Santa CruZin Posted July 3, 2018 Share Posted July 3, 2018 (edited) This is what happens when a kitty gets Hepatic Lipidosis, aka "fatty liver disease". They stop eating, and the lack of calories propagates the disease and destroys the liver. Calorie intake is critical for recovery and in severe cases such as this one, an esophageal feeding tube is in order. The first pic shows what a feeding looks like. These were given every six hours around the clock for several weeks. The second pic shows the feeding station where calorie intake is closely monitored and recorded. The black circle to the right of the scale is a coffee pot warmer I modified to include a PID temperature controller. The bottom pic is a series of graphs I provided to the university vet hospital showing calorie intake (tube vs. bowl) and weight gain. Edited July 5, 2018 by Santa CruZin 6 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dragline Posted July 3, 2018 Share Posted July 3, 2018 Ripley cleaning up after breakfast last week. She is still hanging in. Her 17th birthday is next week. The vet initially didn't think she'd make it past Oct. 2017. 10 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
B. Somm Posted July 3, 2018 Share Posted July 3, 2018 Sweet! Found the Caturday thread! 11 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
B. Somm Posted July 3, 2018 Share Posted July 3, 2018 Me & The Feline(tm): 10 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Santa CruZin Posted July 3, 2018 Share Posted July 3, 2018 I said the kitchen gets a bay window! 6 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Santa CruZin Posted July 3, 2018 Share Posted July 3, 2018 Boss cat is not happy. Yeah, that one's mine too. 5 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Santa CruZin Posted July 3, 2018 Share Posted July 3, 2018 (edited) About two hours after being fished out of bushes in front of a neighbor's house, given a flea bath, blow-dried and put in a towel-lined box, this wild little girl decided her new forever home would probably work out fine. Edited July 3, 2018 by Santa CruZin 12 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ASH Posted July 4, 2018 Share Posted July 4, 2018 1 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
B. Somm Posted July 4, 2018 Share Posted July 4, 2018 Found the "Caturday" thread on page three...can't have that! 12 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RPKclone Posted July 4, 2018 Share Posted July 4, 2018 Catio update! Just have to put in the ramp from the window and a few hangy things and it will be catready! 9 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lone_Wolfe Posted July 5, 2018 Share Posted July 5, 2018 8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cubdriver Posted July 5, 2018 Author Share Posted July 5, 2018 Piglet back while she was still a tiny little thing -Pat 9 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Santa CruZin Posted July 5, 2018 Share Posted July 5, 2018 The brothers when they were about a year old. 10 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Santa CruZin Posted July 5, 2018 Share Posted July 5, 2018 (edited) This was a rescue from a local shelter named Jordan. After a couple days at the house it was evident he wasn't eating, so he went to the local vet. They couldn't figure it out so off to the local university vet hospital he went. They put him through a MRI at a human hospital and determined he had a malformed skull that was interfering with his ability to smell, and it was getting worse as he grew (which is why he was alive at all). This was interfering with his ability to recognize food from anything else, so he didn't know to eat it. Neurosurgeons at Mississippi State and Louisiana State universities collaborated on a plan to reconstruct the problem areas of the skull. Unfortunately while he was in ICU he managed to dislodge his stomach feeding tube and flood his intestinal cavity with stomach bile. I got the call and Jordan was given a 10% recovery prognosis if they were going to operate and literally clean his intestinal cavity (I was told they'd put his guts out on the table and clean everything - can you imagine?), on top of the 50% recovery prognosis of the pending neurosurgery, which of course would now be significantly delayed. The doctors (at this point there was a team attending to him) suggested throwing in the towel, and I agreed. When speaking to the university by phone they make you tell several people with very specific language that you want end of life. That was hard, I can tell you. I gave the little guy as best a chance as I could. I have no idea what the surgical procedures would have cost, but I was ready until the ICU accident. When I gave up I was already into this little rescue kitty over $8,000 in medical expenses, and didn't care where it was headed if he could have ben saved. RIP little guy. Edited July 5, 2018 by Santa CruZin 3 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cubdriver Posted July 5, 2018 Author Share Posted July 5, 2018 3 hours ago, Santa CruZin said: This was a rescue from a local shelter named Jordan. After a couple days at the house it was evident he wasn't eating, so he went to the local vet. They couldn't figure it out so off to the local university vet hospital he went. They put him through a MRI at a human hospital and determined he had a malformed skull that was