Alladin is #1!

We got a phone call yesterday just before 6 PM that Alladin’s biopsy results are in. He has hepatic lipidosis, also known as “option #1.”

What this means for our little guy:
1) He has an 80% chance of making a full recovery. There is a possibility that, in the 3 samples they took, none were fully representative and that we still might miss something worse. But given that there are 3 samples… it’s unlikely.
2) He has already started treatment for what he has (started on Tuesday night). It can take several weeks for him to fully recover, but he shouldn’t need to be on a 24-hour IV the whole time.
3) The vet wants to keep him over the weekend to continue the IV.
4) I’m hoping to have him home on Monday. We’ll again be doing sub-cutaneous fluids, and he will almost certainly have a new medication schedule to follow.
5) The biggest way for him to recover is to eat, and since he is actually eating at the vet’s, we’re very hopeful he will continue to do so at home.

The chance of him getting it again is low. The main change to our lifestyle will be reducing his stress. The biggest stress he has is when we move, and it’s unusual for him to eat on moving day. We’re already thinking of strategies to reduce the amount of time we spend moving (moving only 1 day at a time, and moving only after he’s had breakfast are 2 possibilities).

If you read the linked article, you’ll be amazed that the only signs that Alladin was sick were loss of appetite and weight loss in an obese cat. He was otherwise behaving normally, did not vomit, and was only jaundiced after the biopsy.