Liver Disease

[ErinN37]

I found a very sick cat after nursing her somewhat back to health and no owner coming forward to claim her I decided to take her to the vet, it turns out she is in the late stages of liver disease and can not be cured. She will need hundreds of dollars of more testing to figure out what caused the disease, then hundreds in treatments. However I have seen her improve so much is there anything I can do for her to help her feel better? Should I just take her to a shelter to ultimately be euthanized via the vets recommendation. I would really prefer to find some way to help make her more comfortable until she reaches her time naturally, but I don't want to keep her suffering. Please help I am in a really tough and emotional situation and I really want what is best for the cat.

 

[Furballsmom]

It sounds like you're on the right track with what you're doing. Filtered water, what would the vet say about kitten glop? There are recipes on the internet. Goat milk?
Is it hot where you are? Can you keep her cool ?

 

[ErinN37]

It sounds like you're on the right track with what you're doing. Filtered water, what would the vet say about kitten glop? There are recipes on the internet. Goat milk?
Is it hot where you are? Can you keep her cool ?

Hello, I have her on special dietary care wet food right now however she doesn't eat very much, she does however drink goats milk well. I will look up kitten glop recipes. It is not hot where I am so she stay cool. Thank you!

 

[Furballsmom]

Bless you for helping her, you're a super person!!

 

[Daisymay100]

I found a very sick cat after nursing her somewhat back to health and no owner coming forward to claim her I decided to take her to the vet, it turns out she is in the late stages of liver disease and can not be cured. She will need hundreds of dollars of more testing to figure out what caused the disease, then hundreds in treatments. However I have seen her improve so much is there anything I can do for her to help her feel better? Should I just take her to a shelter to ultimately be euthanized via the vets recommendation. I would really prefer to find some way to help make her more comfortable until she reaches her time naturally, but I don't want to keep her suffering. Please help I am in a really tough and emotional situation and I really want what is best for the cat.

Cats can recover from liver disease. Good diet is essential with high quality protein. Homeopathic remedies are very effective. The liver can regenerate given the right help. Search the Internet for help with homeopathic remedies. My cat has been recovering from this for 8 weeks. He is still very weak and can't walk unassisted but I won't give up on him yet. Good luck with your cat

 

[silkenpaw]

Poor kitty, she’s lucky to have found you. My advice would be to give her the best supportive care while she responds to it and to listen to her when she tells you it’s time to say goodbye. Sometimes that’s the most generous gift you can give them.

Thank you for taking care of her. You are a good person.

 

[duckpond]

I dont think i would test for what caused it. Most likely will not help her now anyway. I would research online, and listen to the people on here that have had cats with liver problems. they may have some very good advice for you.

Otherwise, i dont think i could take her to a shelter and dump her to be euthanized that way. If the vet is willing to work you on basic palliative care, hopefully she will improve, and live a lot longer, but if not he should be able to help you with basic anti naseau meds, pain meds.. ect if needed.. that kind of thing, to keep her comfortable, until she lets you know its time to go. Such a hard thing to do, but such an awesome and amazing thing to do for this little girl. You have my sympathy, and my admiration for helping her when no one else is.

And if the vet you saw will not help you make this happen try a different vet, you should be able to find one that understands and will help you with this.

She is a beautiful little girl, and you said she has made progress, keep it up. She may fool everyone and live a long happy life. But if not then you made all the difference in the life she does have left. Thank you.

 

[maggiedemi]

Thanks for helping her. What is the special diet she is on? Does she have to be on that exact food? Maybe there is another one that she would like better and eat more of. I have heard of Milk Thistle to help regenerate the liver, but you would have to ask a vet how to use it.

 

[ErinN37]

The vet gave me cans of prescription dietary care ad urgent care soft food and told me too avoid other foods, however I have started making my own version of kitten glop and high protein easily digestible food that she likes better and eats more of, she has also really perked up after eating this for the last few days! I also am waiting on milk thistle to arrive in the mail.
The vet told me that while milk thistle and these other methods will make her feel better short term they wont cure her long run. But I am not giving up hope and willing to try anything
Thanks Everyone for the Help!!!

 

[maggiedemi]

Oh, I'm so glad you found some things to try. I agree, never give up hope because miracles do happen.

