Cat With Liver Failure

[Dframackey]

Okay so im very desperate right now and i really wanted to discuss this topic with other cat owners
My kitty Faith (7 years old) just spent two weeks on treatment for a bad case of respiratory condition (something like a flu, im not very sure about the correct name to call it since i speak spanish)
okay, so after the first week of treatment she was almost all good, and jusr two days after it finished she started again having trouble breathing and sneezing a lot. So the doctor gave her another treatment, and again, she got better the first days and like 3 days after that i noticed how she didn't slept during the night, havint an unusual appetite (she ate more than 2 cans of food a day and she never does that), started drooling a bit and even if her cold was better i could see there was something wrong. We took her for blood tests and the doctor explained us she had liver failure but said that it was treatable and she was gonna be okay. The day we took her blood test we didnt give her any kind of medicine, and she was definitely looking better and did sleep for a while. Second day when the results came in was the day we started the treatment for liver, and after the medicine she looked even better and was eating okay and everything, but just yesterday after treatment, she started to look sad again, we offered food and she didnt wanted, and even if we did feed her she looks very thin. Her nose is costipated again and well.. Im not sure what to do now, since its hard to trust all the vet says all the time... Is it weird to think the treatment is not working this early? Im sorry, i literally havent slept in 4 days since shes been like this...m
Best regards

 

[Antonio65]

Hi and welcome!

It would be helpful to know what medicines for the flu your vet gave to your Faith. And the dosage. So we can understand if something can relate to the other symptoms you noticed.

If Faith has a liver failure, it needs several weeks to see any improvement, if any, after starting a treatment.
Meanwhile it's mandatory that the cat eats her minimum amount of food daily. A cat that does not eat is prone to develop a liver condition called Hepatic Lipidosis, very dangerous and likely to cause even death.
Can you post the blood test you did to Faith?

 

[Dframackey]

Thank you so much for your answer and welcome!
Okay.. So its gonna be a bit hard for me to explain the treatment i got, since im from Mexico, everything's in spanish
She got the first week of treatment a medicine called peniestren, the box says its composed by flumethasone, dipyrone and m "guayacol" (i couldnt find the english term for this) 0.5ml a day... I have the box but i'm not very sure how to provide you the right info about this, im very sorry... But if theres any specification you want i could try. Okay so the first week that was the dosage, but the second one, another doctor changed her dosage for 1ml every 12 hours, it was a bit more but she did got better the first days... And thats when she stopped sleeping....
Im waiting right now for the doctor to send me the blood tests, meanwhile, after spending a really bad night, i see that she is in a slightly better mood, since she's eating, she purrs and went to the litter box by herself... She's not drinking water though, so ive been adding a bit to her wet food.
During night, she had very strong spams while sleeping, but kept waking up several times because of the stuffy nose.. Ahh i just hope im being too worry about her and that she's actually getting better slowly.

 

[Dframackey]

If it works , or someone can help me translating, here are the treatment she's under now

 

[Antonio65]

She got the first week of treatment a medicine called peniestren, the box says its composed by flumethasone, dipyrone and m "guayacol" (i couldnt find the english term for this) 0.5ml a day...

I couldn't find any "peniestren" on the web...
Anyway, it contains a very powerful corticosteroid, a pain killer and a substance that should be a mild pain killer too, but according to wikipedia, if taken orally, could give stomach irritation.
I don't know anything about this drug.
I think, I'm not a vet, that a respiratory infection should be treated with an antibiotic too. And it seems that your vet didn't give anything like this.

I don't know the medicine you mentioned, but I think that there's a label to inform how much of it must be given to a pet based on its weight.

She's not drinking water though, so ive been adding a bit to her wet food.

I might guess that with the amount of corticosteroid and not drinking, Faith could be dehydrated, and I don't think that the water you add to her wet food is enough to balance her dehydration.

If I were you, and if yo uhave the chance, I'd take faith to a second vet and have a second opinion and maybe a different therapy.

The other supplements the vet gave you are for the liver. Anyway, as I wrote earlier, it could take weeks to see an improvement, provided that Faith keeps eating the minimum amount of food.

