Post coming soon...and a request

Like Lennon said, life is what happens to you when you're busy making other plans.

The plan was to get a few posts up in defense of zero carb over the holidays, since I would have lots of leisure time at my disposal. Instead, I have been nursing a very sick cat. Cow, my sensitive little guy, has developed feline hepatic lipidosis, or fatty liver.

Just before the holidays, my army of pusses got into some takeout chicken wings. I'd stupidly left the garbage within puss access, and it didn't take long for them to go on a ravenous rampage, chewing on the remains of my dinner - chicken wing bones, with hot sauce on them.

They all had a good barf, as cats do. Cats are famous barfers. But I noticed that Cow's tummy was rumbling, and he was still throwing up a little a few days later. He was eating, but not as much as usual. I watched him for about a week and when his normal appetite hadn't resumed, I took him in. The vet gave us an appetite stimulant and shot him full of sub-q fluids, which helped for a day or two.

I took him back in a week later, because he was peeing outside the litter box. They checked him over and did blood work, and found that his liver enzymes were elevated - mild fatty liver. Because they were closing for christmas, I had to bring him back home and my fella and I began force feeding him for the next few days.

See, when a cat stops eating for whatever reason, their body starts sending fat cells to their liver to process into lipoproteins for fuel. Unfortunately, cats are not good at processing fat this way, so much of it stays in the liver. Unless they start eating normally again, their liver will fail and they will die. But because they feel crappy - lethargic, nauseus, etc - they have no desire to eat. The only way to recover then is force feeding. This condition is unique to cats, and happens with varying speed depending on the cat. Overweight cats can have this come on in a matter of days; Cow is not overweight, so it took longer to come on. Even though he was eating, he wasn't eating enough, and that will bring it on as well.

Cow has been on IV at the vet office since Monday, and has become slightly jaundiced - not a good sign as far as the liver is concerned. They are, of course, closing for new year's, so we are bringing him home today and will force feed him (about 12cc's every 2 hours, or 24cc's every four) until Friday, when he'll go back and have a feeding tube put in. We'll tube feed him until he starts eating on his own again.

So please send up a prayer, a wish, a happy thought for my little guy - he needs it. and if you have a cat who stops eating for a day or two, or is eating less than usual, take him to the vet pronto. I've actually been through this before with cats, and I knew what to look for, but I thought that since Cow was eating on his own that he'd bounce back. Cats are very tricky when it comes to food - I've since found out that a cat eating half of his usual dietary requirement can develop fatty liver, which makes it very hard for us Puss Parents to spot a problem - hey, they're still eating, so things must be ok. Nope. If your cat isn't eating the same, just bring him in. Cow was eating, and this still happened.

Cow is an odd name for a cat. I know. My fella and I are the king and queen of ridiculous pet names. 8 years ago, the fella brought home a stray who turned out to be preggers. She found him downtown at an ATM vestibule and, he claims, jumped in his car. I know pregnant women are demanding, but I also know my fella and his prediliction for pursuing stray pusses. Anyway, he brought her home and we set up a birthing box for her in our bedroom closet, as cats prefer to do messy, undignified things like popping out kittens in private. At about 4am one morning, I was startled awake by my fella rocketing out of bed with a howling cat in his arms and rushing to the closet - she had crawled in our bed, between us, to give birth (he thought it was sweet - I thought it was out of sheer cat desire to ruin good bedsheets, because cats don't like their people to have nice things). He set her down in her box, and about 30 seconds later the first of four kittens appeared. They were all grey except the last one - he was white, with grey/black markings on his back. "He looks like a little cow," I said, and knew immediately that he was my little guy. We kept the mum (Kayliss, who became Bunny for reasons we can't remember) him, and another boy (Nemesis, our big bruiser) and have been a happy family ever since.

Cow is slightly stupid. Stupid in that zen, Tao of Pooh way. He likes to fall off the bathroom sink, lie directly on my face when I am reading, and lick my toothpaste and deoderant. If you need an eyeball cleaned, Cow's your guy. But he also knows the value of a good cuddle, and spends most of his day cuddled up with his puss family or with me. He can tell if I've spent too long working on something, and considerately lets me know by vaulting on to my most accessible body part and butting me with his head until I relent and give in to petting time; or, as in the picture above, contorting himself into a position that enables the best ratio of puss parts touching human parts, and purring loud enough to drown out all conversation until he passes out (yes, he fell asleep in that position). He's my silly little carnivore, and I love him more than I ever thought I could love a cat.