 

[silkenpaw]

Be careful of too much high protein food. Protein contains amine groups that are converted to ammonia when the protein is broken down. Normally, the liver gets rid of the ammonia (by incorporating it in urea, which is then excreted by the kidneys) but when the liver is failing, ammonia can rise. High ammonia can cause confusion, drowsiness and ultimately coma. The diet for a liver failure patient is just as much protein as they need to maintain their body and no more.

Have you named her?

 

[ErinN37]

Thank you! Is there a way to know how much protein she needs? She is starting to eat about a small can of food a day which is a huge improvement from before so I stopped giving her my own mixture also cause she lost interest in it.
I also have named her Astrid which means "Divine strength" and because I am a fan of the How to Train Your Dragon movies

 

[mikameek]

How is your Astrid? I come from a really similar place where I picked up a cat off the street (she chose me really) and it turned out she was having lots of liver and gallbladder issues. My vets told me lots of times that Mika was incredibly sick and it was possible she would die soon (even had an emergency vet who told me that if it was her cat, she would put her down now) but I knew Mika was still fighting so I couldn't give up on her.

I did all the tests to try and figure out what was causing Mika's issues. Nothing came back conclusive. What's been best for her is getting her to eat again. I had other stuff I had to do because of her gallbladder medication but when Mika's liver started functioning again, things turned around drastically. Furballsmom has been a huge help with me and Mika!

Please let us know how it goes. (Also, I never avoided foods till recently, but my vet also gave me a special diet to put Mika on that she wouldn't eat. I syringe and force fed her a lot of KRM with probiotics and searched high and low for a food she would eat. Obviously your vet knows better than I do but did they tell you why you have to avoid foods and have her on a special diet? What are you avoiding?)

 

[Furballsmom]

Thank you mikameek , and for both of you!
.
Regarding how much protein, my thought there is to take a look at Dr Lisa Piersons site, catinfo.org. she has a ton of info so it can be a lot to wade through, also I think she will do a consult with you...

 

[ErinN37]

Astrid is actually doing so amazing! She even woke me up at 5 this morning because she wanted to eat! The vets I have all gone to have told me almost the same thing that they told you, that she was incredibly sick and one even suggested having her put down. I am so glad I haven't though as she is so wonderful, I believe she choose me as well. The food they gave me was like a dietary support but she stopped eating that. When i first went in I had been syringe feeding her raw goats milk blended with some kitten food. The only thing she would drink on her own was the raw goats milk. The vet told me not to feed her those anymore and just give her the vets food. However after taking her off the goats milk she got way worse. So Thursday I got her some more and by Saturday she was eating almost a full can a day. Right now I am just feeding her the kitten food which she likes and some weight management food a PetSmart employee suggested because that is what she will eat and the vets food is rather expensive. She seems to be doing ok with this food I just don't want to give her something that could potentially make her worse, but I know she needs to keep eating as she is still so skinny.

How long have you had Mika? How long has she been recovered from her liver disease?

 

[ErinN37]

Thank you! I will take a look at that and hopefully find some good food options for her!

 

[mikameek]

Astrid is actually doing so amazing! She even woke me up at 5 this morning because she wanted to eat! The vets I have all gone to have told me almost the same thing that they told you, that she was incredibly sick and one even suggested having her put down. I am so glad I haven't though as she is so wonderful, I believe she choose me as well. The food they gave me was like a dietary support but she stopped eating that. When i first went in I had been syringe feeding her raw goats milk blended with some kitten food. The only thing she would drink on her own was the raw goats milk. The vet told me not to feed her those anymore and just give her the vets food. However after taking her off the goats milk she got way worse. So Thursday I got her some more and by Saturday she was eating almost a full can a day. Right now I am just feeding her the kitten food which she likes and some weight management food a PetSmart employee suggested because that is what she will eat and the vets food is rather expensive. She seems to be doing ok with this food I just don't want to give her something that could potentially make her worse, but I know she needs to keep eating as she is still so skinny.

How long have you had Mika? How long has she been recovered from her liver disease?

This is great to hear! This is exactly how things started when Mika started to get better! I agree, the vet food is really expensive and I didn't see the point if Mika wouldn't eat it. Besides that, mine also did much better when she was on the KRM because she was getting enough calories to really help things along.

