Hepatic Lipidosis? Home remedy of force feeding? - Page 2

Most TCS members now of my Nub-e and his unlucky short life.  He to stopped eating but in the end it didn't matter.  I got the info from Carolina and syringe fed for several days.  Since mine was a kitten I was weighing him to see if the force feeding was helping.  In my case he tolerated the force feeding and I wrapped him in a towel which worked and he let me know when he had enough..

I wish you the best in feeding.  I would after a couple days see if your cat will try to eat the a/d on his own.  Or get some smelly cheap wet food and see if that would be eaten.  Still with the a/s as that has the most calories.

Quote:

Originally Posted by chrinsky 

Thanks again, Carolina!  You've been incredibly helpful.  And I'm so excited because as I sat here browsing through this site, she randomly ate a treat I've had out for her for HOURS!  She decided to eat it randomly!  I hope this means she's getting better!  She also ate a second one I put down!  I'm so happy!!!
 

 

I am glad she is starting to eat a little.  When Patches started eating again it was just a little bit at first, just a bite of kibble here and there.  It took a while before he began eating normally again.
 

When I as force feeding, if I fed too much, he would throw it up immediately.  It was simply a matter of too much in, something had to go out .  So I learned quickly to not put so much in at a time, and to feed very slowly.  (BUT, in my situation, I was feeding thru a feeding tube, not via a syringe directly into his mouth)  And YES, we did feed every 4 hours, so I did set the alarm for the middle of the night.

Also, the yellow coloring will not go away immediately...as Carolina pointed out, it all takes time.  And when you start doing the Sub-Q fluids at home, don't worry if it seems overwhelming.  Many, many, many of us here at TCS have done it or are currently (me) doing it for our furbabies.  I know you said there are at least two of you there, so that will be helpful.  Not sure what all the Vet Tech will tell you to make it easier, but I warm the fluids first (just by putting the bag in hot water), then hang the bag from my dining room chandelier or anything higher than your cat, since the fluid won't flow unless it's going downward.  There are lots of youtube videos you can watch to refresh yourself before you do it,if you think you need it.  Remember, the first time is always the hardest.  And also remember, you're not hurting her (seriously, it doesn't hurt since you are poking her in the scruff), but your are definitely helping her!

I am so sorry you and your kitty are going through this!

I've been through it (my cat's ALT was over 1200 at one point, bilirubin went to 12, can't remember the others. AMY was high too).  His journey was unusually long, and the vet is STILL shocked that Bear lived through it.  I force fed and did daily fluids for 5 months.  For the first 2 months I had to feed him every single 2 hours because he wasn't keeping much down.  It was alot of tears and work, but we made it.  He was as yellow as a school bus, here is a pic after his color got a little better:

Here is the thread, it's painfully long: http://www.thecatsite.com/t/215150/bear-is-at-the-vet-hes-very-sick-liver-looks-horrible

Since your cat is already showing some interest in food I think her journey through this won't be as long as Bear's was. :)

My biggest tips would be:

-To get her some Denosyl, it is a liver supplment.  I don't know if it was a coincidence but Bear steadily improved after taking it and he is still on it 1.5yrs later. I order it from Amazon through Entirely Pets. I HIGHLY encourage trying it. It is supposed to lower the ALT levels. Its only about $20-30 depending on where you order it.

-Ask your vet about Ursodiol. Everything I read about liver failure meds mentioned it.  My vet was hesitant to prescribe it, he didn't think it worked but gave in.  This med REALLY helped him.  If he missed a dose he would start vomiting again. This med makes the liver bile thinner, so it doesn't back up in the liver and cause issues. I really think this med had a HUGE part in saving Bear. It is expensive.  I had to get his from a compounding pharmacy and it was $20 for 2 weeks of meds.

-Don't worry about what she is eating, if you can get her to eat something, give it to her.  Fatty foods are horrible for liver patients, but at one point Bear really wanted my hamburger even though he wasn't eating.  I used a george foreman grill to get all of the grease out and cooked him one. He ate it a couple times before getting bored with it.

-Take one day at a time, this is a pretty intense thing to go through.  Just know that you are doing your best and that your cat is comfortable and doing ok right now.

-You could also try Milk Thistle (from a drug store) it is natural and works best if you divide to dosage up and give it 3 times/day.  Ask your vet for a dosage, Bear's vet told me to give him 225mg/per day.  It can cause nausea, so I only gave Bear 75mg/day but he wasn't really able to handle it well. It helps prevent the liver from getting more damaged. It is cheap $11 for a big bottle.

I don't know if anyone mentioned it but meat flavored baby food is a good food to try.  Just check the ingredients for onion and garlic, avoid those!

I would keep up the fluids.  It helps flush out the toxins and get them out of the system.  Just keep an eye out to see if it's taking them longer to absorb.  If they start taking a longer time to absorb then cut the fluids back by about 25%.

It is alot to take in, I know.  But we are here for you!

This is all very good news!  And did you see that picture of Bear (oh sweet Bear!!)  Look how yellow his ears were!  If you pulled up his thread, I'm sure you saw just how yellow his entire body was.  And he lived, thanks to Katkisses's diligence!  He is truly the inspiration for all HL kitties

Keep up the great work!

Sounds like she is slowly getting better which is the way cats recover from this illness.  The vet gave Denosyl to Patches when his ALT continued to rise even after he was feeling better.  It did seem to help but the pills that the vet gave to give him were huge.  She said he needed to swallow them whole because they have a protective coating to get them through the stomach so they are absorbed by the intestines.  He was able to swallow them but I was kind of afraid of choking him, hopefully the ones you ordered are smaller.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Denice 

Sounds like she is slowly getting better which is the way cats recover from this illness.  The vet gave Denosyl to Patches when his ALT continued to rise even after he was feeling better.  It did seem to help but the pills that the vet gave to give him were huge.  She said he needed to swallow them whole because they have a protective coating to get them through the stomach so they are absorbed by the intestines.  He was able to swallow them but I was kind of afraid of choking him, hopefully the ones you ordered are smaller.

I got out the empty bottle, I kept it in case he got sick again and I knew what he took, and he was on s-adenosyl milk thistle tablets rather than Denosyl.  Hopefully the pills of Denosyl won't be huge.  If they aren't I will need to keep that in mind if I need something like that again.

Quote:

Originally Posted by chrinsky 

Oh look...her eyes match her pillow!  She's quite the looker!  Funny, she looks a little bit like Bear, and I have a feeling that she'll make a full recovery like Bear, too.

Thanks for the wonderful update.  Keep up the good work.

The 2 times I've dealt with HL, I just waited for my cat to start eating some food on his own and then very gradually cut back on how much I was force-feeding him to see if he would pick up the slack. I think in some cases, if kitty has otherwise returned to good health (blood work is normal), the vet might advise skipping a feeding now and then to try to get hunger to work in your favour. It can be a bit of a tricky dance. In both my situations, it took about 3 months before the cats were eating completely on their own and the tube could come out. Because you're syringe-feeding, that might change the dynamics a bit and you'll probably want to try to get him eating on his own sooner (I can't imagine trying to syringe food into a cat for 3 months!!). 

Good luck! You're doing a great job.

So sorry your kitty is sick. I have had to syringe feed many times over the years and the best results I get by mixing - powdered kitten formula, pedilyte and either wet cat food or chicken in the blender to make a nice soup. Using chicken seems to spark their appetite faster. I also use acupressure on all my animals, its easy to do and recovery times seem faster since I learned to do it. Good luck to you.