Can my parvo cat on IV fluids still get fatty liver without eating?

Yes, it's very important for Loki to eat. If a cat goes too long without eating (about 72 hours), they will develop a fatty liver which is fatal without treatment. The sooner he eats, the better, but he's in the best place possible.

The cause of the vomiting must also be established - parasites, foreign body, virus, etc. I would not recommend giving anything orally if your cat is still actively vomiting. I assume that your vet has examined your cat and performed some diagnostics if she has been hospitalized for IV fluids. I believe I've also answered your most recent question: https://www.petcoach.co/question/?id=280270

Hi there. I'm sorry to hear that your kitten is sick. To know if she truly has parvovirus (also called feline panleukopenia), she would need to be tested for it. If your veterinarian did not test her, then there's no way to know for sure if this is the problem or not. But, her symptoms certainly sound like they could be caused by this. And yes, she will urinate out the excess fluids from her IV drip.

Hepatic lipidosis in cats typically develops secondary to long-standing inappetance, liver disease, or neoplasia (cancer). These cats are generally very ill and require medications to treat the primary cause in addition to trying to get them to take in enough nutrition for their body. To start from home, you can try syringing a canned food to Gimli; if needed you can mix a little water in with it in a blender to get to a consistency that is easy to push through the syringe. Unfortunately, many of these patients do not do well with syringe feeding and a feeding tube (esophagostomy tube) is needed to get enough nutrients to them. The bright yellow urine could be due to increased bilirubin content, which is common in cats with hepatic lipidosis. I would strongly recommend getting him to a primary care veterinarian to determine what the primary cause is for the inappetance. Thorough bloodwork (complete blood count, serum chemistry, FeLV/FIV test) should be performed to begin to look for an underlying cause. Abdominal x-rays or additional bloodwork may be recommended based on these findings. The liver is very good at recovering from an injury if it is caught early and treated appropriately and aggressively. I hope Gimli feels better soon.

A high calorie liquid diet such as viyo recuperation or royal canin gastrointestinal liquid diets are the easiest for her to digest when recovering, as well as oral electrolyte (salt and sugar solutions) which can be offered for her to drink or syringe fed. If the vomiting is still persistent she will require injectable fluids and nausea medications by your vet

Unfortunately it can take a long time - weeks to months - to recovery from hepatic lipidosis. I typically recommend a feeding tube because feeding the appropriate number of calories is most important and it can be difficult to get enough calories in with syringe feeding alone. If you have other concerns for questions about her care you should check in with your vet and be sure to follow up for all recommended rechecks.

Expected recovery time is typically 6-12 weeks, with an average time of eight weeks. The lethargy should start to improve before then but may take 7 to 10 days dependent on how sick your kitty was at diagnosis. Also it will depend on why your kitty developed hepatic lipidosis in the first place. If there was a disease process to treat then this will have to improve as well prior to improvment in clinical symptoms. These kittys need a lot of supportive care so hopefully your vet gave you medications for nausea, to treat infection, etc. Also you should have been provided with a feeding schedule with the volume of food to feed and how many times a day. I hope this helps and thank you for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach!