Hepatic lipidosis--anyone have experience with tube feeding?

Have you taken her in to check her chemistries? Bilirubin can still be high, causing yellow look in the white of her eyes and a yellow-orange tint to a pink nose and gums. Her protein levels could be improving, which is great! I had joey's done roughly 4x to ensure he was improving. I left his tube in until he was asking to eat and his chemistries were normal again. Joey seemed to come for food at night but it is difficult to tell with more than 1 cat.

Good luck!!

She is supposed to get blood work in two weeks. Vet said to cut tube feelings in half and then bring for lab work in 1 1/2 - 2 weeks. She really is acting normal, and we were able to note that she ate today at noon. I am so worried that she is not getting enough. Bought a scale to monitor weight accurately, and she is 7.2. She used to weigh 8 lbs. Eyes are not yellow (nor ears) and nose is brownish (more like taupe).

Do you have here alone in a room? You could monitor that way. How does the other cat treat her? Mine hissed and wouldn't go to close to Joey while he was sick but last last two weeks they played together and enjoyed treats together. This was a good sign as it was an indication that is body chemistry returned to normal. Joey is a big cat. He was 17 lbs down to 12 in less than a week and a half when he got sick. I thought I saw seeing results from the diet I put him on a month before; however, it turned out it gave him pancreatitis then HL. He regained his health in about 6 weeks and was back up to 16 lbs when his chemistries were normal. She isn't far from her normal weight! Can you feel her muscle instead of spine when you pet her above her tail? This is a good sign her body is no longer consuming her muscle mass.

Good luck!

I do not keep the cats separately. Wen Phradie first came come, Berkley hissed and growled for a good two weeks. But he treats her poorly any time she comes home from the vet (whom he hates passionately). We assumed she finally started losing the vet stench when he quit acting like a jerk. They are back to normal-sleeping together.
She is gaining some weight and not quite as drawn looking. It seems her spine is not quite as prominent. She went from 8 lb. to 6.2, but at 8, she is at the low end of a good weight. It seemed like she was regressing a bit, so we increased the amount of tube feelings again. She will eat very little right now.
We were thinking of putting Berkley on a diet because he's pretty large-19 lbs. of love. But I think I will just make him get use to a harness and take him walking daily. I NEVER want to experience this again.

I adopted a cat from the humane society 4 weeks ago and she is not eating. She was in the vet's office all last week and they tried to force feed her. That didn't work. That cost me over $500.  I had her home this weekend and I tried to force feed her. No luck.

I wanted to learn more about feeding tubes which brought me to your web site. One of the people posting on this thread said that he paid $4,000 to his vet for the feeding tube for his cat. I went into shock when I read this. I can't afford to pay $4,000.

I called my vet this morning and he said that he can do the operation, the food, and the supplies for $500.

I want to make sure everybody understands that it will not cost $4,000 to save their cats. Shop around and ask for a price in order to help your cat. That's what I did. It should NOT cost $4,000 to save our cats. I am paying $500.

Thank you for this thread and all the information. I need all the help that I can get. I don't want to lose Stubby, my cat. She is going in for the operation this afternoon.

moochy Good luck with Stubby. Please let us know how her operation went. Hopefully you will be able to get her to eat again afterwards.

Joey's emergency treatment cost over 5,000 all together, but he was literally on his death bed the day before thanksgiving 2 yrs ago. I had no choice but take him to MedVet, which is an emergency hospital for pets. Yes, had there been time to locate another vet office open and able to treat the it would have been much less. I paid over 400 a day JUST to have a tech available to check his vitals. That doesn't include fluids, operation or an actually vet. My vet returned from vacation the following week and Joey stayed in their care for another 5days. This is a total of 10 days in vet care but I don't miss the money. My vet priced his treatment, including the 10 days, vital fluids, operation at 900. Timing is everything. He's happy and healthy now and that's what matters to me. He's alive because I was able to stretch my budget and for that I thank God!

If you think she is regressing, just increase feedings again and maybe not push too much for her today. Maybe entice her with a toy that might rev her appetite? I used to play with Joey and the Lucy with the "Da Bird" an hour or so after reduced feedings. He would then want treats or meow mix (I learned he was breaking into the stray cat's food in the middle of the nights so I let him have it).

Keep us posted! I have my fingers crossed for you! I know it is a tough time but you guys can get through this!

I went to the vet's office to drop off Stubby. The vet changed his mind and didn't want to operate. He wanted me to drop Stubby off and let them force feed her again for 3-4 days. I said no. I took her back home with me and I'm going to try to feed her myself. The vet charged me $108 per day last week to force feeding Stubby.

The vet gave me a bunch of tongue depressors to use. I fixed up the family room for Stubby. I got some calming pheromone spray from Petco. i put some Mozart music on the stereo. The vet gave me some anti-nausea drops. Then I wrapped Stubby in a soft blanket. I managed to get stubby to eat 1/8 of a can but it wasn't easy.

I'm going back in to the family room now and i'm going to give Stubby some more food. The door to the family room is closed to keep my other cat out. I'm going to play some waltzes by Johann Strauss.

I hope this gets easier. That poor cat.

Has Stubby been diagnosed with hepatic lipidosis? If that's the case (and if it's not at the moment it could certainly develop into that quickly if Stubby is not eating enough-lesson learned the hard way), I would strongly recommend the esophogeal feeding tube-it's hard enough force feeding your cat WITH this wonderful medical technology. Once in, it is the least traumatic way to go.
My little angel started out with a virus that caused her nausea, and she didn't eat for 2-3 days. Then we could get her to eat very little, and this resulted in the HL (had never heard of it before). Been working with her since mid-November with a setback 3 days ago. But we immediately increased her tube feeding amount and she is already better. It's a process for sure; we just thank The Lord that one of us can be with her constantly. This will not beat her!

