I've learned a lot about my cat's liver in the last few weeks.
Cilla stopped eating when we moved to Darwin. Too much of a shock, I suppose. She didn't seem to be bothered, just lost heaps of weight. Anyway, as I now know, this is a VERY BAD thing in cats.
Apparently what happens is that when they stop eating, they start to try to metabolise the fat in their bodies (particularly if they're a little 'heavy'). Cats' livers are made to metabolise protein, not fat, so their livers get overloaded with fat and start to not function. This leads to a cat with yellow ears (jaundice), and other symptoms of general unwellness.
Cill was not moving much the Sunday before last. She'd lost heaps of weight, so much that I could feel her spine. This was a worry as she's always been quite portly.
Anyway, I took her to the vet and she ended up staying over night and had lots of tests. On the Monday I was informed that she had the above mentioned disease, but of course I didn't really hear what they were saying. Had to do lots of internetting thingys to work it out.
So, she's been in hospital being force fed through a tube in her neck for the last week and a half. For about the first week she was very distressed. Her pupils were enormous, I assume from terror, and she was very floppy. Thought I might lose her. But in the last few days her eyes have come back to normal.
Today she came home and I will be nursing her until she gets better. This means force feeding her a high protein diet through a tube into her stomach. Here's what it looks like:
She is being really good about the whole thing. She sits quite comfortably while I push stuff down the tube. Apparently it will take four to six weeks of force feeding to get her back on track.
Don't ask about the vet bill!
I'm glad she's home. However, her companion cat is less than impressed. She's doing lots of hissing and bad behaviour. Don't know what this is all about. I suppose after a week and a half of being an only cat, she's a little jealous.
