Lunchbox is a 3 year domestic short hair that was adopted from the Oregon Humane Society about a year ago. His favorite activities include lounging, meowing, eating, defending the house from spiders, and flopping on the floor to receive pets.Usually a voracious eater, Lunchbox developed an upper respiratory infection while I was visiting my b/f in Seattle and suddenly completely lost his appetite. Because I have two kitties, it was impossible for my kitty sitters to know that Lunchbox had not been eating. When I returned home from my trip Lunchbox was looking sick, so I took him to the vet who diagnosed his URI and sent us home with some antibiotics and appetite stimulants. However, the next day he was looking much worse, very lethargic and sad. We brought him back and they ran some blood work, that is when we got the bad news that the vet suspected he was suffering from Feline Hepatic Lipidosis.
Upon hearing and processing the news, I immediately took Lunchbox to the emergency clinic with a specialization in internal medicine. The doctor checked him in and put him on IV fluids, they discussed our options, and recommended a series of tests and treatment which would result in a $2,700 dollar vet bill just for a 48 hour period. We were not able to run the diagnosis tests due to the large costs, we did however decide to treat the most likely cause of his liver failure Feline Hepatic Lipidosis. Lunchbox had a feeding tube surgically implanted and spent 3 days on IV fluids. When his liver levels had improved slightly the second day we felt hopeful, but over the next two days he showed very little improvement. Being that it costs $250 dollars a day for 24 hour monitoring, tube feeding, and IV fluids we decided to bring him home and try caring for him ourselves.
Lunchbox has since incurred a rather large vet bill, over $2,500 dollars. He still isn't doing well with the tube feeding, and often vomits after/during being fed. We brought him in after the first couple times he couldn't keep his food down and they switched him to a new food and upped his anti-nausea medication. Unfortunately he still cannot keep this food down and is beginning to get weaker and weaker from lack of nutrition, esp the dietary colesterol that his body needs in order to reverse the Feline Hepatic Lipidosis. The vet recommends that we run more tests in order to determine for sure that he is suffering from Feline Hepatic Lipidosis. Here is where we need your help.
I cannot afford the liver biopsy/ultra-sound, the total just for the procedure and post care is about $700 dollars. I am going to update this blog daily with photos and stories of Lunchbox's battle for survival. If his diagnosis confirms that it is Feline Hepatic Lipidosis, he has a 90% chance of recovery if we are able to continue aggressive treatment via tube feeding calories into him. If it is something else we will be able to take appropriate measure to insure his recovery the best we can.
By clicking the button below you can send donations directly to me through my Paypal account. All proceeds will be going directly to the care of Lunchbox, if there is any extra-money after all is said and done it will be donated the the Oregon Humane Society.
Thanks for taking the time to read this, and for your generous donations.
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