Hepatic failure is cats can cause your pet to rapidly develop jaundice where their skin and mucus membranes will turn yellow in color, and it can causes seizures, stupors and if severe, comas. This medical condition is almost impossible to prevent unless as an owner you understand the various drugs as well as the toxins that trigger this very dangerous condition in your cat.

This condition can be fatal to your cat, with two of the largest causes being heat stroke and fungi infections, especially from poisonous mushrooms.

Hepatic failure in cats is a condition where your pets liver has lost over 75 percent of its functioning capabilities, and as a result, can very easily lead to a complete and massive liver failure called necrosis. Necrosis is the death of your cats liver, and when this occurs, it takes your cats life as well.

This massive amount of lost liver function can be the result of an extremely poor blood flow which in turn causes a decreased delivery of oxygen to your pet, or it can also be the result of a reaction to hepatotoxic drugs or chemicals, as well as infectious agents such as fungi. However, in several cases, it is the result of a heat stroke that has so badly affected your cat that it has interfered with and started to destroy their liver.

However, Hepatic failure can affect a lot more than just the liver; it can also affect your cats gall bladder, nervous system, gastrointestinal tract, and their blood system. But it is the affects on destroying the liver in your cat that are most the most devastating.

Your cats liver performs as many as 1,000 different tasks that can not be done anywhere else in their body and most of them are essential to the life. The liver helps in the production of the essential protein albumin, it stores all of the fat soluble vitamins, and it manufactures a vast majority of your cats digestive enzymes.

However, perhaps it most important functions are in the detoxification of wastes and poisons, the production of blooding clotting agents, and the storage of energy. It is by far and away the most complicated organ in your cats body and can immediately react and fight off several attacks against it simultaneously.

But once it has been attacked by a toxic agent or drug that overpowers all of its protective mechanisms, it can be damaged. Once damaged, especially by Hepatic failure, it deteriorates very rapidly.

Causes:

There are several potential causes of Hepatic failure in cats, but the leading causes are from a reaction to a drug, a biologic toxin, or from heat stroke. There are two forms of heat strokes; one produced obviously from a dangerous overexposure to heat, but the other form is from what is referred to as a post-whole body hyperthermia.

Hepatotoxins are drugs that are extremely harmful to your cats liver. One of the livers major functions is to remove chemicals that are toxic to your cat, but some of them are so over powering that the liver can not clear them out of itself, let alone the rest of the body. The list is very extensive of harmful drugs, but they include any type of an exposure to heavy metals, certain antibiotics, as well as anticonvulsants.

However, the most common cause of hepatotoxins is found in chemical dips and sprays. These are extremely dangerous to cats and you should only use those that are bought through and recommended by your veterinarian. Chemotherapy agents used for cancer treatment are also among the leading causes of Hepatic failure.

These agents act by killing cells that divide rapidly which is one of the main properties of cancer. However, like any type of major treatment, they do have side affects. One of these side affects is that they can also suppress the production of blood cells. Once these cells have been affected, it can slow down the supply of blood as well as oxygen which damages the liver.

The next major cause of this potentially deadly condition is from a mushroom referred to as Amanita phylloides. It is absolutely beautiful in appearance and equally attractive in smell, especially to cats. However, it does have another name that fits it very sinister affect on cats, the Death Cap mushroom. It is found extensively throughout Europe and several parts of the United States.

Once your cat has ingested this mushroom, it is only a matter of time before it starts to destroy their liver.
Heat stokes are the final major cause of Hepatic failure in cats. The normal range of temperature in your cat should be between 100 and 102 degrees. Once your cats temperature reaches 106 from over exposure to heat, it can cause brain damage as well as shutting down liver functions.

Cats that are the most at risk of a heatstroke are usually very old or very young, overweight, or primarily indoor cats. If your cat spends most of their time indoors and than suddenly are exposed to a strenuous amount of exercise on a very hot day, they are prime candidates for a heat stroke.

There is another form of heatstroke that most owners have never heard about, and it is an alternative form of cancer treatment called post-whole body hyperthermia. This is a situation where portions of your cats full body or the portion affected by cancer is heated to 106 degrees. It is done in a clinical setting and monitored very closely and has produced some results with cancer, but it has only very serious side affect; it can cause Hepatic failure.

Summary:

Hepatic failure in cats can be extremely difficult to prevent, but it is not impossible. The symptoms that you can watch for that your cat is developing this deadly liver failure will first be jaundice that is usually followed by a deep depression in your pet.

If your cat shows any signs at all of seizures or a stupor, you will need to seek medical attention as quickly as possible. If they show these symptoms, a coma could be the next symptom as their liver is shutting down and affecting other organs.