't eat the food, which I have explained she wont as she hates duck, but they have been feeding her by putting it in her mouth and placing on her palette. She did mention this morning maybe trying to feed her by a syringe, a powder which is mixed with water, she said this may be best as it has no odour. But she didn't mention on the phone if they had tried this. I forgot to mention I actually live in France, and I'm having to do this all with my best french.

I have to ring again in the morning, and I'm not sure if they will keep her in another day, as this was discussed this morning. But I will go to the supermarket first and buy her some ordinary food. Its breaking my heart as I feel helpless, and I'm not her favourite person at the moment.

Actually, the feeding tube is the best way to minimize stress in this situation. She MUST eat - that is the only cure. It is a quick surgery, and then you don't have to cajole, force, or worry about how to entice her to eat. Yes, the surgery would be a stress. But it seems to me you have to choose between the lesser of two evils. :heart3:

VIBES for you and your baby!

I asked today and they are reluctant to try it. I don't know whether proceedures in France are different to say the UK or the US. She kept her in today also to give me a rest as I'm an emotional wreck at the moment. Ive read so many different things about feeding tubes, feeding by syringe, force feeding, I dont know what is for the best. Does it matter whether she eats the medicated Hills a/d food compared to ordinary food? I wish I had known about this illness before. We lost a cat about 10 yrs ago, and the vets never told us what the problem was, and looking back now I believe he suffered with this conditon also. I will certainly in the future watch every little thing my cats eats, and make sure thet eat.

What makes it worse is the vet cannot tell me whether she is any worse, any better, and the not knowing is slowly killing me inside, and I know this sounds very over dramatic, but my cats are my children, and I don't know what I would do if I lost one

A/d is not medicated, it is high in protein and fat and used for critical care. You could use a feeding syringe and feed her 20 mls every 4 hours. Put the syringe.tip in the side of her mouth and squirt a bit into the back of her.mouth. it is important that you do this slowly. But in my opinion, a feeding tube is ideal. No squirming in the mouth, just slowly injecting the food through the tube. I can't see the.procedure being much different than here but it could be. Have they tried an appetite stimulant? At my clinic.they use Mirtazipine which is given every three days. The important thing is to feed your cat several times a day. You may want to get a second opinion but in my experience, if there is a cat who is stressed from syringe feeding we put in a feeding tube. Then you can take her home and feed her with less stress. Good luck and please keep us posted!

All I know is that she has had antibiotics when she first became ill, and vitamin injections. The vet gave me a syrup called sodiazot (sorbitol), which we had to give her by syringe, she hated it and spat it every where and this stressed her out a lot, and she produced a lot of excess saliva.

So we were then given Legaphyton 200, half a tablet a day, she spat that out too, so i grounded it down into a powder and mixed with the food, Which at first she was eating a little of. Any advice on what I should be asking the vet, such as medication etc. I am at my wits end and all she says about the feeding tube is that it will cause unwanted stress. But surely its better than me chasing her around the house in the early hrs of the morning trying to force feed her. Thank you for your replies x

I am still wondering why you can't just feed her whatever she is willing to eat at this point.  As Otto said, getting food (any food) in her is the primary objective here.  AD is just more packed with vitamins and calories.  I have some AD here for one of my cats, and it doesnt have any duck in it.  I wonder if the AD in Europe is different?  Could you possibly put some of the food she likes on top of the AD and maybe she'd eat what she likes and then get a little bit of the AD as well?  OR, have you tried sprinkling some parmesan cheese on top of it.  I've heard that is supposed to work really well to get cats to eat, although I've never tried it, but my cats DO like the new cat foods that have a little bit of cheese in it.  OR, you could get some Fortiflora from your Vet and sprinkle that on her food, it might help.  Some of my cats really like it, and others, not so much. 

I have had a cat that I had to feed thru a feeding tube, and there are two kinds of feeding tubes.  One is inserted directly into the stomach (that's the kind he had), and the other I believe is inserted into the esophagus and is much easier to install.  My cat also had HL (thus the reason for the feeding tube), but it's been so long ago that I can't really recall whether or not it stressed him out too badly or not.  I think what really bothered him was the tube sticking out and the fact that he had to wear a tight sock thing around his stomach for so long.

Bottom line, if your furbaby doesn't ingest enough one way or another for her liver to start working properly, I don't think your Vet will have no choice but to install a feeding tube./  It is SO much easier to give medications, etc. that way, if she needs them. 

