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Cat Forum / General Topics / November 2003Hepaticlipidosis and my cat
Hello, My wife and I own a 10 year old calico named Doodle that we have had since she was a kitten. She became overweight, but we never really tried to correct this. (Feel guilty about this now). Anyway, she stopped eating on Saturday. We took her to the vet who diagnosed hemobartenella and hepaticlipidosis. She had been losing weight the past three weeks. As the vet said there is a 50-80% chance she can recover, we decided to give the cat a chance. She stayed at the vet over the weekend for hydration and syringe feedings. I brought her home on Monday, continuing her medications, feedings, and SQ fluids twice daily. Her urine output is very good. Her color remains jaundiced, but looks to be improving. The vet has us on a recipe of food, that is as follows: 3 cans of Eukanuba Maximum-Calorie canned 60ml corn oil 8oz water 8 tabs tumil-k This is blended and warmed when given. The problem is she vomits with subsequent feedings. Today we began IM Reglan and yesterday we added pepcid PO. She vomited twice today after 35-40ml feeding 3 hours apart. Her demeanor is becoming more sour, but she will purr when stroked and is comforted by our other cats. She does not tolerate the syringe feedings very well. It is beginning to tear me up putting her through that. This morning, she ate on her own, about 10ml of canned food. This was encouraging. The vomiting makes us feel we are not getting enough food in her to make her better. The vet wants us to shoot for 300ml, while we are lucky to get 180 in her. I just went to feed her and she vomited again. I fed her about 3 hours ago. I gave her only 10cc with her evening dose of pepcid. I am really beginning to lose hope with her and am beginning to face the prospect of euthanasia. The vet says it can take 4-6 weeks to recover. My research as shown that around 80% of cats that can live past the first 48 hours of treatment survive. This is my dilemma. Sometimes during the day she looks better, other times angry with growling. When I am not stressing her with the syringe, I can stroke her and she will purr. Does anyone have any insight into this situation. I need some and would greatly appreciate it. Here is a link to a picture of my cats with the Doodle cat on the right http://www.vonhemel.com/cats1.jpg http://www.vonhemel.com/cats2.jpg Thanks, Jerold RN In news:3fb2dae7_2@127.0.0.1, jerold@NOSPAM.vonhemel.COM <jerold@NOSPAM.vonhemel.COM> composed with style: > Does anyone have any insight into this situation. I need some and > would > greatly appreciate it. My cat Shadow had hepatic lipidosis last year and had to have a PEG feeding tube to get enough food into him. I know this is not always necessary. The key is watching the liver values via blood work - his vet would do a screening for AlkPh, ALT and biliruben weekly and then every other week once improvement was seen. I do know that in the beginning, the recommended amounts of food were not even close to being possible - he was very nauseous. I had to build up to 3-4 60ML feedings per day and it did take weeks. In the beginning I was lucky to get 4-6 10-20ml feedings into him and sometimes only around 5ml at a time. It has to be given very slowly. He did not take a bite to eat on his own until the 5th week. In addition to Reglan (not IM, but into his feeding tube which can also be given orally and the dose *can* be increased to 2-1/2ml or more if you don't see an improvement in the nausea, please ask your vet how much you can give. After a bit he did have to have the reglan SC, though) he was also on Actigal and Denosyl (I think that is the right spelling). Shadow has had a complete recovery from hepatic lipidosis but the underlying disease for him is IBD; for now he is still eating very well. > Here is a link to a picture of my cats with the Doodle cat on the > right > > http://www.vonhemel.com/cats1.jpg > http://www.vonhemel.com/cats2.jpg She's very cute, all of them are. :) I love her little black nose. :) Here is Shadow's ordeal in pictures (including a picture of him eating for the first time on his own): http://community.webshots.com/album/48246898KBEaSJ Cheryl, Thank you for sharing your experiences. Both of your cats are very cute. I am glad to hear that Shadow recovered. Did