Snoops mom
Member
My 15+ yr old (NON Diabetic) cat Raven hasn't been feeling too well lately, sleeping a lot, not eating well and then she vomited, not unusual for most cats to vomit once in awhile but it is unusual for her (she may have vomited more than once, I've got 3 cats and one of them often regurgitates her meal when she eats too fast, so I'm not always sure who threw up)
anyway, took her to the vet and got blood work done, got the results today. Her ALT is double what it should be (or was it dble the highest value on the ref range? either way, it's not right)
otherwise everything on her blood work looked ok, so her vet said maybe it's from dental disease, so we'll get her teeth cleaned (she's had them done several times since I adopted her at age 10 +, but she'd never had them done before that) and then she'll go on an antibiotic, and then we'll see if the ALT comes down,
oh and recheck her thyroid because HyperT can cause an elevated ALT as well and she's got early signs of hyperT (increased heart rate, variable appetite and some wt loss in the past year, but not recently)
as I said, she's at least 15yrs old, and I'm just not sure what to do. My vet fund is totally wiped out and I don't know how much more all the tests are going to be, but it is a lot of money just to get her to the vets ($30 round trip cab/car fare)
I don't want her to spend her final days sick, and I don't know if her liver issue can be resolved, the treatment plan is to try to rule out the more common causes, but she could have something more serious going on, and all of this could be for naught.
This is one of the hardest decisions I've ever faced. I have had cats with kidney disease and diabetes and IBD but this is my first time with a cat with a liver problem.
It seems that cats with liver issues only continue to go downhill, regardless of what is done for them, but that's just my overall impression, I don't know if that's a fact or just the way it seems, since all cats are going to get older and leave us someday anyway.
With the kidney diseased cats, I knew that the disease was progressive and I would eventually lose them, but I continued to treat for as long as I could. Looking back on it now, I can see that I continued to do more than what was probably best for the cat, only because I *could*.
There are so many ways that a cat's life can be extended now, but just because something can be done, doesn't mean it should be done. There's the whole quality of life issue.
Not saying her QOL is bad right now, but it's not wonderful either.
anyway, took her to the vet and got blood work done, got the results today. Her ALT is double what it should be (or was it dble the highest value on the ref range? either way, it's not right)
otherwise everything on her blood work looked ok, so her vet said maybe it's from dental disease, so we'll get her teeth cleaned (she's had them done several times since I adopted her at age 10 +, but she'd never had them done before that) and then she'll go on an antibiotic, and then we'll see if the ALT comes down,
oh and recheck her thyroid because HyperT can cause an elevated ALT as well and she's got early signs of hyperT (increased heart rate, variable appetite and some wt loss in the past year, but not recently)
as I said, she's at least 15yrs old, and I'm just not sure what to do. My vet fund is totally wiped out and I don't know how much more all the tests are going to be, but it is a lot of money just to get her to the vets ($30 round trip cab/car fare)
I don't want her to spend her final days sick, and I don't know if her liver issue can be resolved, the treatment plan is to try to rule out the more common causes, but she could have something more serious going on, and all of this could be for naught.
This is one of the hardest decisions I've ever faced. I have had cats with kidney disease and diabetes and IBD but this is my first time with a cat with a liver problem.
It seems that cats with liver issues only continue to go downhill, regardless of what is done for them, but that's just my overall impression, I don't know if that's a fact or just the way it seems, since all cats are going to get older and leave us someday anyway.
With the kidney diseased cats, I knew that the disease was progressive and I would eventually lose them, but I continued to treat for as long as I could. Looking back on it now, I can see that I continued to do more than what was probably best for the cat, only because I *could*.
There are so many ways that a cat's life can be extended now, but just because something can be done, doesn't mean it should be done. There's the whole quality of life issue.
Not saying her QOL is bad right now, but it's not wonderful either.
