- Joined
- Jul 15, 2020
- Messages
- 5
- Purraise
- 5
Hello everyone!
Advice is very much appreciated!
So my 13 year old cat Calvin has been loosing weight. We lost my 17 year old cat in March, so I started weighing him. He has lost over half a pound. Otherwise- he is acting fine. He throws up 2-3 time a week: sometimes it catfood, sometimes its hairballs, sometimes its bile. I was giving him 1/4 can of wet food at a time (same with my 1.5 year old cat) and if there was food left uneaten, it would stay their- so I was wondering if maybe the puking could be a result of eating spoiled food? (I have since then started lifting the food after 10 minutes and refrigerating it.
So I decided to take him into the vet last Thursday.
His kidneys are fine, glucose level are fine, thyroid is fine.
Liver enzymes were high: at 160. They said normal is under 120, and chronic liver failure is over 200.
They sent him home with a liver supplement and we did an IV drip and they made an appointment for one month out.
I gave him the supplement Thursday and Friday and Saturday, but Sunday morning he threw up. My husband thinks he ate old food.
I fed him lunch (not knowing he had puked earlier) and he ate it with enthusiasm, but then puked about 30 minutes later.
He did the same with Dinner. I did not give him his liver supplement Sunday, Monday, Tuesday.
Monday Morning he asked for food, so I fed him half of his normal amount, and he threw it up.
I called the vet, and they were crazy busy. I ended up talking to a total of three vets, none of them gave me any real guesses other then they want to do a bunch of tests that may not tell us anything.
So Monday I decided that maybe this was all because of food? So I made him bland boiled chicken and rice, and I got him to eat about a spoon full!
A few hours later, I had more success! The third time I tried to feed him, he didn't want any, but seemed interested in my other cats food, so I gave him a spoonful, and he ate it, and he kept it down! We repeated this process about 3 more times. He had only eaten about 2/3rds of his normal daily intake, if not less. My husband was about to feed him before bed last night (4am) and Calvin puked a small amount of bile (to me this says he is hungry and didn't eat? he is a picky eater sometimes and will refuse to eat certain flavors of food knowing ill give in and give him another can) but my husband chose not to feed him...
I got up at 8am, and fed him his normal amount. He was pleased, and ate it all.
He then sat with me on the couch for several hours, until around noon I realized he hadn't meowed for more food like he normally does (normally I start getting meows around 11am) So i decided to feed them. Calvin has no interest in food. I tried giving him treats (which he has never refused in 13 years) and he has no interest.
So now I am worried again.
Monday I thought he was dying, Yesterday he was on the mend, and today he is acting sick again.
He still gets up and walks around occasionally, he is currently sunbathing, looking mighty comfortable actually- but he has no interest in food.
Maybe his tummy is still small from being upset for a few days and he is full from breakfast still? (fed him at 8am, now its almost 5pm...)
Or maybe its the wet food I am giving him?
Also- he has access to dry food constantly. I haven't seen him eat any, but it is there if he wanted it.
Also- I can't really tell, but he might be jaundice- his ears and gums look a little bit yellow to me. But he is a white cat with pale and pink gums, and he has always had a bit of a yellow tint to him... so I can't tell if I am just being over dramatic or if he really is yellow.
For that reason I ended up giving him his liver supplement at 2pm (Denamerin Advanced- they said to give on an empty stomach) and he kept that down. But now I still can't get him to eat.
The vets here are swamped- I have an appointment made for Saturday, but that is 3 days away.
The vets want to do a Bile-acid blood test. If its positive, then his liver is failing, nothing I can do. If it is negative, we don't know what's wrong and I wasted a bunch of money.
They also want to do an endoscopy to look for tumors. If there are tumor, nothing I can do. If there are no tumors, they can look for other issues, but its literally exploratory at this point.
They could also biopsy the stomach to see if he has gastrointestinal disease- the test is very expensive, then needs to be analyzed by a specialist which is also expensive.
I am hoping the liver supplements will help. But I also know that if his liver is already acting funny, that putting pressure on it by him not eating, could cause liver failure.
Does anyone know what an enzyme level of 160 really means? If his liver is failing, how long does he have? Is he in pain?
How long without eating until I should be really worried?
