- Joined
- Aug 30, 2005
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I'm glad I found this forum!
My smallest female, Pretty Girl, had been acting strange since going in to the vet for her yearly exam and rabies shot. When she seemed to have lost most of her appetite, I wasn't overly worried. She's a small cat, not even 9 pounds, and though she was looking thin, she wasn't looking that thin. I figured she had stressed herself out (she always has been a bit neurotic) and that the rabies shot had knocked her appetite out. Three weeks after the vet visit, she stopped moving and was dehydrated. She was at the vet the next day. I was concerned, but not worried. Stupid me.
She was jaundiced, and severly dehydrated. The vet was having a hard time judging just how bad she was due to the fact she was hiding it so well. Her liver was enlarged, and she was depressed, lethargic, and pretty well out of it. She had lost 2 pounds in three weeks.
She was hospitalized imediately and put on an IV. Physically she was responding well, but she still wasn't really there mentally. FeLV and FIV tests came back negative. Her blood work showed only abnormal liver enzymes; everything else was normal. They did a liver biopsy (by needle) and sent it out to a specialist. The only thing that was there was hepatic lipidosis. The vet was surprised, because she's so small. That was the last possibility on his list.
On Wednesday they started to (finally!) force feed her once they had the diagnosis of hepatic lipidosis. On Thursday, she tanked again. They called me to come in immediately, because they thought she was going to die. Her liver wasn't processing the ammonia out of her system, and she developed hepatic encephalopathy. She also had a potassium depletion. By that night, she was on the verge of slipping into a coma, and the vet told me later she had only had a 13% chance of pulling through. We went to bed Thursday thinking that we would be getting the call in the morning.
Friday morning comes, and the vet tells me she's up and moving around the cage! She hadn't vomited once in the time she had been there, so he was okay with sending her home in the evening; he wanted to keep her on an IV as long as he could. I was stunned.
We brought her home, and she was really happy to be home. She can use the litterbox, but she's not eating or drinking on her own. I had asked the vet about subQ fluids over the weekend, and he didn't seem to think they were necessary. She's on Denosyl, Tumil-K (Potassium Gluconate), Metronidazole, Lactulose (for the encepalopathy), and baytril. She's also to get 12 cc's of Hills k/d (low protein to keep the ammonia levels down) mixed with water force fed by syringe three times a day. (If anyone can help me out with how to force feed her, I'd be grateful! I've done it with kittens, but she's fighting like crazy.)
He seems to think that as long as she's tolerating being force fed, that she doesn't need a feeding tube. I really want to pressure him on that, because I can't force feed her by myself, but I don't know if the tube would be easier on her. Money is not an object.
He's also dodging the question of how much brain damage she has. She's working her paws (something she has never done), head pressing, tongue is out, she rocks, and she'll suddenly sit down and zone out. I can understand why he won't give me a direct answer, but I would like an idea of what to expect.
He also said that she's probably not suffering. He said that she's like an alzhiemer's patient who is sick, but can't realize it.
He honestly cannot tell me if she'll make it through the weekend. I personally think he sent her home because he couldn't do anything else for her. He flat out said that she had gotten as much fluid through the IV as she could. The only hope was that she'd get better once she was comfortable and calm at home. I'm just trying to figure out when to give her meds to her, spaced apart so she doesn't get sick, and still manage to get to work.
If anyone can offer some advice, first hand experiance, anything, we'd be grateful. The entire house has been off since she's been sick.
My smallest female, Pretty Girl, had been acting strange since going in to the vet for her yearly exam and rabies shot. When she seemed to have lost most of her appetite, I wasn't overly worried. She's a small cat, not even 9 pounds, and though she was looking thin, she wasn't looking that thin. I figured she had stressed herself out (she always has been a bit neurotic) and that the rabies shot had knocked her appetite out. Three weeks after the vet visit, she stopped moving and was dehydrated. She was at the vet the next day. I was concerned, but not worried. Stupid me.
She was jaundiced, and severly dehydrated. The vet was having a hard time judging just how bad she was due to the fact she was hiding it so well. Her liver was enlarged, and she was depressed, lethargic, and pretty well out of it. She had lost 2 pounds in three weeks.
She was hospitalized imediately and put on an IV. Physically she was responding well, but she still wasn't really there mentally. FeLV and FIV tests came back negative. Her blood work showed only abnormal liver enzymes; everything else was normal. They did a liver biopsy (by needle) and sent it out to a specialist. The only thing that was there was hepatic lipidosis. The vet was surprised, because she's so small. That was the last possibility on his list.
On Wednesday they started to (finally!) force feed her once they had the diagnosis of hepatic lipidosis. On Thursday, she tanked again. They called me to come in immediately, because they thought she was going to die. Her liver wasn't processing the ammonia out of her system, and she developed hepatic encephalopathy. She also had a potassium depletion. By that night, she was on the verge of slipping into a coma, and the vet told me later she had only had a 13% chance of pulling through. We went to bed Thursday thinking that we would be getting the call in the morning.
Friday morning comes, and the vet tells me she's up and moving around the cage! She hadn't vomited once in the time she had been there, so he was okay with sending her home in the evening; he wanted to keep her on an IV as long as he could. I was stunned.
We brought her home, and she was really happy to be home. She can use the litterbox, but she's not eating or drinking on her own. I had asked the vet about subQ fluids over the weekend, and he didn't seem to think they were necessary. She's on Denosyl, Tumil-K (Potassium Gluconate), Metronidazole, Lactulose (for the encepalopathy), and baytril. She's also to get 12 cc's of Hills k/d (low protein to keep the ammonia levels down) mixed with water force fed by syringe three times a day. (If anyone can help me out with how to force feed her, I'd be grateful! I've done it with kittens, but she's fighting like crazy.)
He seems to think that as long as she's tolerating being force fed, that she doesn't need a feeding tube. I really want to pressure him on that, because I can't force feed her by myself, but I don't know if the tube would be easier on her. Money is not an object.
He's also dodging the question of how much brain damage she has. She's working her paws (something she has never done), head pressing, tongue is out, she rocks, and she'll suddenly sit down and zone out. I can understand why he won't give me a direct answer, but I would like an idea of what to expect.
He also said that she's probably not suffering. He said that she's like an alzhiemer's patient who is sick, but can't realize it.
He honestly cannot tell me if she'll make it through the weekend. I personally think he sent her home because he couldn't do anything else for her. He flat out said that she had gotten as much fluid through the IV as she could. The only hope was that she'd get better once she was comfortable and calm at home. I'm just trying to figure out when to give her meds to her, spaced apart so she doesn't get sick, and still manage to get to work.
If anyone can offer some advice, first hand experiance, anything, we'd be grateful. The entire house has been off since she's been sick.