Yes, Stubby has hepatic lipidosis. I adopted Stubby on November 19th so I've only known her for a short period of time. I have another cat and I brought Stubby home to keep the other cat company.

When I first met Stubby, she was hiding under a small cat shelter in her room at the humane society. I think that Stubby was scared to death and she wasn't eating ever since her previous owners abandoned her. I had no clue and the people at the humane society didn't either. I called the humane society and asked them to call the previous owners to find out what Stubby was eating. I haven't heard back from them yet.

I took Stubby to my vet two days after I adopted her. He did an exam and had some blood work done. Everything looked good and I was planning on having her teeth cleaned after she got settled in.

I kept Stubby separated from Eddie for two weeks. She was hiding under the bed in her room most of the time. And she was eating very little. I've never seen anything like this and I had no clue how dangerous this behaviour was to cats. Finally, I took Stubby back to the vet. He said that she had jaundice and took another blood sample. So now she has hepatic lipidosis.

The vet told me to leave Stubby at the vet's office and they were going to force feed her. They had her for 4 days. i took her home last weekend and I tried to continue the force feeding. The vet said that if she didn't start eating on her own by Monday, he was going to insert a feeding tube.

I took Stubby in yesterday to have the feeding tube surgery. The vet said that he wanted me to leave her there so that he could force feed her again for a few more days. I said no. The vet said that the operation was risky and that scared the hell out me. I told him that I was going to take Stubby back home and that I'm going to feed her. When I was walking out the door, the other doctor in the office asked me what happened. When I told him what the other doctor said, he just shook his head. He's the doctor that wanted to insert the feeding tube.

I have Stubby home now. I have her in the family room with the fireplace and the large ceiling-to-floor windows. I wrap Stubby in a soft blanket and I force feed her with a tongue depressor. It's very stressful for her and me. I'm not sure when or how this is going to end. I have 4 small bowls of Royal Canin special cat food for finicky eaters in the room. I thought I saw a small piece of this cat food outside the bowl but I'm not sure if I dropped it there or if it was from Stubby eating food from the bowl.

My advice would be to check with another vet. What I learned through my experience (since early November) is that the cats just refuse to eat because they are so nauseated. My Phradie started eating (pretty normally for her since she was never a big eater-just a grazer) and at the advice of vet, we cut back her food. She became nauseous again so we increased her back to 15 oz. of slurry a day. Slurry is made by blending prescription diet wet food and water to run through the feeding tube. It is a vicious cycle for the cat - starvation makes the liver produce fatty tissue which produces more bile and makes the cat nauseous. The less they eat, the more fatty tissue and bile, which makes the cat even more nauseous. Untill you "trick" the liver into not producing fat (by timed, tube feedings of enough volume), the cycle goes on.
We had to do a lot of self-diagnosing. She was allergic to the first food and liver medication. I hated to have a tube inserted, but this is fat less traumatic for her. I cannot imagine forcing food down her throat by hand every 4 hours. Hang in there.

I really hope you can get the doctor to do the surgery for the tube. My cat had HL about two years ago now. I tried the force feeding and it was so traumatic to both of us-- once I got him the e-tube, feedings were so much easier and he would even lay their and purr as I fed him.

I feel so bad for everything your new kitty has been through lately! Best wishes

I have anti-nausea medication from my vet. I give her .9 ml of metoclopramide suspension twice a day. She hasn't coughed up any of the food that I've given her. She does cough up bile (from fear) when I start to wrap her in the blanket for feeding. I hope that she calms down a little as these feedings continue.

This is sucking the life out of me and Stubby. She doesn't come to me any more when I walk into her room.

Thank you for your kind words and support.

I wanted to have the feeding tube inserted. The doctor was reluctant and didn't feel comfortable doing the operation. The other doctor was surprised when I left the clinic yesterday with Stubby. He wanted to do the surgery. I had to leave with Stubby because there was too much confusion at the clinic. I could have hit both of them with a broom.

Please see the the messages that I just posted.

I know it's going to be tough because of the holidays but your kitty needs to see another vet.  I suspect your vet was dodging on the feeding tube because he has little to no experience with putting one in.  It is a simple short procedure but tube placement has to be right and that comes with experience.  My kitty had one when he had fatty liver and that made feeding so much easier and less stressful.  I think the stress of syringe feeding along with having food in their mouth and swallowing makes the nausea worse.

Ditto, Denice. Even though the tube is invasive, the cat hardly notices. Mine has a pretty long tube, and that is the only thing that bothers Phradie because she can see something in her peripheral vision. You just have to be sure to keep it flushed with water before and after feeding to keep it clean (but not too much). It is a lot to deal with, but it is so nice when you see improvement.

I agree. You need to see a new vet ASAP. Tube feeding is a proven life saver for cats. They do need to place the tube at the proper spot hitting the tummy so it doesn't upset them. I truly hope you find another vet today. Tube feeding ensures enough food gets in her body to heal the liver. It is taxing at first but nothing as terrible as force feeding. Just go slow when administering the feedings. Keep us posted! Sending prayers.[ATTACHMENT=725]image.jpg (66k. jpg file)[/ATTACHMENT]

Here is info on feeding tubes: http://catinfo.org/?link=feedingtubes It describes the most common types of feeding tubes that are used in cats. It doesn't have anything on nasal feeding tubes, though. My previous cat had one for his fatty liver disease.