I took my 10 year old cat, Winston, to the vet because he wouldn't eat or drink anything, and has been throwing up stomach acid. The vet diagnosed him with Fatty Liver Disease. The vet gave him a shot of hydrocortizone, and he said that would make him quit throwing up. He also gave me Amoxicillin for Winston to take. I gave Winston the medicine, and he threw it up 3 hours later. He is still not drinking or eating anything on his own, so I bought some prescription food called AD. I tried 5 cc's, but he threw that up immediately. I then reduced it to 3 cc's. He is holding it in his system a little bit longer now, but he still ends up throwing it up. I called back to the vet yesterday, and they say there is nothing else they can do for him. I am just curious if anybody has had a cat that has survived this, and what you did. Please help, he is my baby, and it is absolutely going to kill me if he dies like this. I have been crying for 2 days. I just want to fix him.

Hi cats. I did some searching around and came up with this website regarding fatty liver disease in felines. I think you should give it a look to see what you are up against. I basically says the condition is reversible if caught early, however, I saw nothing mentioned about the regurgitation of food. Maybe didn't read far enough into it. If nothing else, it will give you some understanding and possibly another direction to take. Quite frankly I would suggest another vet.

Good luck

Cats.about.com/cs/healthissues/a/fatty_liver.htm - 24k

Take him back to the vet. He may require more vigorous treatment, including IV fluids.

First, feed him WHATEVER he will eat. You have two priorities right now to stop this and hopefully reverse it. And one is that he absolutely MUST eat. Forget the Hills garbage. It isn't very good quality food anyway. Get anything into him that he will eat -- any cat food, baby food (meat, no onions), human food, who cares as long as it isn't poisonous. Vets get so hung up on their prescription foods and don't even seem to get that it isn't doing any good if the cat won't eat it. (And then tell you there's nothing they can do? Sheesh.)

Because of the way he is feeling, you might have difficulty getting him to want to eat. You might have to force feed. I'm not sure why he's puking. That isn't a normal symptom of fatty liver disease. It might be a sudden change of food, so maybe what he normally eats would work better.

I once got a cat to eat with steak. Nothing else worked, so I zapped a bit of steak in the microwave and got it smelling and such, and the cat went crazy over it. Once he started eating that, he started eating a little Fancy Feast, and eventually other things. I also got him to eat a little bit of baby food, but he wouldn't eat much. (Get Beechnut or Gerbers 1st or 2nd stage.)

If you absolutely cannot get him to eat, you can have a temporary feeding tube put in. And then feed him some good quality food, and I don't mean the Hills your vet will surely recommend. There are better foods. It just has to be something very smooth so you can water it down and get it through a tube. If you don't know what a good quality food is, just whatever - priority is still to get food in him, any food.

Second priority. He's building up toxins and he needs fluids. NOW! And your vet should have done this while he was there. So you take him back and tell them to put him on fluids. You can do these yourself subcutaneously at home, and you can be taught how. If you want to have the vet show you how and you need some help on how to do them more easily, feel free to PM me. I did subq fluids for a year and a half, and lots of people I know online do them every day. So you can do them also. In the meantime, have the vet do them.

That's your two priorities.

A vitamin supplement would be useful too. A shot of B12 would help.

How did the vet diagnose fatty liver disease anyway? That puking thing sounds a little weird. I don't understand how giving him a steroid is helping to keep from puking. There are meds that can be used for that. (You don't ever want to do steroids unless there really just isn't another solution. Bad stuff.) The liver is involved in the regulation of bile and acid levels and such, so maybe something is screwy there. I'm not enough of an expert on liver disease to know for sure. (I know kidney disease, and there's some things that are related.) But I have never heard of giving a steroid for puking.

If you know for sure it's stomach acid, give him Pepcid AC. Get the 10 mg tablets and give 1/4 once a day and see if that works. In fact, that symptom is more in common with kidney disease than liver disease. Again, how did the vet come up with this diagnosis? (We use the Pepcid AC for kidney disease all the time, cause the acid levels are screwed up.)