You can feed whatever but the a/d is smoother and.easier.to feed through a syringe and feeding tube. Plus cats need food to recover from illness but especially with HL. Cats with HL don't want to eat anything but if you can get Rusty to eat something that is good.

Thank you for your replies. I have tried mixing the a/d with ordinary wet food, ham, chicken, tuna etc. The problem we have is the a/d stinks, and the smell over powers the other food. But, she was interested in eating the ham etc without the a/d in it!! I was thinking maybe try her on a more expensive wet food such as sheba, which has chicken pieces in it, as apparently chicken is a good form of protein.

I have to ring the vet at 11.30am, to see how Rusty is. I'm feeling a lot better today and a little less emotional as I managed to sleep last night. And thank you all again for your helpful replies. This is an excellent website for people like me who have no idea x

My cat went through this almost a year ago.  He had a feeding tube put in and I found it much less stressful.  The vet also put him on the A/D.  It is a calorie dense, nutrient dense food that is also very bland.  It has the advantage of having a lot of calories in a small amount of food.  The extra calories stops the process of the cat using it's own fat stores but if your cat won't eat it than there is no real advantage to it.  If she will eat another food than I would give her that.  The important thing is getting enough calories in her to stop the process of trying to use her own fat stores.

I visited Rusty this evening, and she has started eating on her own, biscuits, so thats something. She was a lot livelier, and the vet said she had been playing with the cat in the next booth. She was very responsive when we went in. Purring away. She is on antibiotics, and another medication to help the liver (dificult to translate). We took her in a tin of Sheba, and the vet said she will try her on it tonight. If she eats it, then we will try and mix the 2 together. Thank you again for all of your replies. I dont know what I would do without this forum x

misspremier007 said:

I visited Rusty this evening, and she has started eating on her own, biscuits, so thats something. She was a lot livelier, and the vet said she had been playing with the cat in the next booth. She was very responsive when we went in. Purring away. She is on antibiotics, and another medication to help the liver (dificult to translate). We took her in a tin of Sheba, and the vet said she will try her on it tonight. If she eats it, then we will try and mix the 2 together. Thank you again for all of your replies. I dont know what I would do without this forum x

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Eating biscuits is better than nothing.  I remember when my guy had HL, he wouldn't touch anything, not even tuna, chicken, turkey, etc. Good luck with the Sheba

I'm sorry to hear of your troubles with Rusty but glad things seem to be improving. If you have any problems with anything you don't understand in French please PM me and I will try to help. Milkmaid and I are both Brits resident in Normandy and both often get asked to translate, especially for vet and medical emergencies! I had a pony with HL some years ago, and it is a frightening condition to deal with. But the important thing is eating. no matter what. I foster kittens and sometimes when they won't eat I give them fromage frais, which is highly nourishing and delicious. Also easy to get hold of in France and easy to administer. Start by putting a little on the gums so the cat licks it off. I have never met a cat who didn't end up by demanding more.

Oh that is great news! Eating on her own is the first step, the most important step! this continues!!!!!!!!!!!

Rusty is home. I gave her the Sheba, and she has been eating it, little and often. The vet still wants her to eat the a/d but I really dont think that will happen. But I will try. She wont come near me at the moment as she thinks im going to force feed again. I even have to go into the bedroom with my hands up to prove I have nothing . Thank you for the offer Jenny. Usually my French is very good, but being emotional, and the vet being a mutterer didnt help, but we have got there now. I really do hope that Rusty is on the road to recovery now, and this will probably make me an over protective mum now, but its better to be safe then sorry. Many thanks again to you all xxxxxxxxxxxx

Great news! The important thing is eating, no matter what. But I do recommend the fromage frais for building up appetite and weight in a sick cat.

I'm a bit worried about giving her something like fromage frais, as last summer she had kidney stones, and also when she was diagnosed with HL she also had cystitis. And I'm not sure how her tummy would take it. Poor little thing has certainly had a few problems this past 18 months. x

My vet and the shelter I foster for both use fromage frais for very young kittens and for sick cats that can't or won't eat. There have been t imes when it was the only thing I could get a kitten to eat, and I have never lost one yet from digestive disorder. It just gives them something very easy to swallow and delicious in the mouth, and stimulates the appetite for other things. Around a tablespoon is enough. But If Rusty is eating on her own, whatever it is, that is the important thing. Good luck.

Thanks for the reply Jenny, I wonder if this will help when giving her her tablets, as we had a problem this morning and in the end i had to cut the antibiotic into 8 little pieces!!! She is loving the tuna Sheba but not so keen on the chicken. Will have to go another shop tomorrow :0)