Hindleg: Our Cat With Fatty Liver Suddenly Started Limping On The Back Legs

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macadamia12

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Hi guys,

We did do a online consult with a vet on Sunday and he gave us some ideas on what could be going on. We took Mac to our local vet first thing this morning. They diagnosed him with cellulitis infection on one of the back legs. Vet said this probably happened due to poor immune system caused by fatty liver. they were able to shave his leg and remove a lot of abscess and give antibiotics and some other medications. We are instructed to keep his leg clean and probably shower his back half two times a day.

The feeding tube wound site doesn't seem infected and what we thought as puss was actually food/vomit coming out from the wound site hole. This probably was the cause of the tube blockage as well.

We still have a long road ahead of us but we are a bit relieved that it was not a blood clot. His tube worked great today and were able to feed him his daily calories after we got back.

Seems like his limping was not a side effect of Miralex or any other drug, but we still will try to avoid unnecessary meds until we totally need to.

Thanks all for your support. I truly appreciate it.

Leomc123 Leomc123 ,

We do give him gebapantine on days we take him to the vet office. Do you know a natural alternative to this?

Thanks
 
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macadamia12

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Mac is 23 lbs.

How many calories should we be feeding him?

Right now, we are targeting 400 calories/day. Is that enough?

Also, do you think "Honest Kitchen's Grain-Free Chicken Recipe Dehydrated Cat Food" is OK for mac right now?

It has 576 calories per cup. We feed Mac 3/4th cup of that diluted with 2 cups of water everyday.

Here's the ingredient list
honestmeal.PNG


Thanks
 

denice

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The rule of thumb when helping a cat lose weight for avoiding fatty liver is 15 calories per pound of a cat's ideal weight. 400 calories a day is sufficient, as many calories as you can get in him without causing vomiting is good.

Any complete food is fine, the important thing is getting in enough calories without causing vomiting.
 

Leomc123

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Your more than welcome, i hope they helped with something the online vet, i am glad you guys found out what happened to his leg from the vet visit, i am happy that its not a clot and you found out what was going on his poor leg, and that the tube insertion site is not infected. Wishing all the best for mac and hoping mac recovers soon and that you guys have all the strength to pull through.
 
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macadamia12

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Any news on Mac hows he doing so far ?
Hi Leomc123 Leomc123 ,

This has been a good week for Mac. We were able to feed 400 to 500 calories per day. He is able to walk(although still limping). He doesn't urinate on himself anymore and either asks for help or goes to the box himself(we got him a new litter box with very low walls). He is still has a lot of puss in his infected leg and today one of the abscess exploded, so he is a bit off.

We are able to shower his back half everyday(as instructed by the Vet) to keep as clean as possible. He is still not eating,but overall we feel he is feeling better than last week. He is also able to poo a lot on daily basis, thanks to Smooth BM gold(Ayurvedic Medicine for constipation). He is also purring couple times a day.

We take him to the Vet on Wednesday and hoping for some great improvements in his liver value.

Thanks you all for your support and concern.
 

Leomc123

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Poor little mac "gives mac a gentle belly rub" , he looks so cute there in that pic. Its a good thing that the abscess opened now it can drain all the infection out. And i am glad to hear he is able to get up and do his own thing without assistance it sounds like a great improvement. Its a shame that he isn't eating still , but hopefully the diet he is on will help his liver to repair itself and not make the liver work too hard. All the best to mac and you guys praying you guys all pull through this. :vibes:
 
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macadamia12

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Furballsmom Furballsmom ,

Sorry guys, I haven't posted lately. Mac's liver is getting better and the tube has been also working great. But his leg infection has been worsening(despite us cleaning and changing his bandages atleast 2 times a day) to the point where the bone is melting away and it needs to be amputated.

Doc has given us a week to make the decision if we want to amputate or relieve him from his misery for good. He said most cats adapt but he is not too sure about mac due to his size and weight.

