Hepatic Lipidosis Fatty Liver Syndrome

Her name is Precious we have only had her for 2 months got her from someone my husband worked with they didnt want her anymore. She was 17 lbs in April when we got her she hid for two weeks but we still gave her food and she ate. We got her on VPI Pet Insurance and at the doctor visit she was good down to 12.5 lbs yay! Well at the end of May I had family over for my birthday and the cat was hiding and apparently is a usual thing for her apparently not so. I noticed earlier this week that she was throwing up and not eating and depressed lethargic you name it she was it. Looked up her symptoms came up with Hepatic Lipidosis and found suggestions for force feeding her and giving vitamins. Well after 3 days of force feeding and giving her a little pepto bismol(sorry later found out it was a bad thing pepto that is) anyways after giving her food and her throwing up we took her tonight to the emergency vet. 165.00 later and they say take her to your vet tomorrow...UH and as I was taking her to the vet I noticed she was YELLOW oh my god we didnt notice it before cause we have crappy lighting in the apartment...needless to say I am trying to figure out an estimate of what it will cost to test and treat her. I know VPI wont cover CRAP!!! And we are closing on our house on Monday. We are hoping our vet will work something out but we were on the verge tonight of putting her down. What do we do? How much will something like this cost? I need answers cause I dont know what to do about it...Have any of you been through this before? What is the prognosis on this disease? did I forget to mention she is now 9lbs?

Hi Amanda, welcome to the site. I am sorry Precious is so sick. I truly hope you and your vet are able to make some arrangements. Here is an article on Hepatic Lipidosis. I know a few others have gone through this, I am going to search the site for those threads and I will post links for you as soon as I find them.

http://www.thecatsite.com/Health/85/...Lipidosis.html

Here is a thread started by a member whose cat had Hepatic Lipidosis:
http://www.thecatsite.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=36533&

I'm sorry that she is so sick.

If she doesn't have to be put down for medical reasons, perhaps you can work a payment plan out with your vet.

I hope things improve for all of you.

Precious, you are in my prayers.

Thank you I am just really worried about her. She is really yellow...Uh I wish there was a quick fix for her

Originally Posted by amandaj6

Thank you I am just really worried about her. She is really yellow...Uh I wish there was a quick fix for her

Click to expand...

Has the vet explained things to you yet?

Hi, Amanda and Precious! We're so happy you've joined us, and I admire your desire to educate yourself on this condition. HL is a very serious illness that, with extra tender loving care, can have an excellent outcome. It's a spiral, though, and to break it, Precious must eat. You may want to consider at this point having a feeding tube inserted for Precious to get her through this rough time. Feeding her through this tube is an easy task that your Vet can show you how to do at home. Please keep your faith, Amanda, you and she will get through this, and we're here with you all the way. Please feel free to send me a private message any time. Precious baby, please feel better. Bless you for caring for her, Amanda.

did the emergancy vet actually tell you it was HL? or are you going on information that you have found on the internet?

Dont give up on your girl... I have no doubt that your vet will work with you on a payment plan - and if he wont then find someone that will. Chin up Amanda, as Stephanie said, we are all here to help you if you need or just have someone to talk to

Did the ER vet give you an actual diagnosis?
Good Luck with your regular vet today. Please let us know what you find out. Many vets will work out payment plans if cost is a factor.

We are here to get you and Precious through this.

I'm so sorry about Precious, and I do understand that you're worried about the cost of treating her First, tho, has she been diagnosed with FHL? The fact that she is yellow means she is obviously having liver problems, but not necessarily FHL. We (& the vet) thought that was Bob's problem; it turned out to be an idiopathic liver disease (we lost him after 7 weeks), but the treatment options were basically the same.

Precious MUST eat, that is the only way she has a chance of recovering. In all probability, she isn't drinking either; this means she must have sub-q fluids, which is actually easier to do than you might think. I gave Bob 2 IVs a day, 75-100cc each; didn't take more than 10 min. each time.
Your vet can tell you exactly what to do as far as meds go---probably an antibiotic (because Precious will be more prone to infections while she's sick), something for nausea, and something for upset stomach. After the diagnosis, your biggest expense will probably be the special diet she'll need to be on until she recovers. I'm not going to scare you with numbers; we had several additional tests done on Bob, trying to find the cause of his liver disease. In all likely-hood, you won't be facing that.

