Hepatic lipidosis (fatty liver) question

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Complick8d

Complick8d

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Long story short... My friends cat suddenly stopped eating on Friday or Saturday. He spent Saturday night at the ER vet. Blood work showed some increases in liver and pancreas values. My guess would be pancreatitis or IBD recurring. He received fluids and meds, etc. They took the cat home on Sunday and he went into hiding and still won't eat. He returned to the vet this morning and they did more bloodwork (although I don't know what for and I don't think they are testing for pancreatitis). He still won't eat anything. I mentioned fatty liver and the possible need to syringe feed, but my friend thinks I'm just being a naysayer and even told me if I know so much then I should've become a vet. By this point, shouldn't there be more of a push to try and get nourishment into him? His electrolytes are clearly off since he was given injections of potassium, etc. today. I know she clearly doesn't want to hear advice, but for my own personal knowledge, is there a time frame for fatty liver or other ailments related to anorexia kicking in? Maybe I'm nuts, or maybe my vets are overly cautious, but I seem to remember any time Willow refuses food for longer than a day or two, the vet gets concerned starts wanting to intervene (fluids, meds, syringe feeds if necessary).
 
I just got back from visiting Musette at the ER not sure is this helps but she had only gone without eating for 24 hours and they started syringe feeding her, if she hasn't started eating by tomorrow we are putting in an e-tube. If that helps with some kind of time frame at least from what is happening with Musette which sounds a lot like your friends cat except of course Musette has ketones and is diabetic.

Mel, Maxwell, Musette, Autumn & The Fur Gang
 
MommaOfMuse said:
I just got back from visiting Musette at the ER not sure is this helps but she had only gone without eating for 24 hours and they started syringe feeding her, if she hasn't started eating by tomorrow we are putting in an e-tube. If that helps with some kind of time frame at least from what is happening with Musette which sounds a lot like your friends cat except of course Musette has ketones and is diabetic.
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Thanks Mel. I'm sorry you're going through this with Musette. :( Yes, this is helpful.
 
I would syringe feed to get nourishment, as I think that's most important too. I'm going through that right now and it is definitely better to be safe about it, besides, what can it hurt? Mine has hepatic lipidosis with an e-tube in place after 3 days without interest in food. Right now we're trying to get as much nourishment in him as possible, and it is a challenge. If "force feeding" a few times a day could have prevented his now anerexoia (with added complications because of it) I would definitely go back and try it! All the luck to you.
 
I think the other issue in this situation is that she trusts her vet so much that she doesn't ask questions. The cat had diarrhea and vomiting issues last year and the vet seemed pretty positive it was IBD. He treated the symptoms at the time and gave an antibiotic, but didn't send her home with any further treatment or a plan in place to try to manage it or future attacks. She was fine with that. So now, she's in the situation she's in.
 
I went through this last year and believe it could have been prevented if Gus had been put on pain meds for the pancreatitis, but he wasn't. They kept screwing around with pepcid, antibiotics and yes - the dreaded steroids. Buprenex probably would have done the trick, we had to learn that the hard way with him almost dying and with a hospital bill in the thousands not to mention the emotional tole.

The other thing that helped Gus greatly - a plasma transfusion. That cat was like new after the plasma. Subq fluids also helped.

What didn't work and made things worse - the medication Ursidol. It is great for some cats, but it made Gus stop eating again.

Another great medication - Cerenia - either tablet or injectable, however this didn't stop the pain of the pancreatitis, just the stomach upset.

I syringe fed Gus, but he still developed hepatic lipsidoses. Now when I see any hint of trouble I dope him up on Buprenex because I now know how incredibly painful pancreatitis is. He tolerates Buprenex so we have a bottle of it in the house.

Another thing - because Gus also has IBD, I changed all his foods, got rid of Fancy Feast which was a huge culprit. I figured out what caused the inflammation - in his case I suspect artificial flavors.

Good luck to your friend's kitty.
 
She sent me a text message this morning thanking me for my advice. Apparently by following it, she was able to get him to eat a little. After she questioned the vet based on info I'd given her, he finally gave her some info and a treatment plan for the moment. He wants to do an ultrasound, to rule other things out, but pancreatitis and IBD seem likely (duh!).
 
The unflavored Pedialyte can help with electrolyte balance. I got the store brand without zinc added as I thought it was a better choice ( I wasn't sure about the zinc thing). Pepcid ac has helped alot (1/2 tab of 10mg) with frequent small feedings given, about 3 cc every 1/2 hour or so. I wait about an hour before feeding after administration. He does do better about 6 hours after the pepcid ac and can handle alot more food- 15-20cc- 40cc given slowly at one time, if the small doses can't be given earlier. Hope this helps.
 
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