Hepatic Lipidosis And Keeping The Feeding Tube In

[Hammy]

Hello everyone,

I'm new to the site. My cat Gino was diagnosed with hepatic Lipidosis in August. He went from 17lbs to 11lbs. He had a feeding tube inserted and was on the road to recovery.

He had the tube in for about 3 weeks. Last Tuesday (Sept 11), he managed to pull out his feeding tube (I didn't see how he managed to do it). I took him to the vet and they said that we should see if he'd start eating on his own. The next day, to my surprise, he started eating on his own!

Fast forward to this week, he stopped eating. I took him to the vet today and he went from 12.4lbs on Monday to 12lbs today. I think he wasn't fully over the disease and regressed but the vet seems skeptical and wants to do more testing. This process has already drained my financials so I can't afford to do everything. We are putting another feeding tube back in tomorrow morning though.

Has anyone been in a similar situation with their cat pulling out the feeding tube or regressing (I believe from not eating enough after the tube came out).

Also, any advice on how to prevent Gino from pulling out the tube again?

 

[denice]

I don't think it is so much that the vet is skeptical as it is figuring out the underlying cause. Hepatic Lipidosis is almost always secondary, something causes kitty to quit eating and the not eating leads to hepatic lipidosis. My cat had it and it was secondary to undiagnosed IBD. Unfortunately keeping the feeding tube in can be an issue. Your cat starts feeling better and isn't so compliant with that tube, he wants it out and finds a way to get it out. What tests were done initially to find out why he quit eating?

 

[Hammy]

Hey Denice,

You're right. I think I was too emotional over the bad news and didn't think about the situation logically. They did blood work initially and then an ultrasound on his liver. Those are the only tests. Today, he is getting another feeding tube and they're going to redo his blood work to see if something has changed.