Cats & elevated liver enzymes? - seeking info.

[Caneel]

We just found out that our Cleo has elevated liver enzymes and “something” with her red blood cells (DH was too upset by that point to fully listen to the vet on phone) and the vet is recommending an ultrasound on Wednesday to check things out.

Cleo is a 14 year old Siamese kitty and was, for many years, our little baby girl. She has such a wonderful, sweet, gentle personality and both DH and I are so torn up with worry.

She had elevated levels years ago and a biopsy came back normal. Otherwise, both she and our male Alexander have been healthy cats with all the regular check-ups, teeth cleaning, etc. Both are total house cats.

Does anyone have experience in this cat/liver/enzyme area? I want to educate myself as much as possible in advance. I am afraid to Goggle as I am too weepy right now.

[Baby_Cakes]

I couldn't read and not post. We went through something similar just recently w/our 2 year old cat. I'll briefly share our experience, maybe it'll give you some hope.

Her liver enzymes were "off" so we had them do an x-ray. The x-ray showed a mass on or near her liver. We were torn up, as you can imagine. We went ahead with an ultrasound, which actually found something in her stomach.

Turned out she had eaten a toy polyester mouse. B/c she hadn't been eating food, she lost a ton of weight (the reason we suspected something was wrong in the first place) and had developed fatty liver disease. She needed a feeding tube to get her weight back up and help her liver recover - but now she is fine.

I hope your outcome is just as positive. Keep us posted! Sending lots of healthy kitty vibes to you and your family.

[phatchristy]

Elevated liver enzymes can be a sign of a few different things, so that on its own probably isn't going to say much. A cat that is off its food can even show some elevated enzymes, as can cats with other conditions.

Keep us updated! Hope it isn't something major. Once a cat is geriatric they tend to worry most about the three biggies...cancer, kidneys and diabetes.

[Caneel]

The ultrasound is this afternoon. Apparently from what I gathered from DH as well as the message the vet left on our home machine, everything else in the blood work looks good. I don't know if that is a good or bad sign.

[phatchristy]

Hope everything goes well for Kitty this afternoon.

Perhaps since she had elevated enzymes before this with no issues you'll have another good outcome again.

[Caneel]

The ultrasound showed almost nothing - no cancers, masses, etc. so we took that as good news. (well, good in the sense that she wasn't loaded with cancer.)

The vet sent all the blood work results, scan pictures, etc to some specialist for review so we are waiting for those results.

[phatchristy]

Originally Posted by Caneel

The ultrasound showed almost nothing - no cancers, masses, etc. so we took that as good news. (well, good in the sense that she wasn't loaded with cancer.)

The vet sent all the blood work results, scan pictures, etc to some specialist for review so we are waiting for those results.

I wonder if your cat just has some underlying condition which doesn't really compromise her health medically, but causes the higher liver enzymes. I've heard sometimes exposure to certain chemicals can cause elevated enzymes as well, but usually if you're seeing it in that sort of case the cat is going to exhibit other physical signs.

I'm glad at least the scan was well. She's doing well health wise, otherwise?

[Caneel]

Originally Posted by phatchristy

I wonder if your cat just has some underlying condition which doesn't really compromise her health medically, but causes the higher liver enzymes. She's doing well health wise, otherwise?

Ding, ding, ding - right answer!

Friday we learned that the outside, specialist opinion that our vet sought from some vet medical center/school is that she likely has something going on in her diet that is causing something to get out of wack, which sets off a chain reaction of digestive issues and leads to the liver issues.

So at this point, she is on two meds for the next six weeks as well as special Rx food, which is suppose to "calm" her digestive system. Levels will be rechecked in three weeks.

[phatchristy]

Wow, sounds like they're going to give her some extra digestive enzymes? Glad its not something major!

[Caneel]

Yes, I believe one of the meds is enzymes (all my notes are at home)

She is starting to look a bit better and has returned to giving Al (our male) a run for his money!

[phatchristy]

Originally Posted by Caneel

Yes, I believe one of the meds is enzymes (all my notes are at home)

She is starting to look a bit better and has returned to giving Al (our male) a run for his money!

I actually know a human with a similar condition LOL....glad she's doing so well!