I don't have any experience with trauma to the liver, just disease that
damages the liver.  I don't know if the liver would recouperate in the same
way.  When the liver is damaged, it does have the ability to regenerate
itself.  I hope this is the case with trauma, too.

I don't know about liver trauma specifically, but I would do all that I
could to get him eating again. Try giving him the water in tuna cans, or
other foods that he might like (ie boiled chicken, fish, etc).
Gail

As others have said, I do know the liver can regenerate itself. My cat
was down to 60% liver function and it healed itself. Eating well is
crucial to his recovery. Also, my cat got B vitamins in a liquid form,
which the vet told me are good to help liver function. You might ask
your vet about this. I really hope he makes it. Please keep us updated.

Sherry

We're sending Peanut our purrs.

This might sound like a bit of an odd set of things to think about now
with your situation, but bear with me. If you have the opportunity to
have Peanut's teeth cleaned before coming home, it might be good,
otherwise try to keep an eye on them. Ask your vet about the best diet
possible from now on as well. Organ damage has the best chance of
regenerating (this goes for things like longevity as well) when the
body doesn't have to do much to fight off any infections or process a
harsh amount of chemistry to keep going. Your vet will know how to
bring needed liver function down in dietary ways, thereby allowing it
to heal more easily.

If you believe in holistic and/or alternative therapies, you might want
to (eventually, when the wounds heal, as it were) consider
possibilities like massage and accupuncture. I'd be willing to bet that
justt about any good "real" accupuncturist, especially one groomed in
East Asia, will know how to provide accupuncture on small animals. They
will definately know someone who will, if they dont. As far as
therapeutic massage, or any of the other possibilites in this arena,
you can probably get some good answers on the list.

Now, back to the teeth. The mouth is where 80% of all pathogens enter
the body in a non-traumatic way, in humans, in cats it's only slightly
lower because they're primarily nose-breathers. Since the mouth is this
great point of entry, its also a great breeding ground for bacteria and
disease. As a rule, cats have pretty clean mouths *except* in cases
where tooth decay is present. Tooth decay is the cause of so many
'unidentifiable' problems its silly. Laurel's parents had a siamese for
about 15 years who started to go downhill becuase of liver and kidney
problems which, after a long period of trying to keep it under control
was discovered to be simply an underlying symptom of untreated abcesses
due to tooth problems. She got her teeth fixed, and got very healthy
and lived almost two more years much happier for it.

During that time, they controlled her diet and kept her organ function
in-line even for the horrible undiagnosed problems going on.

The moral of the story: We send your cat our love, we hope Peanut makes
it through OK, and remember 'the tooth' and ask about a diet. It will
help if nothing else can.

bowensanders & laurelnoelle
www.bowensanders.com will soon have the kitty scrapbook up...

My cat Freddy became sick about a year ago with vomiting, diarrhea and jaundice. His
liver enzymes were also elevated and I thought he may die. But with supportive
therapy (IV, feeding, antibiotics) be bounced back and is back to normal.  I think as
long as the original cause of liver injury is gone he should recover.

Adam

I don't know anything about livers but I send lots of purrs

First, I read about your ordeal, but had nothing to advise, so
didn't but I'm glad you got him to the vet. After reading this
latest, though, I'm wondering what were the enzymes that were
elavated? Some enzymes (Alanine aminotranferease (ALT) and
aspartate aminotransferase (AST)) that are predominantly located
in the liver are also present in skeletal muscle and can leak into
the bloodstream due to trauma. I had a cat who had liver disease
but he also had an ordeal that required surgery and the vet
injured his esophagus and soft pallet, and due to the injuries,
his ALT and AST were severly increased but as he healed, they went
down. It wasn't related at all to his liver disease.

I hope he gets well soon and don't beat yourself up so much.

Here's a brief description of those enzymes:
http://www.rnceus.com/lf/lfast.html