with diabetes and CRF I would suspect more urinating. If she hasn't urinated in a few days I would be more inclined to think blockage such as Crystals or stones. It's hard to guess at with out the blood results. I'd be interested in what a urine culture showed as well, and if or not the cat had a fever..

cindyx, just checked Duchess' litter box and she urinated once this morning, and quite a bit. Never thought of crystals or stones. I was thinking of a bad tooth or hairballs, which the doctor said "no" to. When I took her in yesterday, she did not have a fever. I have never heard of a urine culture. I wonder if I should keep what is in her litter box now.

Trudymom....ask your vet for ways to collect a urine sample from your cat, if you can. If not the vet will have to do it at the Vets office.
A urine sample checks for pH, presence of blood, infection, crystals, sediment
a urine culture checks for bacterial infection and identifies the type of bacteria so that the right antibiotic to combat the bacteria found can be prescribed.

cindyx, I took Duchess in to the vet again on Wednesday morning. They got her blood tests back and her liver levels were sky high. They put her on IV's and antibiotics all day. They tried to feed her, but she wouldn't eat anything. I went to see her--she is so sad and tired. I think I will give her one more day and if she is not better, then I will ask them to put her to sleep. She would not want to be this way.

trudymom -- did you vet say that Duchess might have Hepatic Lipodosis or Fatty Liver disease? Its often happens when a kitty stops eating for several days. Its sounds like a possibility to me and the ONLY way to treat it is to get her to eat!!! If so, your vet could actually give her a feeding tube -- either in esophagus or stomach area.
My sister's cat had this several years ago and she ended up on a tube for almost 8 weeks! But she made a full recovery and has been happy and reasonably healthy since then, I believe she is now about 12 years old.
Before letting Duchess go, PLEASE suggest this possibility with your vet and see if there is a chance this is what is going on.
Though the treatment sounds frightening it really can work, and has worked for many, many cats!
Please read this page:
http://www.healthypet.com/library_view.aspx?ID=42&sid=2
My fingers will be crossed for you and Duchess.

Yes, the vet did say that Duchess might have Hepatic Lipodosis or the one that is cancer. I visited her this morning at the vet's office. She has not eaten anything yet. They tried a syringe but she just spit it out. She is so weak and sad. I don't think she can go on any longer. I read the article about the Hepatic Lipodosis--I don't think she could never handle doing the feeding tube. I spoke to someone else whose cat had Hepatic Lipodosis and she said that even though they got her cat to eat after several months on a feeding tube, her quality of life was awful and was always getting sick with other things.

I have had 2 other cats and they both lived to be 15 years of age. This is so hard with Duchess just being 4 years old, but maybe it is just God's will that I say good-bye to her today. :-( I'll keep you informed. Maybe she will eat today... Thank you for caring...

trudymom -- I am only suggesting you strongly consider the tube feeding because Duchess is so young. I think there would likely be NO problem with the tube, and it could be just enough to get her eating on her own.
Most cats who survive (and a great number of them do) have no lasting side effects at all from the disease.
My sister's cat tolerated the tube just fine (I don't even think she knew she had one) -- and really is very very healthly now.
Duchess just may need abit of a push from you and your vet to get to eating on her own.

trudymom, elevated liver tests could mean several things. Being I don't have the lab reports to compare you should try and read this www.sniksnak.com/cathealth/labreports.html
it gives you an idea of what may be going on with the different levls of the bloodwork taken.
Also has the Vet run an ultra sound at all? Do they even have one? I would be particualy interested in what an ultra sound showed. Sammycat is correct about the feeding tube. They should administer one asap. The levels very well could be related to loss of protein and dehydration.
I would also like to suggest that this still can be related to some type of stones, particularly gallbladder with elevated liver is a strong possibility.
I'm so sorry you're going through this with your cat. ((((hugs))))

It has been a long day. Duchess was at the vet's office all day. I called around 3 and the vet said Duchess was not doing well--had not eaten and was drooling badly and maybe throwing up. I told her it was "time" and that I would be right there. When I got there the vet had Duchess and had some food for her. Duchess ate it. I have Duchess at home now. I just gave her the appetite stimulate that I was supposed to give her. I am so bad at giving pills. And I have to give her liquid medicine--antibiotics twice a day. She is going to hate me--she will hide from me soon--I know it. Oh, this is hard. But she is here at least...

Thank you for reading this.

trudymom -- we will support you! And Duchess will forgive and forget when she feels better, trust me.
A few years ago, my then 14-year Sally got very sick very suddenly and spent four days hooked to an IV at the vet, and eat very little if anything at all.
Half an hour after bringing her home, she started eating like crazy.
Duchess may surprise you and not need that appetite stimulant for very long!
Please keep us posted!

Try Pill Pockets. They worked great on Mollie for a while at least. She got one stuck on top of her mouth one day and that was it.
Katharina

Here is a link that might be useful: Pill Pockets

Trudymom, I was thinking about you and your cat all day today and kept checking the board to see how you were making out. My heart goes out to you both and sending prayers your way.

Trudymom, I feel for you. Having a young cat so sick is really hard to understand. Whatever way it comes out you will have done what is best for your kitty. Praying that your kitty recovers and it's something that will go away completely. Best of luck. / Terra

One of my cats, who is elderly, had fatty liver a few years ago. Not too bad a case, but with vomiting and diarrhea. The vet didn't use a feeding tube, and I had to wipe a fingerful of a special canned cat food to feed him. I did it so many times every day that he began to hate to see me coming, but he got better after several days and has forgiven me. His liver has been fine ever since.
My cats hate pills, too, but I have developed a way of squeezing a cat's mouth on the sides with my left hand to open it, tossing the pill toward the back of the throat, and quickly pushing it down in with my right thumb. Seems to work, but you have to be a bit callous and determined to pull it off. lol
I hope Duchess will make a full recovery. She has youth on her side. Please keep us informed. How wonderful that she started eating again, just when you were about to give up!

