The cause of your feline / cats jaundice does not matter ~ treat / treatment is inexpensive ~ but you must act fast! Has your cat stopped eating ~ turned yellow ~ jaundice ~ (jauntice ~ jantice ~ janticed ~ jaunticed ~ janticed) ~ become inactive ~ anemic ~ lethargic ~ started hiding ~ no longer sleeps with you ~ does not play as normal ~ just lays there

Have you moved ~ gone on vacation ~ added an animal or person ~ or lost one from your household? I did a combination of these things right before Larry got SICK!

I recently moved into a new apartment with a new roommate and shortly thereafter went on a 4 day holiday. When I returned my cat had stopped eating and turned yellow (called jaundice ~ which is indicative of problems with the liver). I hope to help you evaluate the situation and choose a course of action if this happens to you.

A full description of what Larry started and stopped doing;

He stopped eating and drinking

He was very cold - he had a reverse fever

He started hiding and stopped sleeping with me

He was jaundice (yellow in his skin - most noticable around his mouth and ears)

He was lethargic - he was not interested in anything and was not playful as he usually is

He was anemic, anorexic

This was a drastic change in his behavior.

The fact that I had moved, and also that the members of my household had changed were both key factors in determining what exactly was wrong. These are the major indicators for the problem Larry had, which was Fatty Liver Disease. But my cat had jaundice, which is a symptom that he had a problem with his liver, and there are many things that COULD have been wrong with him given this symptom. The vet was all to willing to work up a bill and would have charged me $700 just to find out what was causing the jaundice - and that was the beginning bill with only the first blood screen. The vet proposed a urinalysis, blood work a liver biopsy a FIP test and on and on. The jaundice could have been a symptom of FIV or FIP - both are untreatable - and knowing your cat has either will not make a difference in the TREATMENT. (Do you really need to to spend $700 to find out what is wrong when the treatment - the course of action you need to take, is predetermined and is the same regardless of what is actually wrong) The problem could have been cancer - of the liver or kidneys. It could have been what it was - Fatty Liver Disease. The fact that I had just moved and added a household member was the main symptom of what was really going on with Larry - but the vet wasn't interested in helping me save his life - she was interested in making money off of my situation and love for my pet.

FATTY LIVER DISEASE happens when your sensitive little lover has environment issues. (I believe he wanted more attention than he was getting - and he sure got it!) A CAT will stop eating and GETS THIS disease WHEN YOU MOVE - OR ADD OR LOSE A FAMILY MEMBER ~ OR OTHER ANIMALS TO YOUR HOUSEHOLD. When a cat stops eating it causes the metabolism to get all messed up and the body starts storing fat in the liver ... where it does not belong. This makes the liver stop filtering urea from the blood - which would be diluted into urine if it were being properly filtered  - hence the skin turns yellow because the urea is still in the blood. The body also starts using the muscle tissue as food!

TAKE MY LEAD ~ DO WHAT I DID ~

My instinct was to force feed Larry both food and water orally - and get him into a heated blanket ~ so ~ FIRST GET YOUR CAT INTO A HEATED BLANKET, which I did initially ~ improvise ~ figure it out ~ wrap them up and get a space heater on them ~ get them warm NOW ~ this cases them to need less immediately from their own body resources ~ in other words it slows down their body from using itself as food!

I knew I could hydrate him another way, other than orally ~ I knew about sub q  fluids (under his skin with a needle and fluid bag), it's faster and easier. I did have to take him to the vet to obtain the supplies - but in some areas you should be able to get the supplies without the visit (just go in and say you have a cat with fatty liver and are treating him at home). It is easy to do yourself, but if you are uncertain about how, please take your cat in and learn how or watch a video on youtube ~  search for "administering subcutaneous fluids" You will need "Lactated ringers fluid", a port for the fluid bag and a supply of single use needles. I recommend you force feed your cat "Hills Prescription Diet A/D formula" ~ by syringe (the food comes ready for this application ~ do not add water to it!). You may be able to get this - without a prescription - just tell them you have a cat you are treating for fatty liver who won't eat on his own. Larry would not eat the Eukanuba food - who can blame him - and contains by-products. The Hills is a much better food and you want to give them the best at this fragile time. Add extra fish oil to the food if you can.

You will need to force feed and hydrate your cat till he eats and drinks again on his own. You can check his hydration level by pinching the back of the neck - if the skin stays up he is dehydrated - it should go right back if he isn't. My cat is 10.5 pounds - yours may be more ... they need a full can of the A/D every 24 hours at 10 or more pounds. I fed him several syringes at a time ~ about 1/5 a can every 3 hours during the day.

Please get over needing to know what eactly is wrong ~ the treatment for an animal that stops eating is to force feed it ~ and worry about the cause AFTER you have taken action ~ if I were lying in the street with my foot cut off, I would not want you to stand around scratching your head wondering what happened ~ or how I lost my foot ~ that does not matter ~ I need a turnicate NOW. You need to do something proactive NOW ~ if your cat has stopped eating he is in the process starving to death ~ do more than scratch your head wondering why. Feeding tubes are just a scam by the vet to get your money .... it is time and money lost ~ and since your pet is starving and has no strength ~ I bet he is not hard to force feed or sub q hydrate.