It all started with Dylan! I was browsing the internet looking at various kittens for sale when I stumbled upon this absolutely ADORABLE creature! He was on the opposite end of the country but by the next afternoon I had reserved him and had a flight scheduled from Florida to Colorado!
Dylan was the sweetest little guy! His expressions were unbelievably cute!
When he was just 6 1/2 years old, for reasons never fully understood, Dylan began to lose significant weight. After two vet appointments, it was finally determined that he was suffering from “fatty liver” disease and pancreatitis. We took him to multiple vets, specialists, had a permanent feeding tube placed in his neck, tube fed him every 2 hours for the next 4 months, spent more than $6k in an effort to get him well – unfortunately he did not recover. Dylan passed away just 2 months shy of his 7th birthday.
Although, we never were able to determine with certainty what caused Dylan’s illnesses, we did learn a very important fact that so many of us are unaware of. We’ve all heard the saying when a cat is being fussy about his food, “Well when he get’s hungry enough – he will eat it.” or “He won’t starve to death, so eventually he will eat it.” WRONG! In fact, cats are very different than humans, and even other animal species such as dogs. A cat’s liver will begin to digest itself after 24 hours without food. And a cat IS STUBBORN ENOUGH to refuse to eat a food he doesn’t like. After 24 hours, he risks developing deadly health problems including fatty liver, pancreatitis, liver failure, etc. Please pay attention to your kitty’s eating patterns and always seek medical advise if he or she has not eaten for over 24 hours!! IT IS AN EMERGENT CONCERN THAT NEEDS IMMEDIATE MEDICAL ATTENTION!