Sick cat in liver treatment

[katkisses]

Did the vet mention Hepatic Lipidosis or Chlorangiohepatitis again? Did the Bilirubin go down? (you said the jaundice looked worse before)

Sorry that Pepper is spooky about the fluids, at least the vet is doing them for free, maybe she will get used to it with time and you will be able to do it at home. But hopefully she recovers before then! It is amazing how much it perks them up though, isn't it?

Don't give up hope, my vet wasn't so sure that Bear was going to make it and een though I am still at risk of losing Bear any time, he is better than before. The vet & Vet College both think Bear should have died by now, they can't understand how he made it this far. Just listen to your cat, she will let you know if she has had enough.

Did the vet listen to her lungs? Xray?

I am glad that this vet is helping you and Pepper, it sounds like the other one gave up when he couldn't figure it out.

Sorry you are going through this, just take it one day at a time.

 

[danjoan]

I brought both of those diseases up to the vet on Friday and she went about her method of treatment. Hepatic Lipidosis was always the most common answer we all could come up with in our heads at the beginning considering blood tests/urinalisis never showed anything otherwise. Without a primary disease like with Hepatic Lipidosis, there was no indication that anything else other than the liver was affected. I was out of town before she stopped eating altogether, so it could have been the stress from me leaving (I have never been gone that long by myself and my dad was gone 4 months so she could have been thinking that I would do the same, or I am looking too deeply into this) or the liver started giving her trouble and she stopped eating because of it. Those're the only explanations I have in theory. No way of knowing if the jaundice went down as additional blood tests have not been issued and payment for additional blood tests is out of reach at the moment in time. The color in her skin seems lighter but the regular vet has no way of knowing if it has gotten better or worse since she has only recently seen Pepper as of Friday morning. :/ She can only take our word for it and my mom and I seem to notice that it is definitely not as dark as it once was. The jaundice wasn't present when Pepper visited the temporary vet either, so those tests from back then didn't include the onset of jaundice. Since she's not eating on her own still I would assume her bilirubin is still high enough for her not to show too much interest, but she dives at treats.

I know Pepper is really strong and for her to be showing signs of improvement makes me wholeheartedly believe that she has a lot of fight left in her. The breathing needs to be addressed, though, either through another antibiotic or something since the one she's on has not elevated it as much as I would have hoped.

The vet of course listened to her lungs upon examination. She acknowledged that the breathing was a bit heavy and that it was probably pressure from the enlarged liver. There was no suggestion for an X-Ray as of yet. And mmm, that other vet? I don't think she really "gave up" as much as she didn't put much effort into it altogether. Like I said in the very beginning, all that was suggested was to feed her and then get milk thistle a week or two later. There was really nothing to figure out back then other than the key question "Why did she stop eating in the first place?" Because, as I said in the beginning, there was no signs of jaundice - only Pepper not eating or eating very little. The heavy breathing wasn't present either. That's still no excuse for this vet because this lady didn't even suggest the sub-q fluids! If I had known about these sooner I would've pressured her.

Thanks dear. It really is just a one day at a time thing. Doing all we can at the moment but I'm addressing the breathing issue again in the morning with the vet to see if she should be on any other medication. I'd like to see that clear up as much as a lot of other things have.

 

[katkisses]

I would try to keep her on the a/d if I were you. I know it costs a ton, but she needs those extra calories. That is key in getting her better if this is HL.

I hope something can be figured out for her lungs, I know that makes her feel bad too. If it is her liver pressing on it, ask the vet if she think a med might help with the inflamation/swelling. Bear is on Pred for this, not because it is pressing on his lungs but because he needs it for the Chlorangiohepatitis. Could be a lung infection, when their liver is messed up they are more likely to catch stuff.


Come on Pepper! Eat!!!!

 

[danjoan]

Dunno about calorie content or whatnot, but I compared the labels on A/D to FF when I first got it and the protein count in FF is actually higher. I'm not going to suggest that Hills A/D is inferior by any means but it's too expensive for what you get.