In addition to the leg issue, he also has severe constipation and bloating. We keep trying different food, remedies and medications but they stop working after a few days. This also affects how much we can tube feed him. He is still not eating.

We are exhausted emotionally and physically and not sure what to do. Letting him go would devastate us and wanting him to keep him with us will require this surgery and anesthesia when he is already dealing with his liver and chronic constipation. We also worry about the quality of his life after amputation.

We feel so angry, sad and helpless about being trapped on this fools paradise with limited options. We took him to the Vet as soon as we noticed his limping(4 weeks ago, it was a Friday) but the Vet didn't pay attention and made it worse by drawing blood from that leg. After that, he couldn't walk at all and kept peeing on himself all weekend. We took him back on Monday and the Vet said it was infected and gave antibiotics. He instructed us to wash the leg atleast once daily and keep it open. A week later, we took Mac back for checkup and he said to not wash it anymore and just clean with cotton everyday and keep the bandage. But now, he is saying the infection is eating his leg away. I just don't know to to comprehend all this.

I haven't felt so low in my life in a long time and will probably never be having any new pets in the future since it like losing ur own child. I hate this island.

Please help us make the right decision. I want to keep Mac and trying the next solution, but my husband(who is even more attached to Mac) thinks it would be selfish of us to make him go through this.

heres a pic of him cuddling from last week
20190510_191731 (1).jpg
 
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daftcat75

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If he’s still cuddling, he wants to go on. Cats are remarkably adaptable and I think Mac will figure out how to get on without the leg. If the bone is melting away, that must be painful. He’ll probably have relief being done with that.

For the constipation, can you give him a little Miralax mixed with the food? I don’t know that I would put anything else (a pat of butter) down the tube. Maybe you could add a little fish oil to the food to increase the fat content. Fattier meals can sometimes run through a cat a little faster. Or look for a food that already has a higher fat content.
 

daftcat75

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He’s probably not eating well on his own yet because of the constipation. Are you feeding him enough food? I know it has to be diluted to go down the tube. It may look like a lot. But when you remove the added water from his daily intake, is he eating enough to poop?
 
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macadamia12

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Thanks guys,

We have decided to call the vet first thing tomorrow morning and get the next available appt for the surgery. One thing we are concerned though is the pain after the surgery since the Vet said giving pain meds would be bad for his liver.

daftcat75 daftcat75 ,
We have been roughly feeding him between 300 to 400 calories a day. We are using honest meal kitchen since 1cup of the dry meal(before diluting) is 576 calories. On good days, when he poo's we feed him 1 cup diluted with 1.5 cups of water and on bad days we try atleast 2/3 cup. For constipation, we have been trying BM gold smooth(triphala), fish oil, pumpkin, coconut oil, egg yolk, goats milk probiotics, premo probiotic.

We also started giving laxapet from today. If Laxapet doesn't work, we will use miralax. We did try Miralax initially when he good his feeding tube but it caused too much straining and blood in his poop.
 

Furballsmom

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I am sending thoughts and prayers!
Hopefully the other vet you're consulting with has suggestions about pain meds :crossfingers:
 

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When the surgeon did bone and tendon surgery on my dog. He said he never gave pain medicine afterward because they were more likely to be quiet and not move around without it. Obviously he'd never been in pain. Fortunately, since we had to wait over a week from the time she tore up her leg until we could see him, our regular vet had given us pain meds for that. Since she'd never had them before she took them sparingly and there were some left to cover the first 24 hours after surgery. At that point the nerves are supposed to have quieted down some. In spite of the pain meds, she didn't try to run around after the surgery. The surgeon was a good surgeon, but he didn't know much of anything about pre or after care. My regular vet did.
 

daftcat75

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Thanks guys,

We have decided to call the vet first thing tomorrow morning and get the next available appt for the surgery. One thing we are concerned though is the pain after the surgery since the Vet said giving pain meds would be bad for his liver.

daftcat75 daftcat75 ,
We have been roughly feeding him between 300 to 400 calories a day. We are using honest meal kitchen since 1cup of the dry meal(before diluting) is 576 calories. On good days, when he poo's we feed him 1 cup diluted with 1.5 cups of water and on bad days we try atleast 2/3 cup. For constipation, we have been trying BM gold smooth(triphala), fish oil, pumpkin, coconut oil, egg yolk, goats milk probiotics, premo probiotic.