And giving an antibiotic is a little weird too. You need to look into something like SamE or one of the other liver-specific meds. Apparently your vet has never heard of it and thinks it's an infection.

Get ANY food into him, take him back to the vet for fluids, get him something else for the puking, get him on liver meds, assuming this diagnosis was correct -- and also ask how he made that diagnosis.

And do this NOW. You don't want to let this go.

Then when you're done, find another vet. My expertise is not even in liver disease and I know more than your vet.

First off I would like to say that in light of the fact the cat has been diagnosed with Fatty Liver Disease... please do not feed him whatever he will eat... expecially not table scraps. They are high in fat and since the liver is already stressed you DO NOT want to stress it further with fatty human food. Please read the below to get a better idea of what your dealing with.

Geriatric cats are prone to a number of diseases and conditions, and one of the more common ones is Fatty Liver Disease, which is an accumulation of fats (lipids) in the liver tissue. Although the disease is presently considered idiopathic (no known cause), it is thought that it might result from the way cats metabolize proteins and fats. The disease progresses this way:
A previously overweight cat stops eating for whatever reason
Lacking food, the body starts sending fat cells to the liver to process into lipoproteins for fuel.
Cats' livers are not terribly efficient at processing fat, and much of the fat is stored in the liver cells.
Left untreated, eventually the liver fails and the cat dies.
Whatever the cause, the symptoms are common: A previously overweight older cat suddenly becomes anorexic (quits eating), loses weight, and may salivate excessively or vomit. The cat may become very lethargic and may show jaundice (yellowing of eyes and skin). However, anorexia and weight loss can also be symptoms of other diseases, such as liver cancer or pancreatic disease, and FLS (Fatty Liver Syndrome) can only be accurately diagnosed conclusively through tests. A complete blood profile may indicate increased liver enzymes, and the diagnosis can be confirmed with a liver biopsy done under light anesthesia, with a large needle through the skin.

FLS is Reversible if Caught in Time

The treatment for Fatty Liver Disease is dietary, and works quite well in reversing the condition if diagnosed early. The idea is to force feed the cat enough nutrients to reverse the metabolic malfunction that caused the condition in the first place. This is usually done with a feeding tube which is inserted into the esophogas or stomach by a veterinarian. The cat's caretaker then mixes a formula in a blender and using a syringe, feeds a small amount down the tube several times daily. After a few weeks of the forced diet, the cat can be offered food normally, to test his appetite, although the tubal feeding may need to be continued for up to six or eight weeks, until the cat's appetite has fully returned to normal.

Some caregivers who hesitate to encumber the cat with a tube have been successful with syringe feeding directly into their cat's mouth. Extreme care must be taken to feed slowly into the side of the mouth, to prevent aspiration of the food. A formula can be blended with a soft palatable food such as Hills A/D, mixed with low sodium broth or water. When I was syringe-feeding my Shannon, I added a small amount of canned pumpkin and a gel (in a tube) supplement. Your own veterinarian may prescribe a different formula for your cat.

FLS May be Secondary to Other Conditions

It is not unusual to see Fatty Liver Disease follow in a cat who is being treated for cancer, FIV, FeLV, or other serious conditions. This is likely to happen because a sick cat simply does not feel like eating, although there may be other factors involved.

Advanced Cases Need Additional Treatment

Cats presenting advanced symptoms (jaundice, seizures) will require hospitalization. Fluids may need to be injected to reverse dehydration, and if liver failure is present, the ensuing toxins will need to be dispersed. Other conditions which need veterinary intervention may also be present.

Timeliness is Essential

Although primary FLS can be readily treated if caught early, when left untreated, the disease moves rapidly, and is always fatal.

Hi, Jenelea, one of the requirements of this forum is identifying your sources when answering posts like this. Cutting and pasting just doesn't, excuse the expression, cut it here. When you cut and paste, the website must be shown as well.

tick

First, feed him WHATEVER he will eat. You have two priorities right now to what a good quality food is, just whatever - priority is still to get food in him, any food.

that are related.) But I have never heard of giving a steroid for puking.

.

