Bouvier needs your help.

A friend of a friend has a beautiful black cat named Bouvier. On May 20th, she took her to the vet and found that she was suffering from Liver failure. This is a public blog to spread the word about Bouvier's condition and ways that you can help provide care for this poor baby.

The full story told by her owner can be found here on LiveJournal:

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Timeline:

May 20th: Bouvier is hospitalized with Liver Failure from unknown causes. Results from bloodwork should give more information, meanwhile, Bouvier is getting supportive care in the form of IV fluids and anti-nausea medication, and is being force-fed babyfood to help get her strength up.

"In case there was any confusion, I am seriously broken up about this."

May 21st: Bouvier is doing well on the supportive care regimen. She is still on the IV fluids and medication and is being force-fed high-calorie kitten food to help bring her weight up. She is able to keep this food down, and also ate some dry kibble on her own. She is acting more perky and alert today. Bloodwork results were negative for FILV (cat AIDS, the vet called it), Leukemia or a bacterial infection. This leaves only two choices for the cause of the liver failure and neither is good: Liver Cancer (very bad, not treatable) or Fatty Liver Disease (bad, but treatable with about 2 weeks of hospital care). Tommorrow, liver ultrasound and possibly a biopsy, and in a few days we'll have a better idea of what our options are.

"When I called the radiologists office and told them her name "Bouvier B-O-U-V-I-E-R" the receptionist said "You do know that's a breed of dog don't you?" "lol Yes, that's what she is named after, my dad used to breed Bouviers and she is named after our family dog." At the very least she will need a week or two of hospitalized supportive care and it will takes months for her liver to get back to normal but after that she could live a long and healthy life."

Both Bouvier and Pope (the other cat) were underweight, as well. Both were diagnosed as overweight and put on a special diet after their last vet visit. Pope also has a bacterial infection in his gut from the new food, and was put on penicillin to treat it. He "probably thinks that he won the lottery due to all the treats and catnip and food that he is getting." Pope's infection was discovered when he pooped at the vet's office during the exam and the stool was bloody and mucousy, so they tested it. Bouvier's liver failure might also have been caused by this new food.

"I bought them this new food about a month ago and they HATED it but I figured they would eat it when they got hungry and didn't want to waste an expensive bag of cat food and they were fat anyways... "

The food was purchased at Mud Bay, a fancy pet food supply store in Seattle, which purports to promote healthy pet foods, raw diet foods and other holistic pet products. Bouvier's owner plans to have a serious talk with Mud Bay and the makers of "Premium Edge" - the brand that has made the cats so ill. The vet recommended switching the cats to Purina Pro Plan, and they're doing well on it now.




The costs of Bouvier's medical care are well over $2,000 at this point, and continue to rise. Any help you can give, whether by spreading the word about Bouvier or donating money through the paypal link would be vastly appreciated. The vet has agreed to take payments over time, but the liver ultrasound must be paid upfront, as well as the biopsy, if that is needed. Bouvier and her owner got to have a visit today, and she is still extremely sick and jaundiced, but she is keeping all of her food down, which is a good sign.

"This is the breakdown of her treatments:

Office visit - $61
Hospital care per day - $70
ICU care per day - $30
IV catheterization - $44
IV fluids per day - $56
Feline basic panel (GD, CK, T4, Felv, FIV) - $114
Cysticentesis and urinalysis - $42
Follow up diagnostic blood work - $51
X-ray - $53
X-ray analysis fee - $24
Ultrasound - $305
Liver biopsy with anesthesia - $350
Lab work - ???

Total estimated charges - $2,317

And this is just to find out what is wrong with her. If she has liver cancer though then I am going to do the hard thing and put her down, there is no treating it and I am not going to make her suffer. Fatty liver disease requires a week or two of hospitalization and intensive care. Some of those things are diagnostic tests that only need to be done once. Others are daily charges."

Here is an image of the vet bill:


May 22:

"I went to visit Bouvier again today. She seemed a little perkier today and ate a few bites of kibble while I was holding her in my lap. The fact that she is eating anything on her own is a good sign. I pet her and spoke to her about how she needs to eat the food and how we're trying to make her better and she sat with me and purred and head butted my hand. The vets and technicians all comment on how sweet and well behaved she is and how she loves to be petted. Also her fever broke and the IV fluids are running well so that will flush all the toxins out of her system and give her liver a break. She did throw up after this morning forced feeding but that could of been caused by stress and her stomach has probably shrunk as well. It is still too early to tell how she is going to fare and now begins the long weekend, I won't get an update until Tuesday when they re-open the clinic. At that point they are going to redo her blood work and if she is improving then we will continue supportive care but if not we will have to discuss what to do instead.

I also had a talk with a different vet today and she agreed that the liver biopsy is unnecessary. I would do it if I had the money and it would be nice to know for sure what we are dealing with but the only thing that it will tell us is if she has liver cancer vs. fatty liver disease. And given her age and recent weight loss and Pope's infection the fatty liver disease is much more likely.