Increased Liver And Bilirubin Levels

[Catsctatchyou]

i has posted another thread but I’ll give a quick history here.

I adopted Spooky 2 years ago. He’s been a healthy up until this past summer. He started with some skin issues. The doctor prescribed atopica and we gave him a round and everything seemed fine. Back in October he started having some skin itching again so I took him back to the vet and he had lost about a pound so she ordered blood work. Elavated liver and bilirubin levels were a concern. The vet suspected chloestasis and prescribed antibiotics and steroids. Went back for additional bloodwork and a recheck. Liver and bilirubin levels were down but gallbladder levels were higher. Xrays have been completed but everything was clear. Ultrasound was completed and everything was normal.

So after 2 weeks of steroids, appetite stimulant and Ursodiol we went back for a recheck today. Spooky gained 3 ounces but blood work was worse. Liver and bilirubin levels are the highest they’ve been.

I don’t know where else to turn. We could do a liver biospy that’s the only thing left for my local vet to do. They mentioned referring to University of Tennessee since that is the closest specialist to us. But that is over an hour drive and he does not travel well.

The vet has started him on denamarin. We are continuing the ursodiol. She mentioned prednisone could affect the liver and cause values to increase so we are stopping that slowly starting tomorrow. He continues to eat and drink water and he’s still active.

I’m just heart broken. I love this cat dearly. I’ve said he’s my soulmate.

I don’t know where else to turn or what else I can.

 

[Furballsmom]

I'm so sorry to hear this
Stopping the pred and starting the denamarin will hopefully get those numbers lower

Maybe the vet can suggest something that might help him to be a little more at ease in the car at al?

 

[Antonio65]

It sounds like there might be a blockage of the bile duct so that bile can't flow and goes back up to the liver, thus giving these high levels.
If the Ursodiol didn't give any improvement (2 weeks is too a short time to see an improvement), you might want to ask your vet to run an ultrasound scan on the gall bladder and its duct.

Has your cat jaundice?

I'm talking from experience!
My cat had been having high liver and bilirubine levels for months and nothing could help her, my cat got jaundice.
I had her scanned several times over a few months, all was clear.
Then, when I was beyond desperation, a person advised me about a different clinic that I had never heard of. Though I was very skeptical, I took her in and the vet ran another US scan and he found a deformation of the bile duct, something that was clearly causing the problem and that many other vets didn't see!!!
May they be damned!!!

The deformation can be fixed with a surgery, but the outcome was poor, my cat had been sick for too a long time to recover from it, and she died a few days later.
The vet said that had I gone there 3 months earlier everything would have been much better

 

[Catsctatchyou]

Thank you for your reply.

I’m so sorry for your loss.

At this time Spooky is not jaundiced. Which has the vet confused. She suspects since he’s still eating may be the reason he’s not jaundiced at this time. We’ve done one ultra sound and X-rays and everything came back normal. I will mention this to them and I will probably have him referred to a specialist. It’s a long drive but if he can be saved I want to give him a chance.

 

[Antonio65]

Can you write down some of the liver and bilirubine levels (and their lab max)?

One of the many vets I had to deal with told me that when the biliribune is twice the max, then a cat is starting getting jaundiced.
Sometimes this thing goes unnoticed because of the color of the cat.

 

[Catsctatchyou]

Spooky’s liver and bilirubin levels are still rising. I took him in this morning for a liver biopsy. I hope to get some answers this tkme.

ALT 636
ALP 417
GGT 11
Total bilirubin 5.1

 

[Antonio65]

I do hope the biopsy can give you an answer!

If you can, ask for an ultrasound scan of the gall bladder.

 

[Furballsmom]

 

[Emizawesome]

There could be something wrong with the blood cells or a toxin or something thats overworking the liver or damaging it. Vets can overlook stuff.