Any information, or advice would be greatly appreciated!!!
Thank you in advance!
Advice is very much appreciated!
So my 13 year old cat Calvin has been loosing weight. We lost my 17 year old cat in March, so I started weighing him. He has lost over half a pound. Otherwise- he is acting fine. He throws up 2-3 time a week: sometimes it catfood, sometimes its hairballs, sometimes its bile. I was giving him 1/4 can of wet food at a time (same with my 1.5 year old cat) and if there was food left uneaten, it would stay their- so I was wondering if maybe the puking could be a result of eating spoiled food? (I have since then started lifting the food after 10 minutes and refrigerating it.
So I decided to take him into the vet last Thursday.
His kidneys are fine, glucose level are fine, thyroid is fine.
Liver enzymes were high: at 160. They said normal is under 120, and chronic liver failure is over 200.
They sent him home with a liver supplement and we did an IV drip and they made an appointment for one month out.
I gave him the supplement Thursday and Friday and Saturday, but Sunday morning he threw up. My husband thinks he ate old food.
I fed him lunch (not knowing he had puked earlier) and he ate it with enthusiasm, but then puked about 30 minutes later.
He did the same with Dinner. I did not give him his liver supplement Sunday, Monday, Tuesday.
Monday Morning he asked for food, so I fed him half of his normal amount, and he threw it up.
I called the vet, and they were crazy busy. I ended up talking to a total of three vets, none of them gave me any real guesses other then they want to do a bunch of tests that may not tell us anything.
So Monday I decided that maybe this was all because of food? So I made him bland boiled chicken and rice, and I got him to eat about a spoon full!
A few hours later, I had more success! The third time I tried to feed him, he didn't want any, but seemed interested in my other cats food, so I gave him a spoonful, and he ate it, and he kept it down! We repeated this process about 3 more times. He had only eaten about 2/3rds of his normal daily intake, if not less. My husband was about to feed him before bed last night (4am) and Calvin puked a small amount of bile (to me this says he is hungry and didn't eat? he is a picky eater sometimes and will refuse to eat certain flavors of food knowing ill give in and give him another can) but my husband chose not to feed him...
I got up at 8am, and fed him his normal amount. He was pleased, and ate it all.
He then sat with me on the couch for several hours, until around noon I realized he hadn't meowed for more food like he normally does (normally I start getting meows around 11am) So i decided to feed them. Calvin has no interest in food. I tried giving him treats (which he has never refused in 13 years) and he has no interest.
So now I am worried again.
Monday I thought he was dying, Yesterday he was on the mend, and today he is acting sick again.
He still gets up and walks around occasionally, he is currently sunbathing, looking mighty comfortable actually- but he has no interest in food.
Maybe his tummy is still small from being upset for a few days and he is full from breakfast still? (fed him at 8am, now its almost 5pm...)
Or maybe its the wet food I am giving him?
Also- he has access to dry food constantly. I haven't seen him eat any, but it is there if he wanted it.
Also- I can't really tell, but he might be jaundice- his ears and gums look a little bit yellow to me. But he is a white cat with pale and pink gums, and he has always had a bit of a yellow tint to him... so I can't tell if I am just being over dramatic or if he really is yellow.
For that reason I ended up giving him his liver supplement at 2pm (Denamerin Advanced- they said to give on an empty stomach) and he kept that down. But now I still can't get him to eat.
The vets here are swamped- I have an appointment made for Saturday, but that is 3 days away.
The vets want to do a Bile-acid blood test. If its positive, then his liver is failing, nothing I can do. If it is negative, we don't know what's wrong and I wasted a bunch of money.
They also want to do an endoscopy to look for tumors. If there are tumor, nothing I can do. If there are no tumors, they can look for other issues, but its literally exploratory at this point.
They could also biopsy the stomach to see if he has gastrointestinal disease- the test is very expensive, then needs to be analyzed by a specialist which is also expensive.
I am hoping the liver supplements will help. But I also know that if his liver is already acting funny, that putting pressure on it by him not eating, could cause liver failure.
Does anyone know what an enzyme level of 160 really means? If his liver is failing, how long does he have? Is he in pain?
How long without eating until I should be really worried?
Any information, or advice would be greatly appreciated!!!
Thank you in advance!