interfering with his ability to smell, and it was getting worse as he grew (which is why he was alive at all). This was interfering with his ability to recognize food from anything else, so he didn't know to eat it. Neurosurgeons at Mississippi State and Louisiana State universities collaborated on a plan to reconstruct the problem areas of the skull. Unfortunately while he was in ICU he managed to dislodge his stomach feeding tube and flood his intestinal cavity with stomach bile. I got the call and Jordan was given a 10% recovery prognosis if they were going to operate and literally clean his intestinal cavity (I was told they'd put his guts out on the table and clean everything - can you imagine?), on top of the 50% recovery prognosis of the pending neurosurgery, which of course would now be significantly delayed. The doctors (at this point there was a team attending to him) suggested throwing in the towel, and I agreed. When speaking to the university by phone they make you tell several people with very specific language that you want end of life. That was hard, I can tell you. I gave the little guy as best a chance as I could. I have no idea what the surgical procedures would have cost, but I was ready until the ICU accident. When I gave up I was already into this little rescue kitty over $8,000 in medical expenses, and didn't care where it was headed if he could have ben saved. RIP little guy. That's a heart wrenching story. Sounds like you did all you could for him, and much more than most would have. He got dealt a really awful hand; good on you for trying so hard to save him. I agree - RIP, littlr guy. He was a cute little bugger. Sorry to hear of his loss, my condolences. -Pat 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gunboat1 Posted July 5, 2018 Share Posted July 5, 2018 Otway the Feline Regent, surveying his Virginia dominion. 8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DUBSY Posted July 5, 2018 Share Posted July 5, 2018 9 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peng Posted July 5, 2018 Share Posted July 5, 2018 On 7/3/2018 at 7:42 AM, Santa CruZin said: Believe it or not cats can be diagnosed with clinical asthma. This is how you give a cat an inhaler... Can you give me a few more details on this? My critter has been having respiratory issues the last year. Many trip$ to the vet, many antibiotics tried to no avail. She was negative on the panel for the most common infections. Tried Lysine for a bit but it's not real medicine nor any evidence it does anything. She is not in any great distress but I can hear her wheezing and occasionally she gets nasal congestion. We tried steroids for a bit but they had no effect. Vet said she saw some inflammation in her lungs so we tried the steroids. My vet has given up and told me to go to a specialist. She says maybe allergies or asthma. I think she's just guessing. I just dread going to the specialist because I've heard the speech before. $400 for them to tell you that you need to do $3,000 worth of tests before they know anything. Is that a steroid inhaler? I've noticed my furnace and AC air have a slight odor to them but techs say neither is bad, maybe air getting into the vents somehow due to negative pressure. Wonder if this could be affecting her? Me not so much but she is 5% of my size. Is it true asthma is not curable but only manageable? Thanks. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RugerCat78 Posted July 6, 2018 Share Posted July 6, 2018 (edited) 7 hours ago, Peng said: Can you give me a few more details on this? My critter has been having respiratory issues the last year. Many trip$ to the vet, many antibiotics tried to no avail. She was negative on the panel for the most common infections. Tried Lysine for a bit but it's not real medicine nor any evidence it does anything. She is not in any great distress but I can hear her wheezing and occasionally she gets nasal congestion. We tried steroids for a bit but they had no effect. Vet said she saw some inflammation in her lungs so we tried the steroids. My vet has given up and told me to go to a specialist. She says maybe allergies or asthma. I think she's just guessing. I just dread going to the specialist because I've heard the speech before. $400 for them to tell you that you need to do $3,000 worth of tests before they know anything. Is that a steroid inhaler? I've noticed my furnace and AC air have a slight odor to them but techs say neither is bad, maybe air getting into the vents somehow due to negative pressure. Wonder if this could be affecting her? Me not so much but she is 5% of my size. Is it true asthma is not curable but only manageable? Thanks. Did they take an x-ray? Asthma can be seen as rings on one. Edited July 6, 2018 by RugerCat78 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dark Knight Posted July 6, 2018 Share Posted July 6, 2018 This merged with a pit bull thread would be interesting Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Santa CruZin Posted July 6, 2018 Share Posted July 6, 2018 (edited) 14 hours ago, Peng said: Can you give me a few more details on this? My critter has been having respiratory issues the last year. Many trip$ to the vet, many antibiotics tried to no avail. She was negative on the panel for the most common infections. Tried Lysine for a bit but it's not real medicine nor any evidence it does anything. She is not in any