you try feeding him by cath tip syringe? Considering your experience with feeding, I feel better about what I can get Doodle cat to take without vomiting. Tonight she is weak, but is laying with my while I watch TV purring and a little vocal. Using the syringe requires me to hold her head tightly and using the tip to lower her jaw. When I can gently squirt some food down the roof of her mouth it seems to work best. Sometimes it goes ok, other times it seems way to stressful for her. Considering the long course we are faced with, I may consider a PEG tube if this continues to be an issue. Thanks again for your reply, Jerold In news:3fb2f584$1_2@127.0.0.1, jerold@NOSPAM.vonhemel.COM <jerold@NOSPAM.vonhemel.COM> composed with style: > Considering the long course we are faced with, I may consider a PEG > tube if > this continues to be an issue. Jerold, to ease your mind a bit, Shadow did not even notice the PEG tube in him until he was feeling much better. I cut a piece of a spandex legging from around the lower leg portion to cover it (the blue wrap on his middle in the pics) and it kept him from trying to bite it. If you go that route (and I highly recommend it; hepatic lipidosis has a very good rate of recovery if treated properly) please post any questions, concerns, etc. It has some gross parts and it is hard to deal with but when you have someone to ask questions to it helps so much. I couldn't have got through it for Shadow if not for Usenet. Cheryl, What how old is Shadow? Jerold In news:3fb2f60e$1_2@127.0.0.1, jerold@NOSPAM.vonhemel.COM <jerold@NOSPAM.vonhemel.COM> composed with style: > Cheryl, > > What how old is Shadow? > > Jerold He is now roughly 12. Cheryl, How long has it been since he went through the hepatic lipidosis? Jerold In news:3fb3055c$1_2@127.0.0.1, jerold@NOSPAM.vonhemel.COM <jerold@NOSPAM.vonhemel.COM> composed with style: > Cheryl, > > How long has it been since he went through the hepatic lipidosis? > > Jerold He got the feeding tube put in Jul 3 of 2002 and it was removed just over 2 months later so it's been a little over a year since he was deemed "cured". The IBD will likely be with him for life, though. Hard to control that but he has a very good appetite now. (too good, he's a chub. ;)) Cheryl, Doodle Cat is much worse today. It has got to the point where I am putting her through tremendous hell just to get a syringe in her mouth. Her jaundice has become severe. She no longer purrs and growls with movement. She has given up completely. I have made the decision have her euthanized as soon as my wife gets home. I don't think I can do this alone. This week has been one of the top 2 worst weeks in my life. In our quest to get her better, I put her through a lot of pain and torment. I feel so sad over this cat. I never thought the loss of one of them would impact me so much. I am a nurse and see death in the ER all the time. I never let any emotion in and now realize I never had any idea what family is going through. I feel so guilty we did not control her weight. She has been a good cat and today I feel like I took her for granted. It is not going to be the same around here anymore. Thanks so much, Jerold In news:3fb40ec4$1_2@127.0.0.1, jerold@NOSPAM.vonhemel.COM <jerold@NOSPAM.vonhemel.COM> composed . > She has been a good cat and today I feel like I took her for > granted. It is [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] > > Jerold Jerold, please don't feel guilty. I'm so sorry you have to go through this, all of you. Please know that you did your best for her, she knows! There is only so much we can do for them; they seem so fragile at times and seem to go downhill so fast. As for the weight, don't feel bad about that! You didn't know, I didn't know either. When Shadow stopped eating I thought he could handle it until he felt better because he had so much extra weight to carry him through. I had NO IDEA about the physiology of a cats liver, and most people don't. Please accept my condolences or support in whatever you choose to do, and know in your heart that she will be in a better place. When you're ready, there are many more cats out there that need the kind of love you have to offer. *hugs and tears* Cheryl Cheryl, Thank you so much for your kindness. It is much appreciated. Jerold |
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