Opinions on fatty liver/possible pancreatitis problem

Ryan Underwood dumped this in
news

Should we just keep feeding her even if she vomits?

No, you don't want to feed her to the point of vomiting if you can help it.
If she vomits, she may be getting food too fast. Everyone kept telling me
tube feeding needs to be a slow process. You can't just squirt it in.
Depress the plunger slowly. Depress it a little bit, 1 ML at a time and
give it a rest, when kitty seems calm, depress it a little more to get more
food in. It can't be hurried. It should also be body temperature. Is your
sister heating the food?

I am scared that
it would aggravate the problem, making her lose even more fluids and
feel worse. But I really have no idea how to deal with this. She
seems to randomly tolerate up to 40cc in a feeding, and then sometimes
she will vomit even a 10cc feeding.

We also don't know how much supplemental water to give her.

In my experience you shouldn't have to give supplemental water. If the food
isn't rejected, it should have enough moisture.

There is
a sub-q bag laying around but I can't convince my sis to stick a
needle in the cat.

Heh. I had to stick Shadow with shots of Reglan after he threw a bloodclot.
He hated it, I was bad at it. Glad that didn't last long.

Give Pnut a chance. HL can be overcome but it is emotional, it is difficult
and cats are not very cooporative. It is hard on everyone. But if you don't
have a prognosis yet, there is no reason to give up on her. No one will
give you that yet. The liver damage can be overcome if there isn't
something worse going on which you don't know yet.


The nine lives of Pnut:
1) Being rescued from a garbage dump in the cold by pet store
2) Sister buying from pet store, needing intensive care. Would not
have
gotten it otherwise
3) Survived intensive care and was a tiny sickly kitten for months
4) Had a seizure while on anesthesia being spayed
5) Broke a leg being shut in a door and wore a club for a few months
6) First jaundice and malnutrition episode in 2002
7) Current jaundice and malnutrition episode in 2004
8) ??
9) ??

Poor cat.

She is loved and deserving. Lucky cat. I have a song I've created for
Shadow if he could sing, he'd sing it for you. Sung to the tune of "if I
only had a brain" from the wizard of oz. (note: Shadow lost his voice
during one of the complications of his illness)

I could walk across the room
Not feeling all this doom
Feelin' very proud
I wouldn't be a'runnin'
Bonnie wouldn't seem so cunnin'
If I only had a meow.


I'd stand up to ev'ry kitty
I'd be all hissy-spitty
In anger or in wow

With the meows I'd be voicin'
I would be rejoicin'
If I only had a meow.


Oh, I could tell you why
Shamrock makes me cry,
I could meow of things I never meowed before
And then I'd sit and meow some more.


I would not be just a nuffin'
My voice all full of snuffin'
My nose all feeling ow.
I would dance and be merry
Life would be a ding-a-berry
If I only had a meow.


--
Cheryl

On Tue, 06 Apr 2004 22:41:44 -0500, Cheryl wrote:

Ryan Underwood dumped this in
news

Should we just keep feeding her even if she vomits?

No, you don't want to feed her to the point of vomiting if you can help
it. If she vomits, she may be getting food too fast.

Oops, I think I phrased that wrong. I meant, if she vomits should we just
go ahead and try to feed her again, or wait until her "stomach settles"?
If waiting is a good idea, how long? 15 minutes? an hour?

Everyone kept telling me
tube feeding needs to be a slow process. You can't just squirt it in.
Depress the plunger slowly. Depress it a little bit, 1 ML at a time and
give it a rest, when kitty seems calm, depress it a little more to get
more food in. It can't be hurried. It should also be body temperature.
Is your sister heating the food?

Ok, my sis has a tough time handling the plunger so I think the speed
isn't really much of an issue. I think her stomach is just too upset for
the reaction to the food to be predictable/deterministic. She is
definitely warming the food but being careful not to get it to the point
of being hot.

We also don't know how much supplemental water to give her.