I don't agree with 'feed him whatever he will eat' and I get the impression table craps is what brought him to this point in the first place. Cats can't eat 'table scraps' and should never be offered them. However, I do agree with the B12 shot. Cats are susceptible to kidney disease because they haven't been fed the proper food in the first place and some of my clients NEVER HAVE WATER DOWN FOR THEIR CATS. I can't think of any animal that doesn't need water. Then they say, but he so enjoys drinking from the tap when I have it on, he is so cute when he does that?? Okay, maybe he likes doing that because he isn't offered water.

Well hydrated cats will do okay. I have a dog and there is always fresh water. Pickle (cat) goes for it whenever she needs it and never has to go for the tap or... god... toilet...

Get my point.

Tick

Cats.about.com/cs/healthissues/a/fatty_liver.htm - 24k

And self

10+ years veterinary technology

cats.about.com/cs/healthissues/a/fatty_liver.htm - 24k

And self

10+ years veterinary technology

Jenelea, I don't know what this post means ? Can you explain.

Tick

Hi, Jenelea, one of the the requirements of this forum is identifying your sources when answering posts like this. Cutting and pasting just doesnt, excuse the expression, cut it here. When you cut and paste, the website must be shown as well.

tick


You asked me for my sources. I gave them.

Just to clear this up... I was meaning if the cat isn't eating anything, then feed whatever he will eat.

Obviously better food is a better idea, but if the cat won't eat it, are you going to just let it die because it won't eat a "proper" food?

Thank everybody so much for your help. I am going to take Winston to another vet tomorrow to see if they will do something different. The original vet wouldn't put a feeding tube into Winston because he said the problem was not with him eating, the problem is with the liver. He said that when the food gets to the liver, the liver will not do its job so he ends up throwing it up. Winston has jaundice, and that along with blood tests is what brought the vet to the diagnosis of fatty liver disease. Winston is a very picky eater, and he wouldn't eat table scraps if I ever even tried to give them to him. He has only eaten one type of food since he was born, and that is Purina One. He also drinks plenty of water. Just to let you know how spoiled he is with water, he will only drink it if I put ice in it to make it really cold. I do this for him all of the time. I love him, and would never, ever not feed him or give him water. We are really not sure what brought this on. We just saw him stop eating. I have been up with him for 2 days straight giving him water every hour on the hour with a syringe. I am taking him to another vet in the morning to see if they will do something different. It is so hard to find a good vet because we moved recently. Winston's regular vet is 2 hours away, and I would take him to her, but I think the car ride that far would stress him even further. If anybody has any other suggestions, please let me know. At midnight last night, I gave Winston his antibiotic for his high white blood cell count, and it stayed down along with some water all night. When I gave him some food this morning, he threw it up 2 and a half hours later. I think the AD food is way too strong for his weak system right now. I am giving him some Fancy Feast in about an hour. I will keep everybody updated. Thank you to everyone.

You didn't suddenly change foods or anything, right?

Generally, fatty liver disease is found in overweight cats (but not always), and they lose their appetite for some reason. You need to try to look into what that reason was. Stress can set that off, but stress is not only the kind we normally think of (meaning I agree about the car ride), but also if the body is stressed because something else is wrong. Having kidney problems or cancer or diabetes or... other liver problems, will cause stress on the body. Kidney disease is one I know well, and inappetance can be common, which can open the door to fatty liver disease.

You may want to get a copy of those lab results and see if something else is showing up. The high white blood count can be a bacterial infection, but stress can cause that too. It's not uncommon for cats with certain diseases and problems to have a high white blood count.

Odd that the vet wouldn't want to do the feeding tube, as when the cat won't eat on its own and it can't be syringe fed (either too stressful or you just can't do it), then a tube is exactly what is usually done. I mean, that's the basic treatment.

I hope he eats (ate) some of that Fancy Feast on his own. Most cats, for reasons I'm not sure I want to know, seem to like the stuff. Even if he eats a little on his own, it's a better sign than a total refusal.

