My cat has liver disease

[Want2retire]

Originally Posted by Purron

Thanks for your good thoughts W2R. Actually, he weighs nine pounds. He was down one pound from his usual weight of 10 pounds. This is a big weight loss percentage wise, but he was healthy enough to withstand the surgery.

OH!!! Thank goodness. I must have read it too fast and misunderstood. I was envisioning this poor, one pound eleven year old cat, which would hardly be consistent with living much longer! Now this is definitely worth cheering about.

[Purron]

Trombone Al reminded me I haven't updated this with his "National update your posts" thread. My cat had surgery on August 11th. They removed a portion of his liver and obtained biopsy samples of the rest. This was major surgery and he had an incision about 5 inches long on his belly. The first night we brought him home he bled profusely and I was scared to death. It turned out OK though and he is now healed up fine.

The results of the tests confirm he has lymphocytic cholangitis. He will be treated with prednisone and denamarin and will require frequent rechecks of his liver levels. He has gained weight and is now up to 9.5 pounds

The outlook for him is cautiously optimistic. Some cats with this condition do worsen and die within a year. Others can go on for years with a good quality of life.

This all has been very expensive. I would do it again since he has improved, we now know exactly what the problem is, he has a decent chance for a good quality of life and, most important, I love him! Here's a picture of my boy taken today:

[Sarah in SC]

Awesome update, Purron. Thanks! He's a lovely boy!

[simple girl]

Great to hear this update! He sure is a sweet little boy! We had a black kitty that looked much your boy. He looks awful happy!

[FIRE'd@51]

Thanks for posting this, Purron. I had been wondering how your kitty was doing. I wish you (and him) the best. He looks good, and the fact that he's gaining weight is a good sign. I know you must feel great to have him back home with you.

[Dawg54]

I have to admit, I'm surprised how well your cat has done. Hope he lives to a ripe old age.

[kaudrey]

Purron - that is great news! He is such a cutie. I have a black boy too - looks just like him (but bigger, my guy is 15 pounds). Best of luck to you both. I hope he lives a long, purrfectly happy life!

I'm glad, too, that they figured out what the problem is. Looking back at my posts from Christmas-time, you'll see that I lost one of my guys after a short but intense fight with....we don't know what. To this day, I wish we at least could have figured out what was wrong with him.