I'm glad she's home and I'm hoping she continues to improve.

Hi My New Friends,

I don't know what I would have done without all of you this week. You got me through a very hard time and I thank you from the bottom of my heart. Duchess has eaten about 1/4 of food today, which is about she ever ate during the day before this happened. She seems almost back to normal. Her tongue is back to pink instead of yellow. She is back to sitting on her windowsill watching the birds instead of hiding in the closet. I will just take this one day at a time, but today has been a good day so far. Thank you, and I will keep you informed still if you want.

trudymom, I've been following this thread--there was another that dropped off that was similar. I also had my own similar situation with a kitty some years ago (although hers lasted much longer) and I'm so glad you decided to stick it through! Sounds like Duchess is on the road to recovery and I'm so happy to hear it!

trudymom -- yes please keep us updated on her progress! I am so glad she is doing better, she must have sensed that you weren't ready to let her go! I would love to see a photo, if you have one!

sammycat and the rest of my new friends, here is a picture of Duchess. She's not this perky now but hopefully she will be playing chess again soon. I adopted her from a shelter that they were going to put her to sleep the next day. I was lucky to have found her. I have had her for 2 years. You were right--I certainly was not ready to let her go. I don't think you guys were ready yet either. Thank you!

ahhh Trudy mom she is gorgeous! Baby steps are good!!! Prayers continuing from here.

trudymom -- she is beautiful! She looks like she could be a sister to the real sammycat (our 8-year-old kitty). I would post her pix if I knew how to do it, so you could see for yourself. Please give Duchess a pet from us!

Great news! And what a beauty she is! The picture is wonderful, too.

Lovely cat. I'm sure w/ your care she'll slowly recover and be her old self. Just keep her routine as it was. Cats hate change. I have a 17 year old who hasn't been well for awhile. I wasn't going to go on vacation last year because I was afraid he'd die when I was gone. When I go away for a few days this year, I'll worry again. It's what we do.

Trudymom--

If you're still considering the feeding tube, I highly recommend it. You can give meds and food through the tube, and it doesn't bother the kitty at all. Ask for an e-tube, and have them x-ray to check placement after the tube is placed--it needs to be high in the esophogus. (Did I spell that right?)

Also, Hepatic Lipidosis is what happens when your kitty has some other underlying problem. The kitty becomes ill for some reason, stops eating, and THEN develops hepatic lipidosis--fatty liver disease. In other words, it's rare for a cat to have this condition only. There is normally some other condition that led to it. It could be something as simple as an upper respiratory infection; I think you're using antibiotics, so your vet probably thinks it's a bacterial infection.

Hepatic lipidosis is reversible. As sammycat said--she must eat! Your friend whose cat never fully bounced back had something more going on than just hepatic lipidosis.

Good luck Trudymom.

I am glad to hear of all the cats that have recovered from this disease. My 6 year old Cali has just been diagnosed. I couldn't afford to have a stomach tube put in, so I am feeding her every 2 hours. I feel terrible about that! She has always been small, but never sick. She is now 4.3 lbs. She is eating between 37 and 50cc s/ or so a day of blended cat food, water, and olive oil through a syringe. I took her to the vet today for blood work. We will get it back tomorrow. Has anyone done this? Any positive stories about this? I am so worried about her! I love her so much! Any information is appreciated.

Hi there

I just wanted to say my thoughts are with you i hope she recovers. She is a beautiful baby.

Babyj -- does that vet say that is enough food? It doesn't sound like much to me. I know the stomach tube can be very expensive, but that is probably the easiest and safest way to help her recover. Will your vet put you on a payment plan? Please ask. If they've already diagnosed her and are helping with her bloodwork, seems like they are determined to help her survive so they may be willing to do this for you, especially since it sounds like you are a good customer. Please keep us posted.

babyj,
I did exactly what you are doing with my cat. At that time, HL (Hepatic Lipidosis) was a death sentence, so I got no support from my vet other than weekly blood tests to see if what I was doing was doing any good. I don't know what food you're feeding, but I used a prescription formula (Science Diet A/D) mixed with a little water. A/D is highly digestible and much more soupy than regular canned food so not only is it easier to pass thru the syringe, it's a high calorie food so you don't have to feed as much.

It does sound as though you're not giving enough. Try to give 20-30cc at each feeding. Cats should have 100-150 cc's a day for weight maintenance, so you should really ramp up the food intake if possible. Just get as much as you can into her. I found that Momo didn't do the syringe so well, so I eventually ended up scooping it out of the bowl w/my finger and wiping it across the top of her mouth. It was EXTREMELY messy, and I'm sure that we lost a good bit of food with all the flinging she did (she was anorexic and didn't want to be fed) but apparently it worked. She was severely jaundiced, and smelled of liver. The other cat wouldn't go near her. There were nights when I was sure I'd wake up in the morning and she'd be gone. It took about 3 months doing that before she started eating on her own.

Another thing that really seemed to help was getting vitamin B12 shots once a week--after I started doing that, she started to improve pretty quickly.

I wish you the best of luck and will be praying for you and Cali. Feel free to email me if you have any questions, or want any support.