Liver disease in cats is a fairly common condition which can be effectively managed when spotted early on.
What Does the Liver Do?
The liver is one of the largest organs in your pet’s body. Its role is to:
Produce hormones, proteins, and glucose (energy).
Clear waste products, drugs, and toxins from the blood.
Store useful nutrients such as vitamins and iron.
Fight infections
A healthy liver also helps your cats body to digest and absorb fat as well as other important nutrients.
Symptoms
Liver disease is a condition that can get worse over time if left untreated.
Chronic (long-term) liver disease has pretty vague symptoms so is often harder to notice:
Drooling
Loss of appetite
Lethargy
Weight loss
Acute (sudden) liver disease has more obvious signs:
Vomiting
Diarrhoea
Abdominal swelling
Excessive thirst and urination
Jaundice (yellowing of the skin, whites of the eyes, and gums).
What can cause liver disease in cats?
Infection by viruses or bacteria
Intoxications (poisons)
Hepatitis (liver inflammation)
Tumours
Genetic
Fatty liver disease (hepatic lipidosis) often caused by obesity
The age, weight, and breed of your cat can also increase their likelihood of developing liver issues.
Treatment
Depending on the diagnosis, your vet may recommend a change in diet as a first line of defence and a liver biopsy might be suggested in order to determine the cause of the disease in order to tailor treatment. Liver problems can also affect the health of other organs, so your vet may want to monitor your cat with more regular check-ups.
How Nutrition can help?
The liver is able to regenerate itself with the right nutrition, and it can still function when up to 75% is diseased or removed. Your cats diet can aid treatment and therefore, help to manage the disease. A diet that can aid in getting your cat’s liver back to normal include:
High quality protein to help prevent malnutrition and reduce their liver work load
Highly palatable to maintain their appetite and keep them eating to prevent weight loss.
Highly digestible to help reduce the liver’s workload.
High in antioxidants and omega-3 fatty acids to support anti-inflammatory processes.
What about Marro?
Liver disease has a diverse set of possible causes. Our food can be suitable for cats with liver disease unless your vet has recommended a low-protein diet or ‘hepatic’ prescription diet.
How Marro can support your cat:
Packed full of high quality protein helping provide the essential building blocks to repair the liver.
Highly digestible to reduce liver workload.
Contains salmon oil which is high in omega-3 fatty acids to help reduce inflammation.
Tastes amazing so keeps your cat coming back for more which in turn helps prevent weight loss.
Please always seek your vet's advice if you're thinking about changing your cat's diet to support their liver.