Hepatic lipidosis and now they are saying gastroenteritis…. Long but need feedback

[mrsgreenjeens]

Even with the feeding tube in, she CAN still eat on her own, even dry food if she will. You can always try it if she doesn't want it watered down. Whatever you do, don't remove that tube too soon. And perhaps you can ask the Vet to cut that tube down a bit. It does seem awfully long!

Glad she seems to be improving.

 

[FeralHearts]

I'm so happy to read those improvements!!!

Are those feedings you listed once a day volumes?

And yes with what @ mrsgreenjeens said. Eating is eating.

I hope you are feeling better - and that baby girl Lilly continues to improve!

 

[Vellamint]

I'm so happy to read those improvements!!!

Are those feedings you listed once a day volumes?

And yes with what @ mrsgreenjeens said. Eating is eating.

I hope you are feeling better - and that baby girl Lilly continues to improve!

Those volumes are three times a day..

 

[Vellamint]

Also… I don’t know if I said that she has pancreatitis in one part of her pancreas. And she’s always been a poor poor eater of wet food.
Bloodwork scheduled for Friday. She’s eaten a tooth full of tuna fish twice now. Once yesterday and once the day before.
She looks so miserable.

 

[silent meowlook]

Is she on pain meds for the pancreatitis?

 

[Vellamint]

Is she on pain meds for the pancreatitis?

No. They said they didn’t want to depress her respiratory system. The pancreatitis was shown on 1/4 of her pancreas……I hope she’s not in pain! I’m following up my personal vet on Friday. I’ll ask him….

 

[FeralHearts]

How are you all doing this week? Hopefully more improvements, or stability. *fingers crossed*

 

[Vellamint]

How are you all doing this week? Hopefully more improvements, or stability. *fingers crossed*

She seems to have stabilized. Had the one week blood draw and will get the results from my primary tomorrow and the specialist on Monday. Sadly my primary does not have much experience with this so although I wanted to transfer her care to him….. I’ll only be able to use him for the bloodwork.
She’s been eaten a teeny bit of wet food the past 3 days

and today 3 pieces of kibble. Not much but a start.
I hate hate the collar. She looks so uncomfortable and the tube is so long I’m still very much afraid it’s going to catch on something and get yanked out. We’ve put a hair tie on it but still….
Discontinuing the Lactulose. Cutting the potassium to twice a day and pending blood results may discontinue that. She is definitely more alert.
I’m exhausted.

 

[FeralHearts]

She's looking good and she is beautiful!

Glad to hear at least she's stabilized - that's something and eating is eating so also good progress really... so yes.. positive start.

Nice that's she's more alert too.

*fingers crossed on the bloodwork*

Having a specialist review the bloodwork is still good. You're doing what you can and that's pretty awesome.

I hate hate the collar. She looks so uncomfortable and the tube is so long I’m still very much afraid it’s going to catch on something and get yanked out. We’ve put a hair tie on it but still….

I can relate. One of mine had a feeding tube in her stomach - the terror was real. Even with all the taping around it and a full surgery suit over that - I was still always aware and always on edge about it. It gets a bit better as time goes - but I completely understand the worry.

I think you're doing amazing with it.

I’m exhausted.

Caretaker exhaustion is real. Try to do something nice for yourself. Plenty of water and rest.

At one point I was taking naps for a couple hours as I was getting up at 1ish and 5ish to either feed on medicate one of mine. Plus working. Between the caretaking and of course the worry and stress - it can take a toll for sure. So do make sure you are taking care of yourself too.

Are you still at your daughters?

 

[silent meowlook]

When you get a chance, if you could take a picture of the other side of her bandage and one from the top.

 

[Vellamint]

When you get a chance, if you could take a picture of the other side of her bandage and one from the top.

 

[Vellamint]

I’ve gotten the blood work results back. I thought she was doing better …. But from my untrained eye….. I’ll know more when a professional gets back to me.

 

[mrsgreenjeens]

With H/L it does take time to recover, so sometimes the numbers will look worse before they start improving. But as long as SHE appears to be doing better, that's the key. She looks pretty good, considering what she's going through.

That tube is weird though. It should definitely not be nearly that long, not that bulky, as far as I know. If you look on the KittyKollar website, you can see some videos where they show it in action and it doesn't look anything like that. I wonder if next time you are at the Vet's office you can ask them to short the line and put a different cap on it?

One of my cats also had a feeding tube directly in his stomach vs the esophagus and it was a nightmare. Even though there was a "bulb" inside his tubby to hold it in place, and he wore some sort of body sock to hold the tube, he managed to pull the thing out. If we ever needed another one we would definitely go with an E-tube and Kitty Kollar.

Yes, it's exhausting, but worth it in the end Our guy had to be tub fed every four hours for four months!!! Luckily at that time I worked days and hubby worked nights, so at least someone was home with home to manage those feedings, but sleep was on short supply.

Hang in there! You're doing great

 

[Vellamint]

I actually need to make an appt back up at UF animal hospital. My primary vet doesn’t seem at all interested in taking on her care. It doesn’t look that he read over her discharge papers and I don’t think he ordered all of the bloodwork that the internist wanted. So that’s $159 for…….?

I’ll ask the internist about shortening the tube but it’s a fine line between asking a question and questioning their decision.

I am almost out of money for her. That saddens me to say but……. Im trying my best and I love her.

 

[silent meowlook]

I can instruct you how to position the tube better when I get home from work this evening.

 

[silent meowlook]

https://icatcare.org/app/uploads/2022/05/Managing-the-cat-with-a-feeding-tube.pdf

 

[silent meowlook]

This is a horrible example, but you loop the tube so it stays on the back of the neck.

 

[silent meowlook]

Like this

 

[Vellamint]

Like this

How’s this? Looks more comfortable for her

 

[mrsgreenjeens]

I don't know about that. I would think if she tries to turn her head to the side, she's going to bump right into it. Can you pull it back a little further if you're going to go with the loop?