We also started giving laxapet from today. If Laxapet doesn't work, we will use miralax. We did try Miralax initially when he good his feeding tube but it caused too much straining and blood in his poop.
Does the vet have a formula for tube feeding? I'm concerned that Honest Kitchen is high carb (despite their claim otherwise) and low protein/low fat. The HK could certainly be constipating him. Can you try Fancy Feast Classic pates with him? Maybe not by tube though you certainly could. The turkey one at least blends up really smooth and probably would not need much additional water to push through the tube.
 

Leomc123

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Really sad to hear everything isnt going well with mac, and that his leg isnt going well at all. I understand this must be very hard on you and that you are trying. Yes surgery will help his leg if removed , but i hope and pray that he recovers after this. I see Mac has gone through alot already and i hope that mac will be able to cope and heal after the surgury. You will need to understand that there are not many pain medications available to cats as their metabolisim, body chemicals and blood is very different. I admire that you are willing to do everything to keep mac alive and healthy. I wish you all the best with mac, and i do pray he recovers and gets better because i know you do really love him alot.

Sometimes you can do everything you possibly can, spend all the money in the world to keep him alive in good faith because you love him, but please also consider his quality of life further down the track, in terms of pain and suffering.
I still comend you on your strength to help him keep pushing on because he deserves to be alive as much as we all deserve to be even if we are ill and sick and you are doing a wonderful job, in a situation with limited resources.

I pray to god and the angels in heaven to look after mac, to give him the strength to heal and repair himself during the recovery and that he becomes healthy again. And i also pray to god and his angels to guide you and give you strength to look after mac. God bless. This is a tough situation.
 
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macadamia12

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Thanks guys for all ur support, love and guidance. Mac is going in for his surgery this coming Thursday. He is showing some interest in food, drinking water and also eating catnip. He is also been able to poop(we have been giving him Lactaluse). He is purring 2 to 3 times a day and being cuddly and affectionate. Considering all this, we decided to move forward with the surgery. His leg however is becoming worse with each passing day.


K Kflowers ,

In our case, Mac's Vet would be doing the surgery as well. He is the most advanced Vet on our island and has been treating Mac ever since his fatty liver started. We have reached out to our homeopathic Vet to see if she can help. In addition to that, we have ordered CBD oil which is supposedly quite effective. We are still quite worried about the day after the surgery in case the Vet doesn't give any pain med at all. We do have some gebapentin.


daftcat75 daftcat75 ,

Vet recommended sciencediet a/d but we decided to stop using it. I was worried about the carb content in HK but still decided to use it because of it smoothness and high caloric value. Since yesterday, we have been feeding him (2 cans of) RAWZ chicken & chicken liver pate(we had ordered that a while ago actually after reading one of ur posts) with 1/3rd cup of HK. We got some fancy feasts too.


Leomc123 Leomc123

Thanks Leomc123 for you kind words. I appreciate you guidance, support and prayers during this tough phase. We are taking it day by day and being hopeful that we are making the right decision. But if at any point, we feel quality of his life is severely compromised then we are ready to toughen up and make the hard decision. He is still able to walk even though his leg is so weak and torn up that we are hopeful, he will develop the strength in his remaining limbs and adapt. It seems like he has almost stopped using the infected leg and is just dragging it without putting much weight onto it. We feel like he wants to live and hence are willing to do as much as possible to save him as his parents.

I will keep you guys posted.
 
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