In my experience you shouldn't have to give supplemental water. If the
food isn't rejected, it should have enough moisture.

Ok. What if the feeding is vomited? Should we give water instead to at
least try to get "something" down, or just try for another feeding in a
bit (which obviously may or may not be successful)?

Give Pnut a chance. HL can be overcome but it is emotional, it is
difficult and cats are not very cooporative. It is hard on everyone. But
if you don't have a prognosis yet, there is no reason to give up on her.
No one will give you that yet. The liver damage can be overcome if there
isn't something worse going on which you don't know yet.

That is the only thing I am scared of. I have read horror stories about
liver and biliary duct cancers, biliary duct blockages, etc etc etc.
Trying to rescue her only prolonging the inevitable and all that.

The only thing that gives me more hope that I would otherwise have is the
fact that she had something like this before, and whatever it was just
went away before it did any permanent damage to her.

It gives me a slim margin of confidence that we are probably just dealing
with a much more difficult form of the same thing, and that makes me think
that it will also eventually go away. If some miracle happens and it
does, you can be damn sure we will be finding the real source of the
problem as soon as she is in good enough shape to do so and I can afford
it.

She is loved and deserving. Lucky cat. I have a song I've created
for Shadow if he could sing, he'd sing it for you. Sung to the tune of
"if I only had a brain" from the wizard of oz. (note: Shadow lost his
voice during one of the complications of his illness)

You and Shadow have been a source of inspiration during this nightmare.
Thank you so much.

On Tue, 06 Apr 2004 22:41:44 -0500, Cheryl wrote:

Ryan Underwood dumped this in
news

Should we just keep feeding her even if she vomits?

No, you don't want to feed her to the point of vomiting if you can help
it. If she vomits, she may be getting food too fast.

Oops, I think I phrased that wrong. I meant, if she vomits should we just
go ahead and try to feed her again, or wait until her "stomach settles"?
If waiting is a good idea, how long? 15 minutes? an hour?

Everyone kept telling me
tube feeding needs to be a slow process. You can't just squirt it in.
Depress the plunger slowly. Depress it a little bit, 1 ML at a time and
give it a rest, when kitty seems calm, depress it a little more to get
more food in. It can't be hurried. It should also be body temperature.
Is your sister heating the food?

Ok, my sis has a tough time handling the plunger so I think the speed
isn't really much of an issue. I think her stomach is just too upset for
the reaction to the food to be predictable/deterministic. She is
definitely warming the food but being careful not to get it to the point
of being hot.

We also don't know how much supplemental water to give her.

In my experience you shouldn't have to give supplemental water. If the
food isn't rejected, it should have enough moisture.

Ok. What if the feeding is vomited? Should we give water instead to at
least try to get "something" down, or just try for another feeding in a
bit (which obviously may or may not be successful)?

Give Pnut a chance. HL can be overcome but it is emotional, it is
difficult and cats are not very cooporative. It is hard on everyone. But
if you don't have a prognosis yet, there is no reason to give up on her.
No one will give you that yet. The liver damage can be overcome if there
isn't something worse going on which you don't know yet.

That is the only thing I am scared of. I have read horror stories about
liver and biliary duct cancers, biliary duct blockages, etc etc etc.
Trying to rescue her only prolonging the inevitable and all that.

The only thing that gives me more hope that I would otherwise have is the
fact that she had something like this before, and whatever it was just
went away before it did any permanent damage to her.

It gives me a slim margin of confidence that we are probably just dealing
with a much more difficult form of the same thing, and that makes me think
that it will also eventually go away. If some miracle happens and it
does, you can be damn sure we will be finding the real source of the
problem as soon as she is in good enough shape to do so and I can afford
it.

She is loved and deserving. Lucky cat. I have a song I've created
for Shadow if he could sing, he'd sing it for you. Sung to the tune of
"if I only had a brain" from the wizard of oz. (note: Shadow lost his
voice during one of the complications of his illness)

You and Shadow have been a source of inspiration during this nightmare.
Thank you so much.