I can't stess strongly enough how important it is to feed Precious, whether by syringe or feeding-tube. That is, quite literally, the one thing that will pull her thru this. My vet techs told me that 6-8 weeks of forced feedings is the norm. All you can do is hunker down & get ready to be a nurse to Precious for a short period of time. Please, get her diagnosed ASAP, find out everything you can from your vet; this truly doesn't have to be an extremely expensive situation, and from what I've read, the majority of cats with this disease recover--IF they eat

Once again, I'm so sorry; I know what you're up against. If you decide to see Precious thru this & you need any advice on her care, please don't hesitate to PM me. Sending (((((healing vibes))))) to Precious.

The emergency vet did no testing but I dropped Precious off first thing this morning at our regular vet and she says even though the symptoms point towards hl she felt a mass in her abdomen so I have to call her later to find out the testing options. She really is a wonderful vet and I have faith she will find something to help precious. At this point we do have VPI pet insurance Thank God! I dont know how much it will cover cause we have the standard plan but we will see later today. I will update this afternoon on lunch when I get a chance. Thank you for all your well wishes

I went through this with my kitty, Bud. (RIP)
It will take very aggressive treatment but she can get better. As mentioned earlier, she is probably dehydrated and will need fluids, and force feeding will need to be done with a high calorie food. The vet can show you how to do it which will help with the cost.Bud was also yellow by the time I found out what I was dealing with. After many weeks of treatment my vet thought he was not going to make it but I was not willing to give up yet. I decided to give it the weekend and HE ATE on his own!!!! And he got better every day after that.
He would still be here today if the cancer didn't develop.
Your vet will be able to give you a better idea on how she is, but if she is able to be treated, don't give up hope.
My Bud was a shining example that she can be saved!
Hugs and prayers for you and Precious!

Feel free to PM me if you want to talk.

I'm sending big hugs your way and good vibes for Precious. You've done exactly the right thing seeking help as soon as possible, I hope that the news for Precious is good.

Please let us know how she gets on

Any update on Precious, Amanda? I was thinking about her all day.

Well I took Precious and dropped her off at the vet this morning they did a lot of labs and xrays(the doctor felt something in her belly at first) xrays came back fine but the tests wont be back till the morning but the Vet is pretty sure it is hl at this point. She said even her blood was yellowish I was shocked!! So she gave me treatment options which are a little more affordable apparently I dont know how much yet but she says we will come home and syringe feed Precious Hills A/d food and giver her (me) subq injections for dehydration and I dont recall if that is with or without the medicine but anyways she will be on anti vomiting medicine and antibiotics for a while and at this point we dont know if she will live it is 50/50 once all the tests confirm hl tomorrow or whatever else it could be she will tell me how much VPI will cover and how much we have to pay *crosses fingers** I cant wait to see precious. If you all could tell me how to post a pic I will post a pic of Precious from about 2 months ago keep in mind she is 8 lbs lighter and yellow but please let me know and I will post.

Amanda, I just pm'd you instructions on posting pictures We would love to see a picture of her

I am keeping you and Precious in my thoughts. I know how hard waiting is, but hang in there. Precious will be home soon. I know that you are going to take great care of her, and she is going to make it through this. We are here for you every step of the way.

Precious will be in my prayers.

Precious, we're praying for you and your Mommy.

Yeah well on top of that our Kitten Vash is been throwing up apparently not a whole lot but what is going on here? I think he got into something he shouldnt have I guess. But thank you all for your wonderful well wishes

Here is a photo of Precious shortly after we got her:

yeah we have a great bunch. We have Precious Vash and Tinkerbell. Vash is our 5-6 mth old kitten grey and white and such a Romeo and Tinkerbell is our 1 eyed cocker spaniel who has given mum a heart attack just about every few months. Our pets throw us for loops but here are pics of the rest of our furbabies.

Vash:



Tinkerbell:

Your sweet girl truly is Precious.

Thank you for sharing her picture.