I totally agree with all previous people who suggested several ways to treat your kittie. My cat is actually going through fatty liver disease at right now. I was actually very lucky to understand what it was at a very early stage. Many vets are useless in interpreting the fatty liver disease's symptoms right.
Fortunatelly mine is a very experience one and that is really what matters.
I would like to suggest a medicine (more like a food supplement) for your kittie. It will help immensely to detoxify its liver, it is caled SAMILYN, you should try the one for the small breed dogs and cats (relevant site: Samylin Small Breed - 1g (Cats And Dogs Up To 10kg) - Pets - £26.88 - Chemist Direct (http://www.chemistdirect.co.uk/samylin-small-breed---1g-cats-and-dogs-up-to-10kg_1_20980.html) ).
Also tell your vet to do him a shot of Depo-medrol every week (every shot lasts for 7 days) this will help also.
I also give L-Carnitine (E-Mulgat) to my kittie and this also helps the kittie to build up muscle tissue.
In order to make it eat in the first place a shot with Diazepam (Valium) would help. Please tell that to your vet. Maybe you should repeat that over 3 times.

Hope everything goes well. I shall put your cat in my prayers.

(sorry for my english, as it is not my native tongue)

Let me just say that I hate that most vets are such greedy people. The new vet I took Winston to said that there is nothing more they could do other than what has been done already. They said that they could do the IV fluids, but they have to have $1000 up front, and can't let me make payment arrangements. I can pay them every week, but they won't allow me to. They also said that even if I did have the money to pay this that they can't guarantee it will do any good. They want me to keep Winston at home and keep forcing water or Pedialyte every hour at 12-20 cc's. They told me to hold off on the food for a couple of days. This just really frustrates me. Could you imagine going into a hospital and them saying well, since you can pay for your treatment up front, we are going to have to euthanize you? They told me to bring Winston in to be euthanized if he is still throwing food up on Friday.

Dear Cat,

While I understand your heartbreak, you do have to keep in mind that any vet is in the business to make money at the same time as helping pet owners. If they allowed everyone to make payments or get medical attention without paying, there would not be any vets in business. Its not easy for them to just send you away and I am sure they wished they could help you. I have had to send many people home with instructions on home care because they haven't the money and trust me, its not easy nor pleasant. I am sorry though and I do pray Winston gets well.

You should be able to get fluids and absolutely not have it cost any $1000. That's ludicrous. I don't know what staying on IV all day would cost, but they can at least do a one-time subq fluid treatment, which would take all of about 10 minutes and use a bit of materials that obivously they'll charge you for and want a profit on, but it should be a tenth of that price.

While they are doing them, they can show you how to do them and you can take that same bag and line set home with you, pay for a few needles, and do them at home. You should even be able to have a vet tech come out to your house and help you the first couple of times, and still have it be far less cost.

They can at least try to work with you to do what can be done at whatever price you can afford. (And yes, there are vets who take payments when it's an emergency situation, and they aren't out of business. Obviously it can be done.)

I've seen far too many people go this route to ever believe you can't do this, or to believe the vet can't do it, or can't do anything to help for under $1000! OK, putting a tube in might get expensive and you may not have an option there. But they could still prescribe some meds, and you can still continue to try to syringe feed. Just try to do it calmly and slowly and see if you can get some decent food into him. Curious if he ate any of the Fancy Feast. I would also try the baby food. Sometimes cats will eat that when they won't eat other stuff. And I don't care what anyone here says, if that isn't working, just find something he'll eat. I really don't comprehend how letting him shrivel up and die is somehow better than feeding anything he'll eat. (I am certainly not the first person to stress that you just need to get food into him, but this is the first place I've ever seen anyone have a hissy over it.)

Here is a Yahoo group that you can join. I don't know anything about it - just found it. I have to be a member to see the membership, but there's a lot of crossover on the Yahoo groups:
FelineHL : A mailing list for people dealing with F (http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/FelineHL/)

There is also a Yahoo group dedicated to assist feeding. (If you call it force feeding there you'll get screamed at.):
Feline-Assisted-Feeding : Feline-Assisted-Feeding (http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/Feline-Assisted-Feeding/)

Since you appear to be on your own, unless you can find yet another vet, if you are willing to tell me through PM where you are at, I will see if I know someone in your area. They might know a better vet to go to, and may be willing to help show you fluids, or whatever. It'd be terrifically nice if you could find a vet since you really need some things that only they can provide and that require a prescription. Feeding you can continue to try on your own. And if you don't have it, I also think you should get a copy of that lab work that was done. You have a right to it.

