Cat Chat Feline Forum

Hi. Two days ago one of my cats started hiding away. Yesterday I took her to the vets and temperature was normal, no obvious signs of anything, gums pink etc. The vet said try feeding her for another day and bring her in if she's not better tomorrow (today). Very little food eaten yesterday, no water, just slept for 24 hours until I took her back in today, where the vet found she has yellow gums and third eyes, and orangey urine (she urinated on the examination table). He said she has jaundice, and has to put her on a drip and do blood tests etc. She has been droopy for 48 hours, but the jaundice symptoms have only come on since the vets visit yesterday.

I'm very worried. Has anyone had any such experience?

Gosh very worrying, but at least she is there at the vets and having tests which hopefully will give you answers and treatment options. What sort of age is she?

Nothing similar here, but possibly something related. Jaundice obviously indicates a liver issue. I didn't realise until I googled orange pee just now that that's also liver. A million and one things can happen with a liver, it may have a simple structure and unique powers of regeneration but lists many functions most of which are filtration and detox. Some are just passing 24-hour crises, some are curable, some manageable, some a bit more serious.

My similar story, and don't take this as any indication of what your girl's problem might be - 11 year old girl always fit and healthy but fat had one of those crashes, losing a huge amount of eight very suddenly, stopped eating, eyes looked frightened, no actual jaundice visible but yellow diarrhoea and vomit. We rushed her to the vets, I can't even remember what was given or done but we ran a full blood screen which showed two things - hyperthyroidism and bilirubin. Bilirubin is the stuff that makes blood cells red and makes a bruise yellow as it heals, the yellow is the colour it goes as the blood cell breaks down. Vet said not related. I found out they can be - I believe there are rarely 2 independent problems in a crisis, they are usually linked in some way. She recovered just fine from the bilirubin and was treated 5 months later for hyperthyroidism, is now maintaining a normal weight all by herself but still gets loose stools most of the time and has not produced normal furballs since, so not fully recovered yet.

There is one specific condition that I'm sure the vet has thought of which is hepatic lipidosis. I don't know if your girl's symptoms or history match but it can come on surprisingly quickly if the cat doesn't eat for a couple of days or has drastically reduced calorie intake for a few days. It's possible the liver problem isn't the root cause but the effect of not eating, and not eating is the result of something else. It's safe to google that one, the info on the net isn't always exactly the same but the basics are there in pretty much anything you read. It's perfectly curable if caught and treated quickly, which if it is that is happening right now.

Thinking of you both, please let us know how she gets on.

Fingers crossed for her - you have acted promptly, which is always a good thing in these circumstances, and she is in the right place.

The vet said she has a scan tomorrow to see whether it's an infection/cancer etc. The blood tests indicated her liver is quite inflamed.

I went and saw her earlier in her pen and she actually was standing up, connected to a drip) and ate a bowl of food while I was there (didn't touch it before I arrived).

I'm so worried, convinced she hasn't got long. She's around 11, the mother to my other two cats, who have been looking for her everywhere.

Even if it's something fairly serious, as long as recovers it'll be ok (and a miracle in my depressed mind).

She is in good hands and you acted quickly to give her the best possible chance and if she is standing and eating she is already feeling a little more comfortable than she was and in better shape to fight this, with your support.

I know it's easy to say and harder to do but please try to stay positive and keep life as normal as possible for the others. They will be picking up your emotional vibes and looking to you for guidance. Your anxiety will feed theirs. Keeping a calm frame of mind will help them.

Fingers crossed the scan shows something treatable - is the vets quite close to you? When Lucy was hospitalised for 5 days, I had to go over every day (apart from the day she had the tests) to hand feed her, as she wouldn't eat at the vets. The vet nurse was pleased, as all she saw was grumpy Lucy, and she perked up and seemed happy when I was there. I also took about 5 different kinds of food with me for them to try in between.

Thanks for all the support.

She was anaesthetised while they gave her a scan and an ultrasound today, and fortunately there were no signs of tumours. Apparently she had a blocked bile duct and pancreatitis. One of my others had the latter three years ago and was fine within a week. I hope hers is the milder kind too.

I went to see her again today and she had been eating (despite being woozy from the anaesthetic) and ate some more when I was there, purring away. She's still on a drip, and is being given drugs to treat her, so hopefully she can come home soon. It's the best place for her at the moment, while I'm at work during the day.

Fortunately the vets only a mile and a half away.

Positive news, thankfully you acted quickly and it sounds like you have a good vet. All best wishes for her recovery.

Also surprised that you can visit, vets around here seem to think it's worse for owners to visit and leave than just stay away. They don't normally allow visits at all while an animal is admitted.

Am glad that the scan didn't show any tumours, hopefully she will respond well to treatment. At least the vet is close if you want to visit her, Lucy had to be hospitalised at the main branch which is a 25 mile round trip! By the end of the 5 days, I didn't need the sat nav to get there or back!

She's back home now, with 4 pills to take per day! Has to go back on saturday for a check up. Let's hope it gets better. She's certainly much different from how she was earlier in the week. Has been eating loads of Royal Canin, but has gone back to sleep now.

That is such good news! I hope she continues to recover quickly and is soon back to normal.

Good luck getting the meds into her.

Acting almost normal friday and today so far, eating a fair amount, going outside, rolling, scratching fence posts etc.

Vets today said jaundice and temperature has gone - the inflamed pancreas was squashing the bile duct, so have to go back for more bloods in 2 weeks. Gave her a jab to replace 2 of the pills, so less pills for me to fail with!

Has cost close to £2000 (fortunately I'm insured).

Glad she is bouncing back quickly - and yes, thank god for insurance

I got the follow up blood test results from the vets today, and everything is now back to normal.

She's been acting fine for the last two weeks. Fingers crossed.

I am so glad she is back to normal - and very glad you got her to the vet at the first sign of trouble.