Hi.. I'm hoping some people will see my post...
My cat, kitty is a 14 year old Russian blue, spayed female. Has been 100% healthy all her life. About a month ago we noticed her weight had dropped and that she was eating less than normal. I took her to the vet immediately and due to her top 2 canine teeth looking pretty bad, we determined they needed to be removed. She had that surgery 3.5 weeks ago.
About 5 days later, she wasn't recovering as I expected she would. She wasn't eating much, barely drinking, or moving around much. I took her to an emergency appointment that weekend (roughly 17 days ago) her blood work came back fine. The vet treated her with a 2 week antibiotic, appetite stimulant and sent me home with pain meds. Suspecting the healing in her mouth was taking more time to get better due to her age and the change of the diseased teeth causing an infection..Within a day or so she was much better, more perky, getting around fine, and eating better. She was still probably only only eating about 1/2 her normal amount of food, but was drinking good. I didn't think much of it until the 2 week antibiotic was coming to an end and she stopped eating again (about 6 days ago).. so 4 days ago off to our regular vet we went again.
He said her mouth appears to have healed well and started feeling around. He suspected he felt a mass in her abdomen and wrote me a referral to confirm his suspicion of lymphoma in her intestines via ultrasound. He gave her a cocktail of medicine, to which she seemed pretty happy, but still not eating much. She appeared very interested in food but after a couple bites would stop herself. Her ultrasound appointment was yesterday, and we very happily learned she does not have cancer but that she does have fatty liver disease from her lack of food intake. Her liver is slightly enlarged. AND she is jaundice, her billirubin is at 5.1... they suggested a feeding tube, but given this was a specialty hospital the price seemed outrageous (upwards of $2,500- $3,000) yesterday's visit cost me $1,000. Because she is such an easy going cat, I decided to try to start with assist feeding, especially because she still appears interested in food, yet stops herself. I'm assuming that is from nausea.
They made me feel like a terrible person, but I promised them and myself that I would only try this for a couple of days and if it is not working I will investigate the etube at another facility that would likely be more reasonable. They sent me home with cans of a/d urgent care, nausea meds, antobiotoc, and pain meds if I feel necessary. They want one can in her a day. It's been just slightly over 24 hours and I've gotten 3/4 of a can in her, and chose to not force her with anymore in that 24 hours since she NEVER ate anywhere near that much in a day. But also because I gave her about a 1/2 teaspoon of high calorie booster, and she also at 10+ cat treats on her own, as well as 2 bites of a high protein dry food on her own as well... she tolerates the assist feeding, but definitely hates me for it. I'm afraid I'm making her upset, but I think it's partially do to her being tired as well, she has not slept due to all the excitement these past 24 hours...I feel like I am sustaining her enough until I at least see if this is working on our own and investigate options for a cheaper etube if necessary. I'm guessing she's gotten in about 150 calories in 24 hours, and she is 8lbs... I will try to bring that up to 170 calories tomorrow.
I have a few questions for anyone who has experience.
1. Will she develop a greater aversion to food if I continue to force feed her, or do we just need to get through this rough period while her liver heals?
2. One of the reasons I opted not to do the feeding tube was because she seems pretty weak and I was afraid of putting her under, any thought on if this is a real concern? Or maybe after a couple days of force feeding her she will be on a better state to have the surgery? I didn't feel the specialty vet was really giving me realistic answers, once she heard I was reluctant to the feeding tube she was pretty much done with me.
3. Anyone use milk thistle to help heal the liver? I've read mixed reviews. Can it hurt? Also, if bought at GNC, safe for use in cats?
4. I can only slightry see yellowing of her ears, I imagine if I notice this to improve, that's a good sign that her liver is improving? Anyone know how long, estimate wise, you can expect to see improvement?
My plan is to call and get some prices at some other vet hospitals that I've had experiences with (my primary does not do feeding tubes) and get her back to either one of them or our primary on Monday to, at the very least, get bloodwork done again and see if there is any improvement but I don't know if that would be possible in only 4 days. But I guess it would tell me if anything has gotten any worse.
I want to do what is best for my cat, but also be reasonable, as she has already been through so much. It's breaking my heart that she is mad at me for the force feeding, but I know that she needs it, and she doesn't realize that. Hoping she will forgive me when she feels better :-)
My cat, kitty is a 14 year old Russian blue, spayed female. Has been 100% healthy all her life. About a month ago we noticed her weight had dropped and that she was eating less than normal. I took her to the vet immediately and due to her top 2 canine teeth looking pretty bad, we determined they needed to be removed. She had that surgery 3.5 weeks ago.
About 5 days later, she wasn't recovering as I expected she would. She wasn't eating much, barely drinking, or moving around much. I took her to an emergency appointment that weekend (roughly 17 days ago) her blood work came back fine. The vet treated her with a 2 week antibiotic, appetite stimulant and sent me home with pain meds. Suspecting the healing in her mouth was taking more time to get better due to her age and the change of the diseased teeth causing an infection..Within a day or so she was much better, more perky, getting around fine, and eating better. She was still probably only only eating about 1/2 her normal amount of food, but was drinking good. I didn't think much of it until the 2 week antibiotic was coming to an end and she stopped eating again (about 6 days ago).. so 4 days ago off to our regular vet we went again.
He said her mouth appears to have healed well and started feeling around. He suspected he felt a mass in her abdomen and wrote me a referral to confirm his suspicion of lymphoma in her intestines via ultrasound. He gave her a cocktail of medicine, to which she seemed pretty happy, but still not eating much. She appeared very interested in food but after a couple bites would stop herself. Her ultrasound appointment was yesterday, and we very happily learned she does not have cancer but that she does have fatty liver disease from her lack of food intake. Her liver is slightly enlarged. AND she is jaundice, her billirubin is at 5.1... they suggested a feeding tube, but given this was a specialty hospital the price seemed outrageous (upwards of $2,500- $3,000) yesterday's visit cost me $1,000. Because she is such an easy going cat, I decided to try to start with assist feeding, especially because she still appears interested in food, yet stops herself. I'm assuming that is from nausea.
They made me feel like a terrible person, but I promised them and myself that I would only try this for a couple of days and if it is not working I will investigate the etube at another facility that would likely be more reasonable. They sent me home with cans of a/d urgent care, nausea meds, antobiotoc, and pain meds if I feel necessary. They want one can in her a day. It's been just slightly over 24 hours and I've gotten 3/4 of a can in her, and chose to not force her with anymore in that 24 hours since she NEVER ate anywhere near that much in a day. But also because I gave her about a 1/2 teaspoon of high calorie booster, and she also at 10+ cat treats on her own, as well as 2 bites of a high protein dry food on her own as well... she tolerates the assist feeding, but definitely hates me for it. I'm afraid I'm making her upset, but I think it's partially do to her being tired as well, she has not slept due to all the excitement these past 24 hours...I feel like I am sustaining her enough until I at least see if this is working on our own and investigate options for a cheaper etube if necessary. I'm guessing she's gotten in about 150 calories in 24 hours, and she is 8lbs... I will try to bring that up to 170 calories tomorrow.
I have a few questions for anyone who has experience.
1. Will she develop a greater aversion to food if I continue to force feed her, or do we just need to get through this rough period while her liver heals?
2. One of the reasons I opted not to do the feeding tube was because she seems pretty weak and I was afraid of putting her under, any thought on if this is a real concern? Or maybe after a couple days of force feeding her she will be on a better state to have the surgery? I didn't feel the specialty vet was really giving me realistic answers, once she heard I was reluctant to the feeding tube she was pretty much done with me.
3. Anyone use milk thistle to help heal the liver? I've read mixed reviews. Can it hurt? Also, if bought at GNC, safe for use in cats?
4. I can only slightry see yellowing of her ears, I imagine if I notice this to improve, that's a good sign that her liver is improving? Anyone know how long, estimate wise, you can expect to see improvement?
My plan is to call and get some prices at some other vet hospitals that I've had experiences with (my primary does not do feeding tubes) and get her back to either one of them or our primary on Monday to, at the very least, get bloodwork done again and see if there is any improvement but I don't know if that would be possible in only 4 days. But I guess it would tell me if anything has gotten any worse.
I want to do what is best for my cat, but also be reasonable, as she has already been through so much. It's breaking my heart that she is mad at me for the force feeding, but I know that she needs it, and she doesn't realize that. Hoping she will forgive me when she feels better :-)
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