I think these vets give up too easily - I don't. Please continue to try to do everything you can, and keep us informed.

I really don't comprehend how letting him shrivel up and die is somehow better than feeding anything he'll eat. (I am certainly not the first person to stress that you just need to get food into him, but this is the first place I've ever seen anyone have a hissy over it.)

.

I really don't see the OP wanting her cat to 'shrivel up and die'. You are offering some really great suggestions. She obviously cares very much for her senior cat and is doing just about everything she can think of, morgaine. I think you have re-iterated that she must get 'any kind of food into him' okay. I guess she is doing her best.

Tick

Let me just say that I hate that most vets are such greedy people. The new vet I took Winston to said that there is nothing more they could do other than what has been done already. They said that they could do the IV fluids, but they have to have $1000 up front, and can't let me make payment arrangements. I can pay them every week, but they won't allow me to. They also said that even if I did have the money to pay this that they can't guarantee it will do any good. They want me to keep Winston at home and keep forcing water or Pedialyte every hour at 12-20 cc's. They told me to hold off on the food for a couple of days. This just really frustrates me. Could you imagine going into a hospital and them saying well, since you can pay for your treatment up front, we are going to have to euthanize you? They told me to bring Winston in to be euthanized if he is still throwing food up on Friday.

While I understand you are upset because of the condition of your kittys health, this vet is not being greedy, they are being realistic, and precautious with a client they have never met before.
Most Vet Clinics only offer payment plans to clients they trust, mainly because it is very easily abused. Especially with new clients, they will require a portion of the estimated treatment cost be paid up front, to ensure the animal will not be dumped. They don't know you, and abandonment of a sick animal is far, far too common.

I can't believe people would dump their sick animal and not come back and get them. I would never leave Winston like that. I didn't know people really did that. I live in the Nashville, TN area so if anybody is around this area that knows a vet that might make payment arrangements for me and can help, please let me know. Thank you.

You would be very surprised at how often it happens. :(

Try calling around to different vets. Or you can look into veterinary financing. I think MediCard does it, as well as a few other companies. Vets in your area should know about some companies.

Care credit is a company I believe that may help.
Why Use CareCredit® Veterinary Payment Plans? (Financing for Pet Vaccinations, Pet Surgery, Tests & Other Veterinary Medicine Procedures) (http://www.carecredit.com/vetmed/whycc.html)

Sorry for posting again, but here is a helpful link with more information on places that help with veterinary financing:
What You Can Do If You Are Having Trouble Affording Veterinary Care | The Humane Society of the United States (http://www.hsus.org/pets/pet_care/what_you_can_do_if_you_are_having_trouble_affordin g_veterinary_care.html)

I really dont see the OP wanting her cat to 'shrivel up and die'. You are offering some really great suggestions. She obviously cares very much for her senior cat and is doing just about everything she can think of, morgaine. I think you have re-iterated that she must get 'any kind of food into him' okay. I guess she is doing her best.

tick

I wasn't referring to her. I know she's doing everything she can. I was referring to the people who had opinions on my opinions. Sorry if that was confusing.

While I understand you are upset because of the condition of your kittys health, this vet is not being greedy, they are being realistic, and precautious with a client they have never met before.

True, but there's things that can be done that don't cost anywhere near that much, and that vet has simply dismissed it. It does make you wonder a bit when the only thing the vet could come up with is the one that costs $1000.

When I was taking care of my friend's cat that had this and I'd just put a ton of money into my own cat, and she couldn't afford much of anything, we got that cat treated and doing pretty well for about $150 total. There was more she needed to do (nothing at $1000!), but that was what she had and we managed on it. Mostly cause my vet prioritized and suggested which things were best under the financial circumtances.

