Anyone have experience with Fatty Liver Disease?

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BobsMom

BobsMom

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My civvie Lola has been on a feeding tube since 10/24/2011 and does not seem to be getting any better. Not eating on her own at all. Still drooling and nauseous. She is getting clavamox, was on cerenia for a week, is getting pepcid everyday and mirtazapine every third day. She has an appointment for Saturday to have blood work done to find out how she is progressing.

Any thoughts or ideas, or your feeding tube stories. Anything would be appreciated.


Thanks,
Nancy
 
Yes, to some degree.

What is the cause of her inappetance? Why is she drooling and nauseous??? That does not sound like fatty liver. However, clavamox made my civie nauseous and inappetant. Are you giving her pepcid ac for the nausea? Fluids at all? What does your vet say?

Good luck!!

Jen
 
No one seems to know the cause, but we did do a lot of remodelling before this happened with furniture deliveries and alot of people in the house so I was thinking maybe that was the reason for stopping eating. She has not eaten without a feeding tube since at least 10/21. She was very jaundiced and blood work showed it was FLD. They did an ultrasound that showed no masses. She spent three days in the hospital. They had her on IV fluids and put in the feeding tube. She does not show signs of nausea until I feed her through the tube, then she drools (alot!).

She is getting 28cc's of A/D 4 times a day and I am flushing the tube with 2 cc's of water before feeding and 3cc's after feeding.

I took her back to the vet on Monday to have her dressing changed and it appears that she is less jaundiced. I will know more on Saturday, but I am very nervous for her.

Nancy
 
my cat went through fatty liver..... it was over 3 weeks before she started eating on her own. Literally one day she just started. Keep it up, as long as you keep getting the calories in it should fix itself..... just takes time unfortunately. We tube fed during the day and left really enticing food out at night and kept her locked up, and one morning the food was just gone....
 
How much water are you using to thin that a/d to get it down the tube? Ask the vet for Clinicare.......liquid high potency food and use that to thin the A/D. Autumn didn't eat for 9 weeks, no reason ever found, and I tube fed her only Clinicare. Some cats can take a long time before starting to eat on their own again.
 
Thanks, I was just nervous because it's been a few weeks. She is holding everything down. She has not vomited once since being on the feeding tube.

I dont't mix the AD with anything. I blend for two minutes and it has a thin consistancy. I will ask the Dr. about Clinicare when she goes in for her appointment on Saturday.


Thanks again.

Nancy
 
I can take a while for them to start eating. I had to syringe my Joey for about 2 1/2 month before he would eat on his own. I fostered him from the shelter since I like him and he reminded by of my GG (GA) but he would not eat at all in the shelter. I also syringe fed another foster from the shelter for about 2
1/2 months.

I would discontinue the mirtazapine and just rely on tube feeding.
 
I tried to post earlier from my phone but couldn't. I've been active on the Yahoo Feline Assisted Feeding group since mid 2008. My cat Maverick almost died from FHL. Renovations is a reason your cat could have stopped eating. Anything that caused your cat stress. Have you joined this group? It is dedicated to owners assist feeding their cats just like this board is the experts on diabetes. I suggest you join asap.

The drugs your cat is on aren't the best for recovering from FHL. When you join the FAF group you will have access to some files to bring with you to your vet. Cerenia is good for acute vomiting but not good for general nausea from FHL. FHL is horribly nauseating. Your cat should NOT be on Mirtz at all. It would be like giving you an appetite stimulant when you have the flu. You may not be vomiting, you are still nauseated and pile an appetite stimulant on top of it. So discontinue this tonight.

The cornerstones of FHL treatment are:
1. Calories. These are medicine. You have to feed enough calories that your cat doesn't lose any more weight. The liver has to clear from being clogged with fat. Do you have a baby scale you can weigh your cat on? One that weighs to the ounce not a human scale? We have links on FAF on where to get inexpensive scales. Recovery RS and MaxCal are high in calories. AD is not. Even Wellness Chicken has more calories and can be used if blended well enough and strained.'

2. Antinausea medication. Ondansetron/Zofran or dolasetron are the most recommended. Reglan/Metoclopromide may be suggested by your vet but this will not work on cats for nausea unless the cause is stomach motility issues (throwing up food many hours after eating).

3. Liver supplements like Marin, denosyl or denamarin. It has proven to improve survivability.

4. Time. Do not push a cat to eat on their own or give appetite stimulants. They will eat when they are feeling better. Pushing a cat to eat can cause food aversions and you may have a cat that will not eat even after their liver is healed. Trust me on this. One cat on the FAF board had a cat with a PEG tube for three years. One day he started eating again. Food aversion is not something to play with. You have the tube, you should focus only on tube feeding for a couple of weeks. Then you slowly reintroduce foods before feedings, cut back on feedings and/or cut out feedings and only use tube feedings to supplement. It will be a like a switch is flicked and just one day he's eating enough. You keep the tube in for a full week after they are eating for peace of mind.

5. Pepcid. Some cats you do add pepcid with 1/4 of a Pepcid AC 10mg tablet to help with stomach acid. This does not help nausea.

Maverick's story is in my signature. It is my legacy to him, to educate owners on FHL so they never have to fight it themselves. I know he saves lives by me telling his story. But also to help people get through it. I had amazing people helping me and he would have died without FAF. I learned about online communities and found FDMB through them also. Amazing people.
 
Hi! My kitty Garland had Fatty Liver Disease in August. She was on a feeding tube for over a month. It takes time for the liver to repair itself. Garland actually got worse the first week home and then slowly got better. She was just laying there, barely able to move for at least 2 weeks, maybe longer. It was a month before she was eating on her own. You are doing great!! Its a lot of hard work, but worth it in the end. Garland is back to her normal self, as if she was never sick now.

I blended her cans of Recovery with Clinicare instead of water for extra calories. Fed 30-36cc every 3-4 hours 24 hours a day. In my spreadsheet if you look at august, you can see her feedings on there. I started writing them down the 2nd week she was home with her tube. If you have any questions ask anytime! She didnt take an appetite stimulent (mitzo). Only anit-nausea meds (Started w an Onder... (?) ) and Pepcid

Karrie is very knowledgeable. She helped me and Garland so much with her expertise and support. I couldnt have gotten through our FHL crisis without her
 
Karrie, thank you so much. I am going to print this out and take it with me to the Vet tomorrow. I will join the yahoo group tonight when I get home from work. Hearing your stories about how long this can take, actually makes me feel alot better. I will keep everyone posted.


Thanks again,
Nancy
 
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