**Shartrue,

I wouldn't give up hope!  No. I would try feeding her all the good food with
high nutrition that she'll eat. I totally believe healing (in lots of cases)
can* take place. Just make sure that she eats and drinks, period.

With my (now deceased 19 1/2 year old) Blue, when he was under the weather
and would stop eating much I would buy him "carrots and beef' Gerber* baby
food. It has beta carotene in it-carrots- and I swore that it seemed to help
to heal him ( not cure, but somehow helped). He was dianosised with
pancratitus the  during the last 5 years of his life. I also gave him liquid
vitamins on and off. I pretty much fed him whatever he wanted and would eat.

Honestly, he really didn't like it the 'carrots and beef' flavor too much,
and sometimes I would have top squirt some small amount of it down his
throat. But, the 'veal' flavor and 'ham' and 'lamb' flavors he would almost
intuitively 'go for' when he wasn't feeling well and his stomach was
nauseated.

I highly recommend  checking out this great companies web site. The company
is called, "U.S. Animal Nutritional of Vermont".
http://www.shopusanimal.com/

Better yet, call them toll free. The wonderful girls there are the* most
helpful and compassionate when it comes to assisting you with a product that
might greatly help your baby' condition. They were so sympathetic and
understanding when I called them desperate to try to find  a mixture that
could help heal him of his recent and dire diagnosis of cardio
mylopathy(SP). Sadly, Blue boy was just too close to death at that time to
be saved.

Please continue to keep us posted on his progress. God bless!

ML

I feel for you to have to make these decisions. My Shadow had liver
disease, but it was hepatic lipidosis (fatty liver; verified by liver
aspiration, ultrasound, blood values) and he recovered. I understand
there are many types of liver disease in cats. If I were you, I'd
wait until the test results come back and see what the vet says about
her prognosis. Though, I have to tell you, our vet (internal
medicine) gave a grave prognosis but I think they don't realize what
some of will do to help our babies recover if there is even the
slightest of chances. That said, I also don't believe its fair to put
them through a ton of treatment if their quality of life is really
bad. It's up to you. You know your cat better than anyone. My
thoughts are with you.

Posted & e-mailed:

One of my cats, Debbie, was diagnosed w/ a severe liver problem when she was
11.  Her appetite had become greatly diminished - to zilch in a relativley
short time, & she obviously felt generally crummy.  Her bloodwork showed
that her liver enzymes were off the charts, but there were no other pointers
as what the problem actually was.

She was too ill at that point to have a surgical biopsy, so my vet referred
me out to a specialist: an internist/oncologist, who did a core needle
biopsy & sonogram.  She was given a muscle relaxant prior to the procedures,
& they were not overly stressful for her.

Through the needle biopsy it was determined that she did not have liver
cancer.  She did have a form of hepatitis.  Which was then acute, but was
subsequently chronic.  The specialist designed a treatment program for her,
& worked in tandem w/ my regular vet.  The treatment worked - slowly, but
surely.  She was put on prednisone/prednisolone - which kick-started her
appetite besides reducing inflammation, an antibiotic (amoxicillin at
first - but that wasn't effective, so then Baytril), & Actigall.  This last
one was added after my regular vet conferred w/ a liver specialist at
Cornell.

Debbie immediately became noticeably better in the clinical sense, &
subsequent bloodwork showed that her liver enzyme levels very gradually came
down.  Eventually, after almost 5 years, they were in the normal range.  In
the intervening years she did have some slumps - sub-Q fluids would help,
along w/ an appetite stimulant, & an occasional dosage adjustment.

Debbie has since died - when she was 16.  But her death was due to CRF, not
liver problems.

Good luck - I hope you can also have positive results for your cat!

Cathy