Another question: I am still up with Winston because I wanted to make sure the food stayed down. The watered down Fancy Feast has stayed down okay until just a little while ago. Instead of throwing the food up, he threw up mucous. I'm not really sure what to make of this because this is something new. Is mucous a good sign that the liver might be starting to work again or is it a bad sign of something worse? It is about 4:00 in the morning here so I can't get in touch with the vet right now. Also, if it happens to be that the Fancy Feast is too hard on his stomach, what flavors of baby food would be best? I've seen several different websites that do actually encourage baby food for fatty liver disease, but there is no information on exactly what flavors. Also the vet today said something about giving him Pedialyte, too along with the water. Are there different kinds of Pedialyte that might work the best? Thank you all for all of your help.

True, but there's things that can be done that don't cost anywhere near that much, and that vet has simply dismissed it. It does make you wonder a bit when the only thing the vet could come up with is the one that costs $1000.

When I was taking care of my friend's cat that had this and I'd just put a ton of money into my own cat, and she couldn't afford much of anything, we got that cat treated and doing pretty well for about $150 total. There was more she needed to do (nothing at $1000!), but that was what she had and we managed on it. Mostly cause my vet prioritized and suggested which things were best under the financial circumtances.

That depends on what they want to do. Fatty liver cats generally spend quite a bit of time in the clinic, and it includes medications, food, hospitalization, IV checks, more than a few days on IV, etc etc. It does add up. Granted, they should have given the option to treat at home but there is the possibility the cat needs more aggressive treatment, since it has been a few days.

Well that's is a bit a good news Cat. If you fed him and all he threw up was mucus that means he digested the food at least. Though my guess would be that the mucus is from him being nauseated. Cats tend to produce a lot of mucus when they are nuaseated. There are medications to control nuasea and am slightly surprised the Vet did not suggest any. Any type of pedialite will do. Same with the babyfood, chicken, beef, whatever he likes. You might also try heating it slightly in the microwave to make the aroma more inticing to Winston. Do not get it hot, just warmed up a bit. You can also try boiled chicken and rice.

We had a great Wednesday. Winston went all day with no vomiting. Will keep everyone posted. I am still pushing fluids and food, but today was the first good sign of improvement. Hopefully I can get him to start eating and drinking on his own in the next few days. At least his medicine, food, and water are staying down now. That's a start. :)

Well, at least he seems to be keeping things down and I think that's a good step. Keep up with the water in addition to the food. I wish I was down there so I could just bring my stuff over and do fluids for you. I also haven't gotten any answers as of yet.

As for the baby food, if it were me, I think I'd try the poulty and lamb first. Make sure there's no onion -- if you stick to Beechnut and Gerbers you should be OK.

That depends on what they want to do. Fatty liver cats generally spend quite a bit of time in the clinic, and it includes medications, food, hospitalization, IV checks, more than a few days on IV, etc etc. It does add up. Granted, they should have given the option to treat at home but there is the possibility the cat needs more aggressive treatment, since it has been a few days.

It's been "a few days" because the vets haven't done anything. She posted 3 days ago and it's not like she waited until today to go to a vet. You guys sure are defensive of them and I just don't see anything to defend.

I just wanted to give everyone an update on Winston. So far he is doing better. I am still having to give him food and water. He is not eating and drinking himself yet, but from what I've read, it can take up to two weeks. It is very exhausting so I hope he does start eating on his own pretty soon. Don't get me wrong, I am definitely not complaining. I am just so thankful that he is alive and is making some improvement. I will keep everyone updated on his condition.

Hi Catsareus.

I was reading your thread and I was curious as to how Winston made out through all this. My cat Rascal is going through Fatty Liver Disease right now, and I'm worried about him. He's been hospitalized, and they put a feeding tube in, but Rascal pulled it out himself that same day. Then when we went to see him the next day, we got him to eat a little on his own. They released him from the hospital, because they figured we would have better luck getting him to eat. He's been home for a few days now, and he ate a little on his own, but we started the force feeding with the syringe process yesterday because he wasn't eating enough. I was curious as to how Winston is now, and how long you continued to force feed him. Thanks