Haha, Mika has been with me for a very short time. She came to me at the end of April this year and has been mine since. So, really, only 2 full months. But the vet I took her to told me she's 3 years old based off of dental. Mika hasn't fully recovered. Her jaundice is still there. If you know bilirubin (what they are measuring when they are jaundiced), she was at a 12 at her worse (2 is when they show jaundice and normal is around .5) and the last time she was checked she was at a 7. I think she's significantly dropped since then because her yellowing has faded dramatically.

Her liver levels (tested with blood chemistry panel) have been all over the place in her recovery. But I won't lie to you, it takes a long time for them to really pull through this. From all the people that I've talked to on here and the research that I've done, it's a consistent effort to keep things moving forward.

Don't let yourself get upset if there are minor set backs. If she stops eating well again, if she refuses the food you get her, if she isn't doing the same today or better tomorrow -- just take it in stride and be confident. It's one day at a time.

Do you know what the recommended weight for Astrid is? If you do, for every one pound of weight needs 20 calories. So in example, Mika is recommended to be 8 lbs which equals to 160 calories recommended daily. I supplemented her eating with KRM and anything else I could get into her with calories. Treats are essential now if she doesn't eat a whole lot of food just to keep her up there in calories. I also have her on a all wet diet too, so it makes calories a bit more tricky when your cat won't eat a lot of something or none at all.

I will say, I found out recently that Vitamin K3 can bad for cats livers longterm. It's a synthetic vitamin that's been added to foods. I decided to cut it out of Mika's diet (if I could because sometimes cats just wont eat what you want them to) because of her issues already.

If you're interested, please reference this post in a forum I made about jaundice. It explains K3 much better than I can and also gives you all the names that it appears as.

If you decide to cut that too, I've found quite a few brands you could look into that don't have K3 additives in them.

Please keep us updated on your Astrid!!

 

[heathernichelle]

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!

 

[ErinN37]

This is great to hear! This is exactly how things started when Mika started to get better! I agree, the vet food is really expensive and I didn't see the point if Mika wouldn't eat it. Besides that, mine also did much better when she was on the KRM because she was getting enough calories to really help things along.

Haha, Mika has been with me for a very short time. She came to me at the end of April this year and has been mine since. So, really, only 2 full months. But the vet I took her to told me she's 3 years old based off of dental. Mika hasn't fully recovered. Her jaundice is still there. If you know bilirubin (what they are measuring when they are jaundiced), she was at a 12 at her worse (2 is when they show jaundice and normal is around .5) and the last time she was checked she was at a 7. I think she's significantly dropped since then because her yellowing has faded dramatically.

Her liver levels (tested with blood chemistry panel) have been all over the place in her recovery. But I won't lie to you, it takes a long time for them to really pull through this. From all the people that I've talked to on here and the research that I've done, it's a consistent effort to keep things moving forward.

Don't let yourself get upset if there are minor set backs. If she stops eating well again, if she refuses the food you get her, if she isn't doing the same today or better tomorrow -- just take it in stride and be confident. It's one day at a time.

Do you know what the recommended weight for Astrid is? If you do, for every one pound of weight needs 20 calories. So in example, Mika is recommended to be 8 lbs which equals to 160 calories recommended daily. I supplemented her eating with KRM and anything else I could get into her with calories. Treats are essential now if she doesn't eat a whole lot of food just to keep her up there in calories. I also have her on a all wet diet too, so it makes calories a bit more tricky when your cat won't eat a lot of something or none at all.

I will say, I found out recently that Vitamin K3 can bad for cats livers longterm. It's a synthetic vitamin that's been added to foods. I decided to cut it out of Mika's diet (if I could because sometimes cats just wont eat what you want them to) because of her issues already.

If you're interested, please reference this post in a forum I made about jaundice. It explains K3 much better than I can and also gives you all the names that it appears as.

If you decide to cut that too, I've found quite a few brands you could look into that don't have K3 additives in them.

Please keep us updated on your Astrid!!

That awesome that Mika is getting better! You are awesome for taking care of her!!
And Thank you so much for all the information. The vet never told me her jaundice levels only that she was showing signs of it, her ears and around them are yellow, so I'm guessing it would be pretty high especially if she does have advanced liver disease. She has been eating almost anything I give her, expect the vets food! So I have been trying out some different food and different recommendations. Im trying to stay away from anything with grain in it because the vet said that would be harder to digest. Now I will be looking for the brands recommended in your jaundice post as well. Im going to keep up my efforts and hopefully she will keep improving!
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

 

[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!

That gives me so much hope! Thank you!