I have a cat that is between 11-14 years. She went to the vet for her regular checkup and they got some abnormal results from her liver profile. She's scheduled for a visit to the vet tomorrow morning for an ultrasound and if required, a liver biopsy.
She hasn't eaten for about a day and a half, started vomiting (bile) yesterday morning and has diarrhea. She IS drinking water and because she has renal failure we have been giving her subcutaneous fluids as part of her routine every two days. This has me thinking that she's hydrated.
Today is a holiday so my only option is a visit to the ER which I know would extremely stress her out.
So my question is, how long can cats go without food if they're vomiting and have diarrhea but they're drinking water and getting fluids?
Thanks.
How long can a cat go without eating?
Re: How long can a cat go without eating?
Sub-q fluids are not enough to replenish vital electrolytes and rehydrate. She may be drinking, but it too is not enough to sustain any nutrition. With the vomiting and diarrhea, she is at risk for severe dehydration, and in both a renal and liver compromised patient, you can NOT take that risk. Both the kidneys and liver require appropriate water sources to function properly.
Unfortunately, the risk is too great, please don't hesitate to get her in to an ER clinic NOW, if she has a liver problem, each day that she goes without food and sufficient water is more risk for liver failure. Most liver problems, when caught and treated immediately, resolve with prompt treatment, but if you wait, it will take longer to treat, become more expensive, and will lengthen the time to recover with possible complications, considerably. Nutrition is CRUCIAL to liver function!
An ER vet can retest her liver enzymes, can give her IV fluids (which are better than sub-q in acute cases), can give her medications for nausea and vomiting, and can provide better nutritional support by treating the nausea/vomiting/dehydration and by offering her small amounts of a prescribed acute recovery diet, thereby maintaining crucial protein and nutrition to regenerate the liver. If you were scheduled for additional tests tomorrow, the vet would probably do all these things anyway, so do not wait another minute, get her to an ER vet right this moment! I can't stress enough how vital treatment of her symptoms are, go now please!
Unfortunately, the risk is too great, please don't hesitate to get her in to an ER clinic NOW, if she has a liver problem, each day that she goes without food and sufficient water is more risk for liver failure. Most liver problems, when caught and treated immediately, resolve with prompt treatment, but if you wait, it will take longer to treat, become more expensive, and will lengthen the time to recover with possible complications, considerably. Nutrition is CRUCIAL to liver function!
An ER vet can retest her liver enzymes, can give her IV fluids (which are better than sub-q in acute cases), can give her medications for nausea and vomiting, and can provide better nutritional support by treating the nausea/vomiting/dehydration and by offering her small amounts of a prescribed acute recovery diet, thereby maintaining crucial protein and nutrition to regenerate the liver. If you were scheduled for additional tests tomorrow, the vet would probably do all these things anyway, so do not wait another minute, get her to an ER vet right this moment! I can't stress enough how vital treatment of her symptoms are, go now please!
..........Traci
Re: How long can a cat go without eating?
Thanks Traci.
I took her and we're back home. The Sub-Q fluids seemed to have been a bit of help in keeping her hydrated so the ER vet recommended giving her another dose today instead of waiting another day which would have been part of her routine.
She's not jaundiced and the hydration isn't bad and should remain so if we do the sub-Qs again soon which will also leave her enough time for the vets tomorrow to be able to give her IV during her procedures.
Her ultrasound and if required, biopsy is scheduled for tomorrow and she has to fast for it overnight anyway so while the situation is not ideal the only thing now is to monitor her. Her vomiting has also subsided and only occurs when we put food in front of her.
She's still curious/interested in what's going on and has no problems standing but if her symptoms change overnight they'll admit her and put her on IV to stablize her and will have to postpone the ultrasound+biopsy until she's stable. We're all hoping she stays stable.
Thank you so much for your advice today.
I took her and we're back home. The Sub-Q fluids seemed to have been a bit of help in keeping her hydrated so the ER vet recommended giving her another dose today instead of waiting another day which would have been part of her routine.
She's not jaundiced and the hydration isn't bad and should remain so if we do the sub-Qs again soon which will also leave her enough time for the vets tomorrow to be able to give her IV during her procedures.
Her ultrasound and if required, biopsy is scheduled for tomorrow and she has to fast for it overnight anyway so while the situation is not ideal the only thing now is to monitor her. Her vomiting has also subsided and only occurs when we put food in front of her.
She's still curious/interested in what's going on and has no problems standing but if her symptoms change overnight they'll admit her and put her on IV to stablize her and will have to postpone the ultrasound+biopsy until she's stable. We're all hoping she stays stable.
Thank you so much for your advice today.
Re: How long can a cat go without eating?
Rather than get agressive with a biopsy at this point (unless the ultrasound shows something significant), ask the vet about doing a bile acids test first along with other liver profiles like ammonia (NH3), bilirubin, total protein, etc.
What were/are you feeding her?
What were/are you feeding her?
..........Traci