No problem for the language, I'm not English either, I'm Italian

 

[LTS3]

Here's the web site for the Trihepat: Trihepat - Labyes

According to the web site, the product is a "protector and regenerator of the hepatic cell, with choleretic and cholagogic action. Reactivates and enhances hepatobiliary functions. 100% natural origin". Suggested dosage is 4 ml for every 15 kg of weight, 3 times a day

Here's the web site for the Extracto de Higado, translated into English: Google Translate

The product is "indicated for the prevention and treatment of vitamin B complex deficiencies in all animal species. It acts as an antianemic and hematopoietic agent.' Suggested dosage is 0.5-2 mL by IM.

Both products are just supplements. I'm not sure if they are enough for a liver issue and respiratory issue.

Is there another vet you can go to?

 

[Dframackey]

Here's the web site for the Trihepat: Trihepat - Labyes

According to the web site, the product is a "protector and regenerator of the hepatic cell, with choleretic and cholagogic action. Reactivates and enhances hepatobiliary functions. 100% natural origin". Suggested dosage is 4 ml for every 15 kg of weight, 3 times a day

Here's the web site for the Extracto de Higado, translated into English: Google Translate

The product is "indicated for the prevention and treatment of vitamin B complex deficiencies in all animal species. It acts as an antianemic and hematopoietic agent.' Suggested dosage is 0.5-2 mL by IM.

Both products are just supplements. I'm not sure if they are enough for a liver issue and respiratory issue.

Is there another vet you can go to?

i cant really go to another Vet for the moment, ive tried two and i'm a freelancer who hasnt been working this weeks to take care of her...
Here are the blood tests...

 

[Dframackey]

 

[Antonio65]

The liver levels are out of range, that's true. Your vet has to understand the reason for this disease. The supplements he gave you couldn't be enough to solve the problem quickly.
The total bilirubine is slightly high, this might mean that the bile is a bit thick. There are pills that help the bile to get more fluid. It could help the liver.

I'm more worried for the CBC (hematología), very low red cell and platelets, too high white cell.
I hope someone expert will chime in and give an interpretation of those levels.

 

[Faikey]

Okay so im very desperate right now and i really wanted to discuss this topic with other cat owners
My kitty Faith (7 years old) just spent two weeks on treatment for a bad case of respiratory condition (something like a flu, im not very sure about the correct name to call it since i speak spanish)
okay, so after the first week of treatment she was almost all good, and jusr two days after it finished she started again having trouble breathing and sneezing a lot. So the doctor gave her another treatment, and again, she got better the first days and like 3 days after that i noticed how she didn't slept during the night, havint an unusual appetite (she ate more than 2 cans of food a day and she never does that), started drooling a bit and even if her cold was better i could see there was something wrong. We took her for blood tests and the doctor explained us she had liver failure but said that it was treatable and she was gonna be okay. The day we took her blood test we didnt give her any kind of medicine, and she was definitely looking better and did sleep for a while. Second day when the results came in was the day we started the treatment for liver, and after the medicine she looked even better and was eating okay and everything, but just yesterday after treatment, she started to look sad again, we offered food and she didnt wanted, and even if we did feed her she looks very thin. Her nose is costipated again and well.. Im not sure what to do now, since its hard to trust all the vet says all the time... Is it weird to think the treatment is not working this early? Im sorry, i literally havent slept in 4 days since shes been like this...m
Best regards

Okay Ihave treated 3 cats with liver failure and its not a loss cause. First get the f/d cat canned food. Most vets carry his and its amazing for liver failure, If the cat is refusing to eat get a syringe and begin slowly feeding him the FD diet, eventually you'll be able to just warm it on a plate. Next is liver medication. You'll probably will have to do this twice a day. A pill popper is efficient. Or if you're comfortable you can literally shove it down the throat. It isn't that hard..have a vet show you. Keep him isolated. And get pads. The cat will have difficulty using the litter box. Next make sure you ask the vet for IVbags and needles it costs approxiatemely 19 dollars for this. Pinch the scruff of the neck or any area of the body you can feel a lot of loose skin and gently insert the needle through the skin in the pinched area as to not harm the actual cats muscles or anything. Have a vet show you this. You will have to give him 100mL or 200mL twice a day. Pinch the back of his neck to check for hydration. I brought cats back from the bring of death doing this even when the vet told me he would literally be dead in days if I didn't get a feeding tube installed.

 

[Faikey]

Also cats going through liver failure do have similar blood results but you have to do some difficult things. Feed every 4 hours.. force feeding may be required and you can do this by putting the syringe on the inside under the upper lip as to avoid checking. Closing their mouth and blowing air into the throat makes a cat swallow. You can do this!!

