Sun 26 Mar 2006
Feline Hepatic Lipidosis
Pat’s sister Joyce was out for a visit not long ago, and one evening she was flipping through the many cable channels and landed on a channel showing the movie “Harry and Tonto.”
Harry is played by Art Carney and Tonto is played by a lean young orange cat. The cat looks young to me anyway, but for the purposes of the movie he’s supposed to be old like Carney’s character. Harry says at one point that Tonto is 11, or 77 in human years. (Not true, although conversion tables vary.)
Later Harry has a scene where he visits Tonto in the hospital, and when I saw that handsome cat lying there very still, I had to remind myself “It’s only a movie, it’s only a movie…”
But this morning I learned about a real disease called Hepatic Lipidosis that affects overweight cats. It sounds scary, and it’s no movie. Here’s more info.
I need to get Kelly (and to a lesser extent Lizzie) moving more and eating less.
Which wouldn’t be a bad idea for me, either…
Simply Coll said,
Sun 26 Mar 2006 at 10:11
Thank you so much for this post. I have been a cat owner for many years, but until Bear got ill, I had never heard of this very prevalent problem. That was such a scary time for Bear and us. I still marvel that he survived and is the healthy great guy he is today. We were lucky to catch the problem soon enough. Awareness and prevention may be our kittys best defense. Good luck in getting Kelly and Lizzie moving and and a wee bit slimmer. Bear is on a bit of a better life style program himself. :-).
John replies: Thank *you* for posting about it, because I’d never heard of Hepatic Lipidosis before now. (Very glad to hear Bear’s doing so well now, too!)
Fat Eric said,
Sun 26 Mar 2006 at 13:02
Good warning for all us kitties, especially us - ahem - overweight kitties. Not only am I on a diet, my mum has me doing exercises every night with my feathery toy, it is quite fun.
Lambj said,
Wed 29 Mar 2006 at 18:14
I remember that movie! I cried and cried. Even telling myself, “it’s only a movie” doesn’t work. Pass the tissues. Bonnie has been less active and gained a little weight since Victor came home. She spends a lot of time asleep, sort of sulking. “Maybe when I wake up, he’ll be gone.”
Karin said,
Mon 3 Apr 2006 at 3:52
I didn’t know it was called Hepatic Lipidosis, but knew that cats can get a fatty liver very quickly when they’re not eating.