I never did like liver

This morning we decided to take Chelsea to the vet for a little checkup.  We couldn’t point to anything specific that was wrong with her, but she seemed sort of “depressed”, and while we’d see her drink water, we never saw her eat.  We don’t know Chelsea well enough to know what’s “normal” behaviour for her, the but her lack of energy combined with her daily vomiting made us worry that it could be more than just “the kitty blues”.  Unfortunately, we ended up being right.  Crap.  Chelsea had lost a little over 3 pounds since her last vet visit 5 weeks ago, and her new blood work showed three liver enzymes which were quintuple their normal values.  An x-ray showed a normal-looking liver, but there was a small mass visible on one side.  The vet suggested it could be a loop of bowel, or the gall bladder, although a gall bladder in that area and of that size would be a really distended one.

So… on Monday morning, Chelsea is going in for a liver ultrasound and a needle biopsy.  I’m hoping that all that will be diagnosed is hepatic lipidosis, which is a liver disease which occurs in cats who’ve stopped eating.  The “anorexia” rapidly causes liver damage, and Chelsea shows all the signs of this condition.  She may have stopped eating due to depression/stress, may not like the food we’re giving her, etc.  This would account for the fact that we don’t see her eat, and that she appears interested in the smell of food but won’t actually eat any of it.  It would also explain the vomiting.  The treatment for hepatic lipidosis is force-feeding, often for as long as 6 or 7 weeks.  I’ve started that process today, feeding Chelsea tins of Hills a/d food through a syringe.  Whoopee!  We’ve had one feeding session so far, and most of the food ended up on my pants or on the floor.  A bit ended up on Chelsea’s face and she wasn’t happy:

image

Today’s bill was $237… on Monday it will be at least $510.  Don’t ever accept free pets from anyone, ever!  It’s a curse!  You’ve been warned!

Posted by Leigh-Ann on 02/11 at 08:24 PM

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