Can over-innoculation cause fatty liver disease in a cat?

Question

I took my cat in for her "yearly shots" and she was not the same ffrom the minute I brought her back from the vet. She threw up minutes after I let her out of the carrier, and went poop outside her box within 15 minutes. As the weeks went by she lost her appetite and wittled down to nothing. I did make calls to the vet and he said she may be just going through a phase. She got really bad, and I took her for a second opinion,but it was too late. We tried force feeding but she got so bad we had to put her down. Is there a known cause to fatty liver disease?

Answer 1

Fatty liver disease (hepatic lipidosis) is not directly caused by anything except anorexia (not eating), and generally only occurs in cats who are overweight and prone to pancreatitis and other forms of physical and mental stress. Cats, like any other mammal, will burn fat stores when they are short on food (or refusing to eat food, for whatever reason). An overweight cat has an abundance of fat stores that the feline liver is not built to handle, and the massive influx of so much fat being digested clogs the liver, causing hepatic lipidosis.

Vaccination is very stressful for some cats, it makes them lethargic, sometimes even nauseous and anorexic. Of course this is no reason NOT to vaccinate, but for overweight cats and easily distressed cats, it is something to look out for and react to immediately. Your clinic, if they were on top of things, should have realized that your cat was (probably) overweight, and the fact that she was not eating, regardless of the reason, was a very dangerous situation for her.

I'm sorry you had to lose your kitty that way =/

Answer 2

Fatty liver is one of those things that can have a lot of triggers. She probably had an adverse reaction to the vaccine that suppressed her appetite. After a few days of not eating, fatty liver can develop. Scientists do know that obese cats are more predisposed to the condition because they mobilize fats very quickly. Any time a cat stops eating, it is a cause for concern, and your veterinarian should have recognized that. One of my cats (he's obese despite years of dieting) stopped eating this summer. I brought him in right away, and got blood work and x-rays done. He turned out to be fine, but after being taught so much about fatty liver in school, I panicked. Your vet should have been doing something to help stimulate her appetite, whether it be fluids, metronidazole (it is an anti-protozoal that also helps protect against fatty liver) or anything else, it could have helped. The problem with fatty liver cats is that once they lose their appetite, they don't get it back unless they can eat to resolve the liver issue. It's really a vicious cycle that must be broken as soon as possible. Basically anything that causes a cat to mobilize fats from their body for use can cause fatty liver. As the fats move into the blood, the liver is the main processing center. Unfortunately the liver sometimes can't process it all and that's when the cycle starts. I'm so sorry to hear about your cat. Though the vaccine may not have directly caused the fatty liver, the inappetance probably did.

Answer 3

Feline hepatic lipidosis (IE fatty liver disease) is the most common liver issue that adults cats face. It is most often seen in an older cat, and is usually caused by the cat losing too much weight too quickly, or by kitty being deprived of its food for even just a few days. It can be secondary to a viral infection - say, kitty gets a cold, and won't eat for a few days, and that may be enough for the liver to start shutting down - or it may be secondary to something else, like diabeties, Irritable Bowel Syndrome, or hyperthyroidism.

If caught extremely early, it is sometimes possible to reverse the progression of this illness, with constant and consistant force-feeding, administration of subcutaneous fluids twice daily, and slow encouragement towards weight re-gain.

There is really so little known about what can set off this disease in cats; I am sure that you could find an article out there that would say it could have been sparked be her innoculations, or even just the stress of the vet trip. But, by keeping her up to date on her shots, you were helping to keep her safe from oh so many other things!

I am so sorry that you lost your baby.

Answer 4

Not that I have ever known. Usually fatty liver is the RESULT of something else. When the cat stops eating, fatty liver begins. Something was wrong with the cat and it stopped eating. Then it started with fatty liver. Sometimes there is no medical reason cats stop eating. I have seen many cats at shelters that stop eating when they are placed there and develop fatty liver. Sometimes they get a URI and stop eating and develop fatty liver. If you do not identify the problem soon, it can be too late. It sounds as if your cat went many days without eating and that is why she got fatty liver. Who knows what the factor was that caused her to stop eating. She may have been coming down with something and the vaccines just pushed her over the edge into the illness, and then she stopped eating.
I don't know what "phase" the vet would have been talking about!!! If someone calls with a cat that is not eating and losing weight, they should be seen ASAP because of the risk of developing fatty liver.
You may never know what caused the cat to stop eating and develop fatty liver.

Answer 5

In geriatric cats sometimes if they don't eat for more than 7 days the liver will start to store fat for future use to keep the body alive , however, recovering from this condition is very difficult especially with older cats. That does not mean that they don't recover, it's just very hard.The main thing to do is to get him to start eating, if you fix the reason why he is not eating then he may a good chance of recovering