My cat has ascites & liver disease. How to help his discomfort?

Hello. I am so sorry that your pet is so unwell. Depending on the cause of the liver disease ( lipidosis, inflammation, infection, or cancer ), prognosis is extremely varied. If he is showing neurologic issues, this could be an indication that you have developed a form of hepatic encephalitis as the result to toxin buildup in the blood stream. The liver's job is to remove toxins, such as ammonia, but if the liver function is depressed enough, a buildup will occur. In general, subcutaneous fluids should not cause overhydration, but with organ failure, this too is a possibility & now the problem becomes how to manage dehydration without doing more damage. This sounds like a very difficult & complex case, so hopefully you have a very good team of doctors working on the problem. The questions you have asked are all very good ones, but difficult to respond to without having your cat's complete history. Tomorrow, ask to have a consult, or sitdown with the attending veterinarian. Write down all your questions & thoughts and keep asking until you are satisfied with their answers. Hopefully they will be able to at least give you some guidance as to what the next steps are to help your kitty back to health. Good luck & thanks for contacting Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach.

Thank you for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! From the X-rays, I can see that Mara's abdomen appears to be filled with fluid. It is obscuring his liver and intestines from being seen and there may even be a small amount in his lungs. Unfortunately it is impossible to tell what the fluid is from the x-ray alone. His blood work shows some abnormalities with his electrolytes, which may be if he is not eating or from fluid in the abdomen. Mara also has a high white blood cell count, these are the cells that are responsible for fighting off infections and increase if there is one present. Your vet can run some additional diagnostics, and perform a tap and remove the fluid as well as a blood test to determine if Mara is infected with FIP, a mutated form of a common virus that cats are exposed to. I hope this helps!

I am sorry for the delay in answering your question... I hope that Iomy is feeling better! Based on his xray, it does appear that his liver may be a bit enlarged. If he is still showing symptoms of illness, ask your family veterinarian about an abdominal ultrasound. This may help clarify what the problem is and what your options are. Also, if blood tests haven't been done that would also be helpful. Again, I hope you he is feeling better.... if you have additional questions please feel free to post on the forum and we will do our best to help!

I'm so sorry to hear that you and Sam are going through this scary situation. With normal blood work and the normal ultrasound, I would be concerned about the disease called FIP (Feline Infectious Peritonitis) which is an uncommon response to a common virus in which the abdomen fills up with fluid and cats don't tend to recover from it. I would also continue to be concerned about cancer even though you're not seeing any signs in the fluid or on the ultrasound. A tumor has to be at least a centimeter in diameter before it can be seen an ultrasound, so it's not unusual for something to just be too small. Unfortunately, without a diagnosis, it's incredibly difficult to treat. And even with a diagnosis, at his age, it's mostly bad things that it could be. At this point, your vet is probably focusing on palliative care to keep Sam comfortable by removing the fluid, keeping him well hydrated, making sure he is comfortable. I would recommend talking to them about his prognosis and your goals for him.

Hi and thank you for your post. It is hard to say while exactly fluids are building up without examining her fist and getting a history and looking at blood work first. Whether or not removing the fluid will help all depends on why the fluid is accumulating in the first place. Liver disease, cancer, bleeding and other reasons can cause fluid build up. You can request a consult with me and we can discuss Charlie's history in more detail and determine if the fluid build up can be drained and whether or not this will be effective. Thank you!

I'm so sorry Lucy has been diagnosed with kidney and liver disease. Unfortunately I would need to know a little more about her particular case in order to give more specific advice on treatment and prognosis. Acute kidney injury can be caused by toxins or infections, and with aggressive IV fluid therapy and hospitalization sometimes the kidneys can recover full function. Chronic kidney disease happens more slowly, and while diet changes and monitoring for secondary problems like high blood pressure can help slow the progression of disease there is no cure. ALT and cholesterol can increase for a number of different reasons - gastrointestinal infections, pancreatic disease, and liver and gallbladder infections would be a few. It seems like her kidney disease is likely more significant at this point. If you have more specific questions you can consider starting a consultation with an expert or repost your question with a little more detail about her history and current treatments.

I'm so sorry to hear that Lily has been so sick. Based on the bloodwork that you've provided, it looks as though in addition to elevated liver values, she's also quite anemic (low red blood cell count). It is important to determine why Lily is experiencing this degree of liver disease. Given her relatively young age, issues like infectious diseases are most likely, but cancer or other immune-mediated issues are also possible. I would recommend asking your vet about running some testing for different infectious diseases, like Mycoplasma, Bartonella or Cytauxzoon. In the meantime, also ask your vet if Lily is at the point where she needs a blood transfusion to manage her anemia. This decision is based on vital parameters, exam findings, as well as her hematocrit (HCT). You may also want to ask your vet if Lily looks as though she needs a diuretic, like furosemide, to remove excess fluid from in and around her lungs. Lily's medical case sounds quite complicated, so I'd recommend seeking out a second opinion on her care, if available. You can also ask your vet to contact veterinary internal medicine specialists if they need more specific advice for her diagnostics and treatments. I hope that she's on the mend soon!