Liver Disease

[ErinN37]

Hi! My kitty was diagnosed with Liver Disease at age 10 and he lived to be 16 (and died from something else entirely!). My vet had him on the wet food version of Hill's Liver Diet (LD) and he HATED it. She switched me to the dry version and that is what he ate up to the day he died. It definitely worked to keep his liver on track and so I did not even look for any other options (but am sure that there are several). I also had him on fish oil supplements to help keep him regular.

As far as maintenance went, we ran blood work every 6 months and took an xray at at his yearly exam (you know the one with all the shots?). I cannot recall exactly how long it took for his liver to come down into normal levels, but I want to say it was within a year of starting the meds. The jaundice never fully went away-- the inside of his ears always had that slightly yellow tint to him.

Thank you of loving Astrid and giving her such a wonderful home!

I also was wondering if the vets gave you any meds to help. I was offered none so I am using liver rescue drops, that contains milk thistle and other natural ingredients, that I put on a treat each morning and night to hopefully help her.

 

[mikameek]

The other problem I am facing now is that I will be going off to college in August. I DO NOT want to rehome her permanently, but I need to find someone who would be willing to care for her while I am away I plan on returning December, spring, and then summer, I feel awful leaving because she gets so scared in new places and without me around. I am not sure how I should go about finding the best foster home for her? I want her to be able to keep improving at the rate she is now, but I am worried without me she'll backslide

If at all possible, I would bring her with you. I think being away from you for months at a time won't be good for either of you. I understand the difficulty though, as I am also a college student. Are you in a dorm or somewhere you can keep her?

Rehoming can be scary but that's essentially what you'd be doing with a foster anyway. I personally believe she'll do best with you at her side. I know that Mika was especially terrified when I brought her into an emergency vet and left her. I believe she really thought I was leaving her there for good.

I also don't know that any foster system would let you just board her there without paying for it. And if you do find someone whose willing to keep her for so long and for free you run the risk of them not properly taking care of her. Or they would feel that she is their own because they're feeding her and taking care of her.

It is your call but I would say either rehoming her permanently or finding somewhere that you can keep her because fostering/boarding could result in paying as much or more to keep her on your own or result in you losing her.

 

[silkenpaw]

Sorry about the late response. So how much protein does a cat need? Caveat: I’m not a vet.

Looking really quickly, I found this article that suggests a requirement of between 6 and 11 g/kg of body weight/day or 2.7-5 g/lb/day and this one that has cats needing 5.2 g/kg/day (2.4 g/lb/day). So I would probably start at 6 g/kg/day and see what happens.

Assuming you are giving the cat adequate calories, you want to look at weight gain (or at least maintenance) and a normal blood protein level. We are talking about looking at this over weeks or months, not days. If your cat is doing fine on the food she’s getting now, I would be inclined to leave well enough alone and not change her diet.

I hope that helps. I just don’t want people to go crazy and start feeding their cats pure protein. They need fat and some carbohydrates, too.

 

[ErinN37]

If at all possible, I would bring her with you. I think being away from you for months at a time won't be good for either of you. I understand the difficulty though, as I am also a college student. Are you in a dorm or somewhere you can keep her?

Rehoming can be scary but that's essentially what you'd be doing with a foster anyway. I personally believe she'll do best with you at her side. I know that Mika was especially terrified when I brought her into an emergency vet and left her. I believe she really thought I was leaving her there for good.

I also don't know that any foster system would let you just board her there without paying for it. And if you do find someone whose willing to keep her for so long and for free you run the risk of them not properly taking care of her. Or they would feel that she is their own because they're feeding her and taking care of her.

It is your call but I would say either rehoming her permanently or finding somewhere that you can keep her because fostering/boarding could result in paying as much or more to keep her on your own or result in you losing her.

Yeah I definitely can not take her with me unfortunately, as I am part of an athletic team and I am required to stay in the dorms for the first year otherwise I would've gotten an apartment so I could bring her. I wish I could keep her with me but I know that is just not possible and it is killing me. Right now my aunt is looking into either fostering her or getting one of her friends to care for her for free which hopefully works out because then I will be able to keep tabs on her and she will be getting good care. Otherwise I will have to permanently rehome her which is my last resort. Thank you for the advice! I wish I was in a better position or my immediate family was more willing to help me out.

 

[ErinN37]

Sorry about the late response. So how much protein does a cat need? Caveat: I’m not a vet.

Looking really quickly, I found this article that suggests a requirement of between 6 and 11 g/kg of body weight/day or 2.7-5 g/lb/day and this one that has cats needing 5.2 g/kg/day (2.4 g/lb/day). So I would probably start at 6 g/kg/day and see what happens.

Assuming you are giving the cat adequate calories, you want to look at weight gain (or at least maintenance) and a normal blood protein level. We are talking about looking at this over weeks or months, not days. If your cat is doing fine on the food she’s getting now, I would be inclined to leave well enough alone and not change her diet.

I hope that helps. I just don’t want people to go crazy and start feeding their cats pure protein. They need fat and some carbohydrates, too.

Thank you I have been trying out different foods because she seems to loose intrest in something relatively fast right now she is doing well with fresh pet natural food and some "cat mousse" She is already gaining some weight back and looks healthier.