great distress but I can hear her wheezing and occasionally she gets nasal congestion. We tried steroids for a bit but they had no effect. Vet said she saw some inflammation in her lungs so we tried the steroids. My vet has given up and told me to go to a specialist. She says maybe allergies or asthma. I think she's just guessing. I just dread going to the specialist because I've heard the speech before. $400 for them to tell you that you need to do $3,000 worth of tests before they know anything. Is that a steroid inhaler? I've noticed my furnace and AC air have a slight odor to them but techs say neither is bad, maybe air getting into the vents somehow due to negative pressure. Wonder if this could be affecting her? Me not so much but she is 5% of my size. Is it true asthma is not curable but only manageable? Thanks. Our two Ragdolls were successfully diagnosed at the veterinary hospital at Mississippi State University. The local vet - like yours - was just throwing darts at a board, and we were concerned we were going to lose one or both of our cats. Wheezing, accelerated breathing, and what looked like (and probably were) asthma attacks prompted us to reach out for better care. They've been on the inhalers for a few years and the symptoms have cleared up all but for a very rare minor attack. One of their siblings was owned by someone who didn't take it seriously when we reached out to them with news of the diagnoses. They continued to let their Ragdoll outside, and it suffered a fatal asthma attack in front of their children. It's not an easy way for a cat to die. The method used to definitively diagnose our cats was an airway wash. I don't think it was particularly expensive (three digits anyway), but it wasn't something the local vet was equipped to do. The inhaled medicine is Fluticasone, brand name Flixotide. Our cats are prescribed 125 mcg in the morning, 50 mcg in the afternoon, every day (you want the minimum effective dose). The delivery device is called an Aerokat. We trained them to accept the silicon mask by offering treats to be eaten out of it over a couple weeks, with progressively longer sessions of placing the mask on their faces between snacks. Now they don't mind it at all, and I think they understand the treatments make them feel better. We get the prescribed inhalers at an off-shore pharmacy called "In-House Pharmacy" to save significant money. We also keep a second Aerokat loaded with an Albuterol cartridge as a "rescue" inhaler on standby in the event of a full-blown asthma attack, which as I mentioned can be deadly. During the mask acclimation period, both cats took an oral steroid. When your cat is snoozing, time her breathing rate for one minute. She should be in the twenties to low thirties. If she's significantly higher, there's a problem. This is of course only one indicator. Air quality is important to both humans and animals with asthma or allergies. I installed Lennox "whole house" MERV 11 pleated filter boxes at each of my three furnaces where the return comes in. I also have five IQAir Health Pro Plus air purifiers distributed throughout the house. I live in the highest pollen-saturated part of the US, so you may not need to take such extreme measures to get clean air. Some links to things I've mentioned above: https://www.iqair.com/ https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004X4UNOM/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1 https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008D7URTG/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1 https://www.inhousepharmacy.vu/ https://www.tmimd.com/aerokat-feline-aerosol-chamber-67 Edited July 6, 2018 by Santa CruZin 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Santa CruZin Posted July 6, 2018 Share Posted July 6, 2018 (edited) On 7/5/2018 at 10:17 AM, Cubdriver said: That's a heart wrenching story. Sounds like you did all you could for him, and much more than most would have. He got dealt a really awful hand; good on you for trying so hard to save him. I agree - RIP, littlr guy. He was a cute little bugger. Sorry to hear of his loss, my condolences. -Pat Thank you for the kind words. He was a fighter. I wish it had turned out differently. Edited July 6, 2018 by Santa CruZin 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cubdriver Posted July 6, 2018 Author Share Posted July 6, 2018 Santa Cruzin, based on these last few posts, your furballs are very fortunate indeed to have you in their lives. Too many people in this world treat them as disposable, and it's great to hear of those like you that are their polar opposites and who go above and beyond. -Pat 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peng Posted July 6, 2018 Share Posted July 6, 2018 Thanks for the info guys. Yes we took an x-ray, it was not very clear if it was showing anything even to the vet. She has never had anything I would call an attack, more like I can hear just hear her breathing most of the time. Her resting rate is 20-25 bpm so it's not elevated. She's 5 now, had her since a small kitten and this issue has just come up in the last year. Frustrating. Not good when your vet is scratching their head at something. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Foxterriermom Posted July 7, 2018 Share Posted July 7, 2018 5 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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