Jaundice

Hi everyone

Last friday we found one of our cats lying on the floor barely moving , we tried giving her some water she had two sips and thats it . we have no emergency vets here so we had to wait till morning to take her . the vet asked us to get her blood tests done LFT and cbc  and said our cat was severely dehydrated and gave her a drip and sent us home .

next day when we got the results she said that our cat had jaundice  i told the vet shes not eating or drinking anything and the vet gave her another drip and told us to give her an anti biotic , some medicine for her liver and milk thistle and sent us home. 

i got home and did all the research i could and thanks to everyone here i found out that if shes not eating and drinking her liver will fail due to the vicious cycle so i started force feeding her with a syringe - i think this forum helped bring life into my cat  i think we would have lost her otherwise  im currently feeding about 10 ml of tuna puree every 2 hours she doesnt eat more than that at a time , i tried 5ml every hour but it was getting too much for me to handle tried chicken puree  first 3 days she ate it but then completely refused so i gave her tuna puree

i feed her at home and we went to the vet the next day just for a check and i told the vet i was assist feeding her and she was like oh good ( i felt like whacking the vet for not telling me such an important thing ! and i was like how much do i give her shes like 5ml every hour till you sleep - told her we can learn to put the drip at home so shes more comfortable so the vet was like yea do that ... i felt like the vet didnt really care enough i guess )

5th night she jumped on the bed to sleep with me ( which she did before she was sick ) so she has some energy and has shown improvement over the last few days - but most of the day she sleeps under the bed or in her bathroom corner .

last night  i gave her some wet food and she did eat about a tbs amount . i  also noticed her grinding her teeth while she ate , this was also during the last 2 assisted syringe feedings of the day

today the 6th day i have given her a tbs of food and shes had about half of it .

so what i really need to know is do i keep force feeding her ? and if shes full with the force feeding she wont eat on her own right? and whats the teeth grinding about ? stress ? any ideas on how to help her with that. i do keep going in the room to pet her , holding her up to the window to show the outside world to her and just being with her in the room.

also is jaundice contagious to the other cats? - i didn't know so i am keeping her separate from the other two cats -so that she can rest up as well .

i really appreciate any help cuz this is the only way i can get some help the vets here are not helpful at all 

Jaundice is not contagious.  It is simply the descriptive word for what happens to the skin and eyes due to excessive bilirubin in the blood... it causes the whites of the eyes and skin to turn a yellowish color.  Jaundice is the descriptive word for the symptoms of illness, not the illness itself.  Jaundice is a symptom of a compromised liver, the illness is in the liver.

Now, allow me to share my story...

The short version is;  six years ago one of our cats became very sick.  At first, we thought it was pancreatits, but the tests came back clear.  Then we tested for thyroid, still good. 

Still, he was obviously very sick, he lost 30% of his body weight in 2 months.  When we tested his ALT's (indicator for liver issues), they were sky high.  So we did a biopsy.  The vet said his liver looked very bad, with little bumps and nodules all over it.  We were afraid it was cancer.

When the biopsy came back, we were surprised to find out that it was a nasty bacteria that had set up residence in his liver.  It was wreaking havoc on it.  But the bumps and nodules were actually new tissue.  The liver was trying desperately to repair itself.

BTW... the liver is the only organ that can repair itself as long as the damage is not too bad.

Pippen's recovery from the biopsy was slow, and it was very difficult to get him to eat.  We had to actually give him a feeding tube and force feed him for several weeks.

During this entire time, I had been re-evaluating the food I was giving my cats.  After a few months of research, I finally decided to start feeding a raw diet.  When Pippen was somewhat strengthened, I started feeding him the raw diet.  He took to it almost immediately.  It was amazing how quickly he recovered after that point.

Pippen is now on a regimen of liver support medication and supplements.  Ursodiol is the medication to help reduce scarring, and to keep his bile flowing in the proper direction (which was another problem he had).  SAM-e is the same thing as "S-Adenosyl", and Milk Thistle is the same thing as "Marin" or "silymarin", both supplements for liver health.

Unfortunately, Pippen's liver was scarred too severely for a complete recovery, but he's been doing pretty well for the last six years in spite of it.

Point being, liver issues can be managed with a decent medication and supplement regimen.

You need to keep up the syringe feeding.   Offer her some food before using the syringe to see if she will eat on her own.  You may have to do this for awhile.  I don't know why some vets don't stress the importance of food with a kitty's liver.  I think, if it's a general vet, they are more familiar with dogs.  Dog's don't have this issue when they aren't eating.

Do you know why she quit eating?  I am wondering if the teeth grinding indicates an issue with her teeth which could be why she quit eating.  Normally cats do the lip smacking thing as an indication of nausea rather than the teeth grinding.

what did this raw diet consist of ?  maybe when she starts eating a little more i could try it 

i noticed she stopped the day i found her unwell same as the water ... she never grinded her teeth before the force feeding and now while eating her self 

if she starts eating on her own i should stop feeding? or keep doing it but lessen it ?

and i can let the other cats in the room if its not contagious ? or better to keep them apart a week or so ?