Celeste, just found out my cat has polycystic liver disease

Baroness Joined: 08 Sep 2009 Posts: 3

Celeste, could you give me some info about the procedure your Allie goes through to drain the cysts on her liver?

My poor baby girl was just diagnosed with polycystic liver disease and she's in pain because her liver is very enlarged due to all the cysts. It's so big it's pressing other organs out of the way (found this out with x-rays and ultrasound).

Her vet said it's an untreatable disease and nothing can be done...which I believed until I read that Allie's vet aspirates her cysts to make her feel better.

So now I'm wondering why this vet didn't even mention that as a possibility. All she did was prescribe Denamarin and a steroid (5mg prednisolone 1x per day) to take away some of the inflammation and make her feel a little better. Which it does, but just a tiny bit.

What my girl needs is to have those cysts drained. And it doesn't sound like she's too old (she was a stray, she's at least 15 yrs) because I read in one of your posts that Allie is 17.

I'm going to talk to the vet tomorrow, but before I bring up the subject of aspirating her cysts, I was hoping to arm myself with more information just in case she pooh-poohs the idea of doing it. In case she says "No, they drain cysts on humans, it's not done with cats" or something like that, I just want to be able to say "Yes, it is!" and tell her about what your vet does for Allie.

The bad things my girl has going for are:

- She has hyperthyroidism so she takes Tapazole every day, which isn't good for her liver because it has to process it and she feels more uncomfortable for awhile after I give it to her (vet says she's too old for thyroid removal and radioactive idione treatment)

- She's just starting to have kidney insufficiency (it's really mild right now)

- She has a heart murmur (which the vet says she's probably had all her life)

The good things are:

- She still has a good appetite (l-o-v-e-s food, actually)
- no problems drinking water
- no problems using the litter box (bowels and bladder still working good)

In other words, she's still functioning and is still interested in life, but the cysts and enlarged liver are making her uncomfortable and causing her pain.

The vet didn't even tell me whether or not my girl should be following a special diet. For all I know, what I'm feeding her is aggravating her liver discomfort/pain. Do you give Allie commercial canned food or do you make it yourself?

It's so hard finding anything out about this disease in cats. If I hadn't found a post of yours at Yahoo Answers (with a link to this site), I wouldn't have known that aspirating my girl's cysts was even possible.

Princess Joined: 30 Jul 2008 Posts: 7475

Welcome MyGirl and believe me you are at the right place. Celeste is an authority on this subject and I can assure you she will answer your questions as soon as she reads your post.

I am very sorry about your little girl but there IS hope. Celeste will help you and all of us are cat lovers and will support you through this. I had a cat with PKD as well. I so understand what you are feeling. My best wishes to you.
Joane

Duchess Joined: 19 Aug 2008 Posts: 4541

Welcome Mygirl. I am sorry about your baby girl.
Celeste, will have all the information you need.
Sending the very best of wishes for your baby.

Posted: Tue Sep 08, 2009 10:05 am

Hello and welcome MyGirl. I'm so sorry that you also received this diagnosis of polycystic liver disease. I also thank you since you just became a friendly reminder on my publishiing a webpage relative to this disease and also releasing Allie's medical records to UC Davis University. There isn't anything available on the internet relative to polycystic liver disease, only PKD (polycystic kidney disease). I so learned this the hard way over 3 years ago.

Allie was in final stages of this disease dating back to January, 2006. Meaning that her liver was totally consumed by cysts with very little normal liver tissue left. Not even enough to take a liver biopsy (sampling) so the fluids within her cysts were biopsied instead. With no malice intended to doctors of general veterinary medicine, Allie has been given the gift of life for these additional 3-1/2 years by a specialist of internal medicine and is still living comfortably with this disease never losing her "diva" role within a household of 5. :smile

I consider each day a bliessing. :heart

The procedure is referred to as "aspirating via needle-guided ultrasound". It does NOT cure the disease, however, it relieves pressure these cysts cause on surrounding organs. Since a mild sedative is used which only allows a few minutes of time, normally 50cc's of fluids are removed from Allie within one procedure. Her doctor determines which cysts will be drained that will provide her the most relief at that time. She required this procedure every few months in 2006, less frequently in 2007 and I don't believe she needed it at all in 2008. These cysts can have active periods (growing with fluids) and they also can lie dormant for extended periods of time. She presently has one newly developed large one which will not be aspirated unless it causes her loss of appetite, vomiting or diarrhea.

Allie's special diet is Hill's Prescription W/D (dry). I need dry in Allie's case since she isn't a cat that will chow down a meal. She loves to nibble day and night. Her meds are 5mg of prednisone every-other-day. She also needs an appetite stimulate which is Cypro. She was never a good eater throughout her life.

Since my boy Joshua also has the kidney version of this disease, I published a page in his honor with an acknowledgement/credit given to their doctor and this facility Click Here .

Here are the details in event you or your doctor wishes to consult with them for additional information. They also happen to be a veterinary learning facility within this area. If I can be of further assistance, please do not hesitate to ask me and keep us posted.

Dr. Gary Block DVM, MS, DACVIM
Board Certified - Internal Medicine
Ocean State Veterinary Specialists
1480 South County Trail
East Greenwich, RI 02818
phone: (401) 886-OSVS (6787) fax: (401) 886-8998

Duchess Joined: 19 Aug 2008 Posts: 3409

Mygirl, hi and I am so sorry to hear this about your girl. I agree with you that your vet should be looking a little more into her food,ect. I am glad you have a place to find out some information.

