Gallbladder And Liver

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Ileinaa

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Oh believe me I know the foods not great for him. He's on the pate. When Cassie was alive they were both on Weruva chicken in gravy. He stopped eating it after she died. Depression I think. Looking back I think her death is when all the digestion and constipation issues started. He was absolutely heartbroken and really stressed for months. He was then on Fussie Cat Chicken untill all this craziness began. I spent hours pouring over cat food nutrition charts to find a good food that fit our budget before I decided on the Weruva and then again for the Fussie Cat. After the first bad round of constipation and enema he got super picky about food and he actually ate the Hill's I/D which I thought at the time was more important than anything. Something's better than nothing. I'll see if he's more receptive to something better now.

As much as I'd love to give him Tiki Cat it's very expensive. Almost 20 cents an ounce more than the prescription food he's on. What do you think about Hound and Gatos chicken or turkey formulas? Those are actually a tiny bit cheaper than his prescription food and seem to have appropriate ingredients. I'll just need to find somewhere that carries it before I buy a whole case from Chewy. It'd be my luck he'd hate it.

He's not much of a drinker so he gets extra water added to his wet food. I measure it every time. He gets at least 1/4 cup additional water every day in his food. I up the water when he seems to be having constipation issues. I've tried everything to encourage drinking. He's got 2 different bowls and a fountain that he won't even look at. I've put all kinds of things in the water to get him to drink. He's a stubborn little booger.
 

daftcat75

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Hound and Gatos is another good recipe. I have a couple of cans “on the bench.” Whenever Krista gets fussy and stops eating, I need to pull a reserve off the bench to tempt her with something new. We haven’t tried it yet. Right now she’s having dental issues and is actually preferring Canidae from the reserve stash. Figures she’d like a discontinued food. I found her a few more cans to get us through this.
 
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Ileinaa

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So, I ordered SAMe from a compound pharmacy in liquid form. I thought it would be easier than pills. Today was his first dose of the liquid since we are out of the pills. The stuff must taste awful as soon as I gave it to him the slobber just came pouring out. I feel terrible. Also, its a suspension in oil. That was not specified when I ordered it. Now I'm terrified he has or will aspirate it. Any hints on how I can get him to take this easier or should I just purchase pills instead?
 
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Ileinaa

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Update time. Fawkes bilirubin numbers have come down to normal. His ALT (liver) has come down to 264 (was above 2000). Big improvement. I have however not been able to get any more than half his liver medicine in him for almost 5 days now. He fights me at every turn. The liquid makes him hyper salivate so most of the medicine just runs back out. I cant mix it with food because it has to be taken on an empty stomach. I've tried though, figuring that some medicine in him is better than none. He won't eat the food. I tried the pills. Those too make him hyper salivate and gag the pill right back out. I've hid them in little bits of food, cheese, mayo and food paste treats. He's on to that tactic. He figured out the pill pockets long ago. I've purchase empty gel capsules. The liquid form is a no go for those. It takes 5 capsules to hold all the liquid. I've tried putting the pills in them and it takes 3 to hold one chopped up dose of the pills. I've watched about 100 videos on youtube with tips on pilling and ideas to hide them. Nothing works. I'm at a loss and so frustrated and he's miserable.

Sorry, I just kind of needed to vent my frustration. If anyone has any brilliant ideas please please let me know.
 

daftcat75

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264 isn't bad. ALT is non-specific for inflammation and it could be anywhere. It could be dental disease or intestinal inflammation or even acute muscle trauma. Krista's last result was right around there and her Dr said that it's not so elevated that we have to get aggressive with it. It's a wait-and-see number. If you know there's inflammation elsewhere (dental disease or intestinal inflammation being the two most common suspects), go after those first. You could ask your vet if you can give him a couple of weeks rest from the liver medicine and re-test to see if the medicine is even making a difference. Did you switch his food like you were talking about? That alone could have made the difference if the new food isn't insulting his gut like the old food was.
 
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Ileinaa

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He started on his new food last weekend (chewy delivery was delayed due to weather). His blood test was Monday. I'm not sure if that would be time enough to have any effect on the numbers. He had a dental 6 months ago. She said his teeth look fine. Even if he needed one I don't know that I would put him through that again. The recovery was terrible for him unfortunately. ALL of this started about a month after that dental.
Keep in mind that that ALT is down from the >2000 previously. It was so high the machine couldn't even register the actual amount. I'd rather it not go back up which is why the difficulty with the liver medication is upsetting. I spoke to her about the intestinal inflammation and after consulting with colleagues she doesn't think that is the cause due to the number being so very high. She said it will test high with inflammation but not over 20 times higher than normal. She still thinks the gall bladder is the culprit.
 

Jenny22

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He started on his new food last weekend (chewy delivery was delayed due to weather). His blood test was Monday. I'm not sure if that would be time enough to have any effect on the numbers. He had a dental 6 months ago. She said his teeth look fine. Even if he needed one I don't know that I would put him through that again. The recovery was terrible for him unfortunately. ALL of this started about a month after that dental.
Keep in mind that that ALT is down from the >2000 previously. It was so high the machine couldn't even register the actual amount. I'd rather it not go back up which is why the difficulty with the liver medication is upsetting. I spoke to her about the intestinal inflammation and after consulting with colleagues she doesn't think that is the cause due to the number being so very high. She said it will test high with inflammation but not over 20 times higher than normal. She still thinks the gall bladder is the culprit.
Did you ever figure out what the issue was or how to resolve it? I know it's been about 3 years, so I'm so sorry if replying to this now is triggering. I was searching threads specific to gallbladder and elevated liver enzymes though my cat does have fatty liver - just not sure what caused her to stop eating yet. I've been trying to gather as much useful information along the way as possible and became invested in your thread.
 
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