Pepper's taking Lasix or furosemide now, but she is breathing rather heavily tonight even after taking it. The doctor has listened to her numerous times and since it's a sort of rapid-wheezy breathing, she's thinking it's fluid in the lungs. In fact it's actually gotten a bit worse since she's been on fluids. :/ Now that she's breathing heavy, she's probably not going to eat until we get this taken care of... gosh I'm so worried.

I'm glad you said in the PM that heart problems aren't linked to liver disease, thankfully. I was worried she might have heart disease with this breathing issue.

 

[katkisses]

Liver Disease doesn't cause heart problems as far as I know but other things can cause multiple organ damage. Poisioning/FIP/ect. Bloodwork will show liver/kidneys but I don't think a regular blood panel will show heart/lung probs. Has the vet ruled out heart/lung probs? That is the only way to know for sure.

Is the vet still giving her fluids, if so how much? There was a member on here who's ex-vet (bad vet) had her giving her cat way too much fluids (200units per day, every day), the cat went into heart failure and had a horrible time trying to breathe. Just from over-hydration. That is why it is so important to have a vet that you can trust, you have to have alot of faith in your vet.

I am not trying to scare you at all, I am just saying: If you are concerned about Pepper's breathing then the vet needs to address it. The Lasix should be helping if it is just fluid build up. You might want to call the vet and express your concern that her breathing is worse.

Many

for you, I know it's not easy. Start eating soon Pepper!

 

[danjoan]

Long time no update. Things are seeming grim for Pepper. I'm at my wits end.

Pepper has been getting 200 ML a day since my last post but that doesn't seem abnormal based off what I've read for these conditions? She's not getting it tomorrow so we'll see how she does... But when she first started getting the fluids, things were SO HOPEFUL. She looked out the window the first day and was doing well then things seemed off...

Overall, Pepper's had multiple antibiotic shots and meds. I'd have to go look at the records to see what they were... We're trying new things by the day as the vet directs us. She is still taking Lasix. She's had an off and on fever of about 103-104 for the past few days. Breathing heavy a lot, Lasix helps sometimes but not quick enough. As I type this she is breathing heavy again but doesn't get the Lasix until 1 AM. She proceeds to lay only in one spot... she stretches out as far as she can and just lays there.

The vet has checked her breathing and says it doesn't sound like there's any blockage, or something to that nature, in the lungs. I asked the vet when we first went to her a couple weeks ago if it could be chronic renal failure and she shrugged that off because of the original test results, dating back to 9 weeks ago when she first stopped eating. No record of renal failure back then. My mom and I originally thought we were just battling the liver disease even up to the vet visit two weeks ago. But with the reoccurring fever and the heavy breathing still persistent, we are worried. The vet seems to think it has something to do with her kidneys which points to renal failure now. Something about Pepper not being able to release toxins. Since taking the fluids, Pepper has been urinating a lot... actually, I think she was before the fluids, too, but I can't say for sure. Constipation was prevalent in the last week and she may still have it since when she tries to poo, her breathing patterns make it seem like she's grunting to get it out.

We're doing one more week of fluids and then the vet wants us to 'make a decision' if she's not doing any better. I really don't want to put her down but the poor dear just gives the saddest of looks. I believe she is struggling. I'm more upset about the fact that nothing seems to add up about all of this. It just figures that it would be Pepper who has a condition or multiple conditions that makes no sense. The way I'm seeing it, she might've had the kidney disease/renal failure before she stopped eating but I have no way of knowing that. I wasn't here and my mom has a bad memory. She might've been drinking and/or urinating a lot more than normal and I just never noticed. Strange how signs of it have been hidden for so long but treatment seems to barely help so I think she's at the end. Multiple meds and her fever is still persistent? Heavy breathing keeps coming back (could be too much fluids?)? Yeah, I just don't know.