Good luck with her. :heart

Posted: Tue Sep 08, 2009 11:54 pm

My Girl...we are so glad that you found us here and you will find that you will get lots of love, prayers and support. And how great is it that despite your furbabies condition, that we have someone very well versed on your kitty's condition here (Celeste) that can offer much good insight and information. What a blessing...you came to the right place at the right time and we surely hope you will keep us posted on your furbabies condition. We would love to see pics ofher, and please, please, please keep us updated. Sending many prayers, get well wishes and blessings your way!!! Lanie, Buster and Precious

Baroness Joined: 08 Sep 2009 Posts: 3

Thank you all so much for replying. I'm sorry I took all day to answer. I've gotten interrupted every time I started typing. It's been one of "those days".

My girl is having a bad night. I think I gave her too much food today and it's too much for her liver to deal with. She hasn't been sick (vomiting, diarrhea), but she looks miserable (eyelids at half mast). I can't even give her the thyroid medicine. Her liver would have to process it and it would make her feel worse than she already does.

Her vet was supposed to call today to see how she's doing on her fourth day of prednisolone, but didn't. My sister had her cat there today (he's 20 yrs. old and having seizures) and said the doctor was really busy, probably because her office was closed Monday for the holiday. Tomorrow, I'm going to call her instead of waiting for her to call me.

Joane - Thank you for the warm welcome and best wishes. I'm sorry to hear you had a cat with PKD. I hope s/he didn't suffer too much from it. It's such a terrible disease.

Sheryl - Thank you, also, for the warm welcome and best wishes.

Celeste - Thank you so much for putting your experiences with Allie on the internet. When the vet said that my girl had this disease, I got online thinking I'd find other people discussing their poor kitties' experiences with PLD. Boy was I wrong. You're the only one who has posted anything.

I'm hoping that draining some of my girl's cysts will reduce the size of her liver a little. She's so uncomfortable that a lot of the time when she lays down she doesn't lay all the way down. She lays the back part of her down, but she keeps the front part of her standing up. It's really sad to see.

I really hope her vet is willing to do it. I don't want to have to look for a new doctor. This one treats cats only, which is so much easier on my girl. Barking dogs scare her.

Thank you again, Celeste. You've given me hope that my girl doesn't have to suffer.

Ellie - Thank you. As I searched the internet for information about PLD in cats, I kept coming across sites with personal stories about PLD in humans. Every one of them said that their diet affects the growth of cysts and fluid build-up. Unfortunately, I can't apply it to cats because they're all avoiding animal proteins and eating vegetarian and that probably wouldn't be good for cats. But diet has to play a part in cats, too, because I've noticed that sometimes after eating my girl doesn't feel well, so it's either what I'm feeding her that's doing it or maybe it's the amount. It would be nice to know if I should feed her something else or maybe less food. I wish I knew what to do for her.

princessprecious - Thank you for your prayers, get well wishes and blessings. I don't have any recent pics of my girl because she's looked sick since she was diagnosed with hyperthyroidism last year and I haven't wanted to take any pictures of her looking like that. And I can't post one of her pictures from when she looked healthy because I can't bring myself to look at them. Too depressing that she doesn't look that way now. The vet I take her to takes a picture of each cat during the initial visit and puts the pic on every receipt. I didn't know they had taken her picture because they did it in the back when they were taking her blood. When I got the receipt with her picture on it, I called it her death photo. And every time they give me a receipt I have to see it. It makes me sad. :cry

I hope this post doesn't sound too jumbled. I've had so many interruptions today that I've only been able to type a couple lines every few hours.

Princess Joined: 30 Jul 2008 Posts: 7475

You are very welcome MyGirl and please stay with us. We do offer a wealth of information as well as compassion here.

Yes, call the vet again as you said. Very good decision. Never give up hope as Celeste's Allie is proof of what good medical treatment and a devotion to your cat can do!

Please keep us updated. Good luck and best wishes too!
Joane :)

Duchess Joined: 19 Aug 2008 Posts: 4541

Please keep us updated, on your precious girls progress.
We are here to offer you support at this difficult time.
Purrs, prayers and special thoughts, for you and your baby girl.

Posted: Wed Sep 09, 2009 8:38 am

MyGirl your post was perfectly clear. I'm sorry that you are going through this. :sad

I remember when Allie was seriously ill in Jan/Feb 2006 and thinking to myself "Am I being shelfish here?"

What kept my hopes up is the fact that we (even humans) do not need much healthy liver tissue to live on. What sometimes confuses doctors with PLD is that they approach it similiar to other liver diseases. So their approach is to regenerate the liver tissue since this can be accomplished with some liver diseases. A holistic approach would be Milk Thistle.

With PLD it cannot. Once a cyst has taken over a portion of normal liver tissue it is gone and cannot be regenerated. I just view them as a water blister someone would get if they burn themselves without the tissue area underneath being ever able to heal.

I will be thinking of you today and wish you the best with your doctor. I do know this procedure can be done by general vets since I was told this by a doctor at the facility Allie goes to.

Yes, MyGirl diet is VERY important. The Hill's Prescription diet Allie eats is low in fat. And I agree with you...I believe as we age our meals should be smaller and more frequent. As I stated in my earlier post I didn't have this challenge with Allie since she always had a petite appetite. This is the reason for me using an appetite stimulate. Once again my best wishes to you today...