Problems from Pedialyte?

Hello everyone,

Ongoing health problems with my 15 year-old cat, Lily. That's her (as a kitten) in my avatar. A little backstory...

When Lily was four she got a very bad case of fatty liver disease, but eventually she made a full recovery through force-feeding and regular sub-q fluids (which I know how to give at home). She has been mostly very healthy and active for the last 11 years.

But Lily is sensitive to the heat and we live in the desert.  She gets quite lethargic in the summer. A couple of years ago her eating fell off so bad in the summer that she came down with fatty liver symptoms again. But I caught it early and we turned it around just through hand/force feeding and she was fine again before too long.

It happened again this summer. At first I wasn't too worried and started the hand-feeding routine again and she was doing alright. But every time Lily seemed on the verge of full recovery with her old appetite, she would fall back again.  She was on another upswing when suddenly her appetite vanished and she started making a sort of crunching noise when she tried to eat, even though it was canned food.

I was going to take Lily to the vet thinking there was something wrong with her teeth, but first did a google search and discovered that the crunching noise is often caused by dehydration. That made sense to me and I did the pinch test and she was indeed dehydrated. I knew Pedialyte can be used to re-hydrate kitties so I ran out and got some and started giving it to her. Two dropperfuls at a time every ten minutes. She immediately improved and the crunching noise improved (but did not go away completely), but the benefits would vanish after a few hours and so I would do the Pedialyte routine again and again, eventually upping to three droppers at a time, then four...eventually we settled on about 7 droppers every half hour between her meals.

The problems with her mouth/teeth got better and better and by yesterday morning she was scarfing down food and no bad sounds coming from her mouth. She was active and playful again. But I kept giving her the Pedialyte just to be on the safe side and yesterday morning we started on a fresh bottle of the stuff. She got lethargic again and by lunch her appetite was GONE. Same thing at dinner.  Both times I force-fed her a little and she kept it down fine but she wouldn't eat a thing on her own and continued to be lethargic.

This morning I was hoping she would be better but she was still lethargic and clearly not feeling well. For the first time in weeks, she threw up (twice). I stopped giving her the Pedialyte and gave her just a few droppers of filtered water.

So today I am just giving her a few droppers here and there of filtered water. Fed her twice. She would not eat a thing on her own but she has kept the food down. She is a little bit better, even purred a bit for me again, but is clearly still under the weather. Her breathing is fine so I don't think she has aspirated anything.

Finally, I just want to say I am reluctant to take Lily to the vet for a few reasons. One, the lower-cost clinic is a very long drive and it's extremely hot here and *I* am sick. Going out in the heat always makes me sicker and there is no one to help me. Two, yes money is a factor as I am unemployed and pretty much broke right now. Because of Lily's age I am afraid the vet would insist on lots of expensive tests. If she really needs to go, I'll take her because she is my baby but if I can take care of her at home I would really rather do that.

Anyway, thank you for reading. Any advice or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. It sure does seem to me that her latest setback coincides with opening the new bottle of Pedialyte. It is possible I got a bad bottle? Expiration date on the bottle is in 2016. Or did I just get carried away and give her too much? I didn't think it was possible to give too much Pedialyte, but maybe it is.

Thank you.

I don't think Pedialyte is the issue.  I know vets are expensive but especially at 15 she needs to be seen by the vet and get bloodwork done.  It could be any number of things just like with us humans as we get older.  She needs the bloodwork to check all of her organ functions.  My kitty's are eleven now, one with a chronic health issue the other one still healthy.  Both of them including the healthy one gets full blood work done annually.

Well she just threw up again, what was left of the lunch I gave her three hours ago, after it seemed like she was getting better today. Now the clinic and my regular vet (much more expensive but at least they are close) are both closed until Monday.  And I really am sick myself. And so exhausted from all these weeks of nursing her. And alone. And broke.

I am just  beside myself 

Denice,

My gut tells me that Pedialyte is at least part of the issue because she was doing SO WELL these last few days until yesterday afternoon -- and her decline was very abrupt and coincided exactly with my opening up a new bottle of Pedialyte.

Vets are all closed until Monday. Emergency clinic is a very long drive. I guess I just have to watch her and take it hour by hour for now.  As I said, I am pretty sick myself.  Exhausted, lonely, broke, and so scared of losing her, scared of making my own health worse than it already is, scared of running out of money.

Sorry, I am just heartbroken by the constant parade of problems. This has been the worst summer of my life.

It could be just a coincidence that she worsened with the pedialyte.  I have used pedialyte in the past and haven't had issues with it.  I would really recommend finding a way to get your kitty to the vet.  I myself have a 15 year old kitty and I make sure to have bloodwork ran on her regularly so I can stay on top of her issues.  Fatty Liver is a very serious disease as I'm sure you know.  If you are force feeding it needs to be her total amount of food needed, so if for her weight she gets a 5.5oz can of food, that's what needs to be fed in a day through force feeding.

cheetah,

Thank you for the reply. My gut still tells me the Pedialyte is connected to this. I have been researching online and it turns out there is such a thing as too much Pedialyte. Side effects can include nausea and diarrhea, both of which she has right now.

As you say, I do know how serious fatty liver disease can be. But up until yesterday she had been doing so much better, with a pretty good appetite, and I have been working hard to make sure she got enough food each day. That's why I am so conflicted about not feeding her right now. I had been planning to feed her again tonight, but after she just threw up I'm wondering if I should give Lily and her tummy the night off. She appears to feel better after throwing up.

I think for now I am going to wait and see how she is in the morning. I have the address of the emergency clinic if she needs to go in Sunday.

I'm just so exhausted and depressed and worn out. I need to stay calm and get a good night's sleep but am not sure if that is possible

Just a little update...

This morning Lily was noticeably better. Brighter, more energy, drinking on her own. I fed her early and her appetite was still gone, but she did keep down all the food I gave her. Fed her again a few hours later and her appetite had come back -- not all the way, but she did eat quite a bit of food on her own and she is keeping that down, too. And she's just acting better, more energy, grooming herself again, etc.

I know we're not out of the woods yet but things are looking much better.  Honestly I still think the problem was that I gave her too much Pedialyte in a too-short space of time, but I suppose we'll never know.

Thank you again to those who replied.