 

[Faikey]

The liver levels are out of range, that's true. Your vet has to understand the reason for this disease. The supplements he gave you couldn't be enough to solve the problem quickly.
The total bilirubine is slightly high, this might mean that the bile is a bit thick. There are pills that help the bile to get more fluid. It could help the liver.

I'm more worried for the CBC (hematología), very low red cell and platelets, too high white cell.
I hope someone expert will chime in and give an interpretation of those levels.

These levels are common with liver failure. They are quickly fixed by fd diet liver medication and IV fluids.

 

[Dframackey]

Thank you do much for your answers!
Okay so this is what happened
I took her two days ago to her vet appointment and the doctor said she is not dehydrated, so i was about to leave the vet until he decided to check her gums
Her teeth didnt look that bad but the gum was, so he told me.. That very probably she wasn't eating because she was in pain because of that
We decided to remove the bad teeth in that moment, and even if i was very scared because she was pretty thin
She did start eating normally that night!
She's been gaining weight by now!
She is in a much better mood and stopped the drooling, she breaths well during day and durint night i do have to turn on the heather or else she do gets a stuffy nose (not that bad as before, though)

im very happy to see her better, im still worried by her liever but we will continue the treatment and repeat the tests in a couple weeks
Thank you so much for your advices!!!!
I will keep you posted !!

Also cats going through liver failure do have similar blood results but you have to do some difficult things. Feed every 4 hours.. force feeding may be required and you can do this by putting the syringe on the inside under the upper lip as to avoid checking. Closing their mouth and blowing air into the throat makes a cat swallow. You can do this!!

 

[Dframackey]

Okay Ihave treated 3 cats with liver failure and its not a loss cause. First get the f/d cat canned food. Most vets carry his and its amazing for liver failure

oh! And im gonna make sure to ask for this!

 

[Faikey]

I noticed her teeth were pulled. Please make sure she is on a coarse of anti biotic right away. Tooth extraction can lead to an infection that can cause total renal failure. I've seen it happen with 3 cats

 

[Dframackey]

Yes! She is on antibiotics right now, i will keep her very watched! A sign of infection would be fever right? Thank you!

I noticed her teeth were pulled. Please make sure she is on a coarse of anti biotic right away. Tooth extraction can lead to an infection that can cause total renal failure. I've seen it happen with 3 cats

 

[Dframackey]

So heres an update...
The doctor told me we should stop the treatment since one of her kidneys got swollen and, while shes been eating very well, she still has other symptoms
She still has a stuffy nose and breaths with sone difficulty
She's doing green stools but no diarrhea and no vomit. She is not dehydrated
She was on a diet of boiled chicken
She has very good appetite but just started to eat littler...
The other day, just for a day, she had a very bright yellow pee. Now her pee is normal again
And while she still cleans herself and walks when she has to, she doesnt have a lot of energy and does look a bit unconfortable
So the doctor told me about anemia, but as much as I asked him he wouldnt give it much importance and didnt gave me a treatment for that (im not sure if theres a treatment?)
she has fleas right now and i was wondering how can i get rid of them?
i really want to see my Faith happy again

 

[Antonio65]

Fleas and anemia don't go together well.
You sould get rid of the fleas, but if Faith is unwell, any flea treatment could be dangerous.
And yes, there's a treatment for anemia, but takes weeks to be effective.

It sounds to me that your doctor isn't caring about Faith anymore. I think you should see another vet and have a second opinion.
Also, a liver treatment can't be really effective after only two or three weeks. Stopping it now is like never starting it at all.

 

[daftcat75]

Is she eating only boiled chicken? That's not nutritionally balanced. You'll get mutiple nutritional deficiencies feeding only meat. If this is all she'll eat, please get a vitamin pre-mix like Alnutrin or EZ Complete to balance this food and get her all the nutrition she needs. Or get the f/d that was recommended by other posters. She should be eating balanced food, not just meat.

 

[Dframackey]

I wanted to tell you in case you were worried, that after treating her for fleas and eating normally, Faith is now super well! :') she is happy and playing again! I wish i could get some more nutritious food for her but its so hard to find in Mexico! So ive been giving her regular canned food for cats + boiled chicken 4 times a week and she loves it! She is very healthy now! Im happy!