On Tue, 06 Apr 2004 22:40:21 -0500, zuzu22 wrote:

She seemed to tolerate an earlier A/D
feeding tonight (having had a shot of
metaclopramide today) but it was only
20cc.

Then you may have better luck feeding you cat less food more often.
Also, please check your email.

I tried to reply, but it says your mailbox is full... do you have
another email address?

On Tue, 06 Apr 2004 22:40:21 -0500, zuzu22 wrote:

She seemed to tolerate an earlier A/D
feeding tonight (having had a shot of
metaclopramide today) but it was only
20cc.

Then you may have better luck feeding you cat less food more often.
Also, please check your email.

I tried to reply, but it says your mailbox is full... do you have
another email address?

Ryan Underwood dumped this in
news
Happier times:
http://home.icequake.net/~nemesis/ph...phats&pic=0205
49-3.jpg&dispsize=640&start=0

sniff.


Thanks for all the pictures. I loved them and I bookmarked one of the
sites to go see later cos I gotta get to bed. Pnut as a kitten touches me
because she's been such a part of your lives. I never knew Shadow as a
kitten, he was "put out" at 3 years old by an old neighbor of mine. Here
are his pics. Some are from when he was really sick. I think I was where
you are now, I thought he was going to die very soon.
http://community.webshots.com/album/48246898KBEaSJ

Purrs and prayers for Pnut for tonight and while you're going through
this. Trust your heart though. You know her. You know if her time is up.
Trust it. If you feel it isn't, pursue other options. Seriously.

--
Cheryl

Ryan Underwood dumped this in
news
Happier times:
http://home.icequake.net/~nemesis/ph...phats&pic=0205
49-3.jpg&dispsize=640&start=0

sniff.


Thanks for all the pictures. I loved them and I bookmarked one of the
sites to go see later cos I gotta get to bed. Pnut as a kitten touches me
because she's been such a part of your lives. I never knew Shadow as a
kitten, he was "put out" at 3 years old by an old neighbor of mine. Here
are his pics. Some are from when he was really sick. I think I was where
you are now, I thought he was going to die very soon.
http://community.webshots.com/album/48246898KBEaSJ

Purrs and prayers for Pnut for tonight and while you're going through
this. Trust your heart though. You know her. You know if her time is up.
Trust it. If you feel it isn't, pursue other options. Seriously.

--
Cheryl

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554-The incoming mailbox for user zuzu22 is full. 554 This person is not
able to receive more mail at the present time. (in reply to end of DATA
command)

Here is the error

The WebTV_Postfix+sws program - Transcript of session follows

: host storefull-3196.bay.webtv.net[209.240.207.146] said:
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able to receive more mail at the present time. (in reply to end of DATA
command)

"Ryan Underwood" wrote in message
news

Here are some pics of her:


http://home.icequake.net/~nemesis/ph...=6 40&start=0

http://home.icequake.net/~nemesis/ph...=6 40&start=0

http://home.icequake.net/~nemesis/ph...6 40&start=20

She loved those boxes...

Here she is as a kitten.

http://home.icequake.net/~nemesis/ph...ze=640&start=0

Here you can see some pictures of our Maine Coon that died around
the same
time Pnut had her first jaundice episode. We didn't pay too much
attention
to it because we chalked it up to the stress.


http://home.icequake.net/~nemesis/ph...book&dispsize=

Poor guy had NRG anemia misdiagnosed as lymphoma. The "lymphoma"
turned out
to be a big ball of fat. By the time we got him on Epogen, it was
too late.
He died horribly in the early morning one day after starting on it.
:-(
The world lost a very handsome fellow that day.

Happier times:

http://home.icequake.net/~nemesis/ph...ze=640&start=0

sniff.

She is really beautiful. I love her expression in the second
photo, especially.