WhKnight
August 13th, 2005, 02:05 PM
(This is a little long, sorry...)
My cat Maya is still not eating on her own, after over two months since the rabies shot that apparently set this whole thing off. A quick overview:
Maya has not eaten on her own for more than a couple of days since the first of June, right after she had her rabies shots. She's had bloodwork, x-rays, an ultrasound and a quick needle biopsy of her liver. She lost 2 lbs. from the first to the end of June. To date, nothing has shown up other than elevation of her liver enzymes (up to 217 at the highest) and some fat deposits around her liver (per the ultrasound and needle biopsy). Nothing has shown any masses or obstructions so far. She was diagnosed with Irritable Bowel Disease that was dormant until the rabies shot, but I think we dodged the bullet of hepatic lipidosis with hand feeding. We decided not to put in a feeding tube since she was allowing me to syringe-feed her.
I've been syringe-feeding her since July 1--increasing amounts of pureed A/D prescription food, and she has been on 10 mg. of Prednisone since July 3 (5 mg., morning and evening). She was at 240 ml a day of the A/D for about 2 1/2 weeks, at which point she was back up to 9 1/2 lbs. (her original weight was 10 lbs.) and her liver enzymes were back down to 57.
On August 5, the vet advised weaning her off the hand-feeding and cut her Prednisone in half, to 5. I dropped her to 120 mls. of food. As of August 12, she had lost 5 oz. and began to lose energy. On the 12th, the vet gave me Cyproheptadine, to give her 2 mg. twice a day. I gave her 2 mg. that night, and after fussing around for about 2 hours, she finally licked a Cheeto and a few licks of a fudgsicle I had, then lapped up quite a bit of the A/D that I had pre-pureed for syringe feeding her. Hallalujah, I thought we were on the other side of the mountain at last.
I had forgotten to ask the vet about still giving her the Prednisone, however, and did not give her any the next morning...only the Cyproheptadine. She cried and mewed but would not touch any food. I fed her a little bit (as the vet had advised the night before) and left a little food out. Again, she didn't touch it, and that night after I gave her the Cypro, she meowed and meowed as if hungry, but wouldn't touch anything. I tried pure meat and squash babyfood (no onions!), four different kinds of wet food, the food she had eaten the night before, tuna, my food...everything. She was not interested. She would typically sniff it and then just turn away and start meowing at me again. Even if she has not eaten for 24 hours, she still will not eat anything on her own.
Per the vet, I put her back on the Prednisone on Wednesday morning and went back to the syringe feeding (she was back up to 200 ml as of last night). They had me take her off the Cypro for three days (three days will be Sunday evening) and then said to try it again.
I've had her to three different vet clinics and an abdominal specialist (seven different vets total), and they're all baffled as to why she won't eat. I don't understand why she would respond to the Cypro one day and then not the next...could it be because I didn't give her the Prednisone? Her energy has declined significantly since last week, and my fear has grown. The next stop, according to the vet, is to take her to the veterinary college for at least an endoscopy.
I do not want to put her through exploratory surgery; is there any other thing that can help to figure out what's wrong with her? Everyone is starting to seriously talk about cancer, which frightens me even more...but I don't understand why that hasn't shown up on any of the tests so far, if that's what it is.
If it is cancer, is there anyone here who's had a cat with cancer (it's probably intestinal or something like that)? How did they find it? What were the treatments? What was the outcome?
This forum has been so helpful and supportive in the time that Maya's been sick and semi-healthy. Any advice or words of wisdom you can give at this stage would be welcomed...I'm so afraid I'm going to lose her.
Thank you,
WhKnight
My cat Maya is still not eating on her own, after over two months since the rabies shot that apparently set this whole thing off. A quick overview:
Maya has not eaten on her own for more than a couple of days since the first of June, right after she had her rabies shots. She's had bloodwork, x-rays, an ultrasound and a quick needle biopsy of her liver. She lost 2 lbs. from the first to the end of June. To date, nothing has shown up other than elevation of her liver enzymes (up to 217 at the highest) and some fat deposits around her liver (per the ultrasound and needle biopsy). Nothing has shown any masses or obstructions so far. She was diagnosed with Irritable Bowel Disease that was dormant until the rabies shot, but I think we dodged the bullet of hepatic lipidosis with hand feeding. We decided not to put in a feeding tube since she was allowing me to syringe-feed her.
I've been syringe-feeding her since July 1--increasing amounts of pureed A/D prescription food, and she has been on 10 mg. of Prednisone since July 3 (5 mg., morning and evening). She was at 240 ml a day of the A/D for about 2 1/2 weeks, at which point she was back up to 9 1/2 lbs. (her original weight was 10 lbs.) and her liver enzymes were back down to 57.
On August 5, the vet advised weaning her off the hand-feeding and cut her Prednisone in half, to 5. I dropped her to 120 mls. of food. As of August 12, she had lost 5 oz. and began to lose energy. On the 12th, the vet gave me Cyproheptadine, to give her 2 mg. twice a day. I gave her 2 mg. that night, and after fussing around for about 2 hours, she finally licked a Cheeto and a few licks of a fudgsicle I had, then lapped up quite a bit of the A/D that I had pre-pureed for syringe feeding her. Hallalujah, I thought we were on the other side of the mountain at last.
I had forgotten to ask the vet about still giving her the Prednisone, however, and did not give her any the next morning...only the Cyproheptadine. She cried and mewed but would not touch any food. I fed her a little bit (as the vet had advised the night before) and left a little food out. Again, she didn't touch it, and that night after I gave her the Cypro, she meowed and meowed as if hungry, but wouldn't touch anything. I tried pure meat and squash babyfood (no onions!), four different kinds of wet food, the food she had eaten the night before, tuna, my food...everything. She was not interested. She would typically sniff it and then just turn away and start meowing at me again. Even if she has not eaten for 24 hours, she still will not eat anything on her own.
Per the vet, I put her back on the Prednisone on Wednesday morning and went back to the syringe feeding (she was back up to 200 ml as of last night). They had me take her off the Cypro for three days (three days will be Sunday evening) and then said to try it again.
I've had her to three different vet clinics and an abdominal specialist (seven different vets total), and they're all baffled as to why she won't eat. I don't understand why she would respond to the Cypro one day and then not the next...could it be because I didn't give her the Prednisone? Her energy has declined significantly since last week, and my fear has grown. The next stop, according to the vet, is to take her to the veterinary college for at least an endoscopy.
I do not want to put her through exploratory surgery; is there any other thing that can help to figure out what's wrong with her? Everyone is starting to seriously talk about cancer, which frightens me even more...but I don't understand why that hasn't shown up on any of the tests so far, if that's what it is.
If it is cancer, is there anyone here who's had a cat with cancer (it's probably intestinal or something like that)? How did they find it? What were the treatments? What was the outcome?
This forum has been so helpful and supportive in the time that Maya's been sick and semi-healthy. Any advice or words of wisdom you can give at this stage would be welcomed...I'm so afraid I'm going to lose her.
Thank you,
WhKnight