# Assisted-Feeding and Hepatic Lipidosis



## Jynical (Jun 22, 2011)

Hey guys, I haven't been around for awhile with school and work and general busy-ness.
Roscoe is doing great. She eats like a champ and is such a wonderful dog.

I switched (slowly) the cats over to raw and they were both doing really well. Guinness loves it...and Callie was loving it - but I noticed as she (Callie) started losing weight, she kept losing and finally went off food. While we kept Guinness on raw, we started to regress Callie's diet back to the things we knew she liked to eat. She'd eat a few bites here and there but nothing substantial. Fast forward to yesterday... I took her in, with the full expectation of us losing her. The vet said, "It's fatty liver disease, feed her. All the time. Whether she wants to or not."

So I am. She's 7... she's, otherwise, a healthy cat. I'm not ready to give up on her. So, now she's in a separate room with a litterbox and water and "food" (kibble...to get her to eat ANYthing... something... ) and then we have the syringes full of a wet "recovery" food from Royal Canin. I go up and basically force-feed her every hour or two. She's mentally better than yesterday...but still a far cry from what she was.

Anyway... I'm worried, but determined. We discussed it as a family and we all are well aware that this may not work. We may still lose her. But we're not going down without a fight.

Keep us in your thoughts. <3

Also, have any of you been through this before?


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## Paws&Tails (Sep 3, 2010)

When Rocky had fatty liver, it took two weeks of force feeding every 2-3 hours before he began eating on his own. My vet told us that she had one patient that had to be force fed for _twelve_ weeks before making a recovery. There is a pretty good success rate as far as recovering from this, especially in younger, healthy cats.

Did your vet suggest further testing? Sometimes there is an underlying cause, especially if she just started losing weight out of the blue. Obviously you wouldn't want to do it now with her being sick and all.

Right now she needs the best nutrition she can get. I asked on here for a better food to feed than Royal Canin for recovery. cprcheetah posted a recipe (1 5.5oz can of high quality cat food
1/3 cup warm water
1/4 cup Corn Oil
Any supplements as needed
Blend ingredients until liquidy and able to syringe feed.) and I just switched the corn oil to organic virgin coconut oil and used homemade chicken broth instead of water to pack in the nutrients and calories. I always offered the food to him first and gave him a few minutes before force feeding. Sometimes he would eat a little bit on his own and I would have to force feed the rest, but it was a start.

Good luck and my thoughts are with you!

ETA-
Also, make sure she's drinking enough. Especially if she eats any kibble. She really needs the water right now.


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## brandypup (Jan 23, 2012)

No insight just (((hugs))). 

What about kitten glop? Would that be somthign to try?


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## Jynical (Jun 22, 2011)

I love hugs! Thank you 

Her vet has mentioned further testing, but said it's irrelevant at this point since the main course of action is to get Callie to eat. I know precisely what she started losing weight...because she was pretty tubby. I think as I switched their foods, her weight came off too fast. She was eating... but it wasn't the crap she was used to getting...y'know?

She's seemed more curious about her surroundings and the dry food... but hasn't eaten any yet. She has been drinking little bits here and there. I will definitely keep her well-hydrated so we don't have to start hydrating by other means. 

I've been talking to her with positive affirmations... hey, whether you believe in the Woo or not... every thing helps, right?  She purred and seemed to really sleep while I massaged her and talked to her. Then it was up again for eating. lol Poor kid... she's so cranky. I'd much rather her be cranky, though.


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## MollyWoppy (Mar 19, 2010)

I just want to wish you good luck as well. Hope she starts eating of her own accord sooner rather than later. When you say you have to feed every couple of hours, is that during the night as well?
I'm learning off you guys incase I ever have to do this with my cat one day. And, twelve weeks of force feeding? God, this fatty liver disease thing is horrible.
Best of luck, please let us know how she gets on.


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## Paws&Tails (Sep 3, 2010)

It may be that. After everything came back negative I kept thinking "What did I do wrong? What caused this to happen?" and I did a little more research. Turns out that overweight cats (which he was) are much more likely to get fatty liver and they don't need to eat just nothing. It can happen if they eat only half or less of the calories they _were_ consuming. Rocky had been eating kibble, but when he started vomiting I switched him to canned/homemade food. He ate that heartily for a couple of weeks with NO problems. He was losing weight and not vomiting (and his poo didn't stink anywhere near as much). Then he started to lose interest in the canned/homemade. I _thought_ he was eating enough of the canned/homemade food, but apparently not. That was the problem. He wasn't eating _enough_ of it and he was losing weight. Not a good combo for an overweight cat.

Good.  I noticed Rocky wasn't drinking any water so I started syringing water into him after feeding him. It kept him hydrated without having to do IV fluids or anything like that.

It's always good to give them positive affirmations and affection especially when sick. I think it helps.



MollyWoppy said:


> When you say you have to feed every couple of hours, is that during the night as well?
> I'm learning off you guys incase I ever have to do this with my cat one day. And, twelve weeks of force feeding? God, this fatty liver disease thing is horrible.


I only fed him every 2-3 hours from the time I got up (4AM) until the time I went to bed (about 5 minutes before 10PM).

Tell me about it. I just kept thinking "God please don't let it go on that long!" I would've gone nuts, but I would've done it! It also limits when you can go somewhere and how long you can stay.


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## Jynical (Jun 22, 2011)

It really does limit what you can do...I'm skipping my design class tomorrow morning so that I can be home to feed her. A small update, I brought home a bunch of different foods today and she stuck her head in a bag of kitten food and ate a few bites... on her own. Obviously we have a long long way to go... but any effort she makes towards feeding herself is a step in the right direction.

She's incredibly feisty when it's feeding time. She does not like it at all... I looked her in the eye today and said "Tough. You're going to eat on your own, or you're going to eat like this. But you're going to eat."


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## Paws&Tails (Sep 3, 2010)

That's awesome!! Anything you can get her to eat on her own is good!

Keep us updated!


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## werecatrising (Oct 15, 2010)

How is Callie?


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## Paws&Tails (Sep 3, 2010)

Just wondering how Callie is doing?? Hope everything is all right!!


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## MollyWoppy (Mar 19, 2010)

I'm wondering too. Hope everything is ok....


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