Underlying cause for Cubs' liver problem

[Poobear222]

Cubby is 12 yrs old and vets cannot figure out what caused his liver problems.  His liver enzymes are still extremely high to the point that they are unreadable.  He has jaundice, both eyes and skin is yellow.  Pee is very yellow.  Will not eat by himself and is being force fed.  Drinks well.  Eating Hepatic canned food from Royal Canine for a week now.  Did ultrasound for all of his organs and found stones in both pancreas (?) and bladder, but there is no blockage.  Ultrasound and xrays also found something size of an egg in his stomach last week and vet thought it was either a foreign object or a tumor.  Since then this thing was partly digested so it is not a tumor.  He went home for a couple of days and when we went back for a check up blood tests showed that liver enzymes did not improve but worsened a little.  He went back on IV (Ringer's solution) and meds.  3 days later blood tests again show liver enzymes not improving.  Vet wanted to do either a biopsy or a needle extraction of liver tissues for lab testing.  I opted for the needle extraction because vet said there is 20% risk of going under in his current condition. BUT, today, blood testing shows delayed blood clotting and that means they cannot do any operation including both needle extraction and biopsy.  Question is, what can be done now so that we can move onto the next step to test liver tissue to find out the cause of his liver problem?  is there anything else we can do to figure out what is wrong with him?  Since he is not currently being given anything new since last week, will his liver only get worse to the point of being not repairable?  He is very tired all the time and it breaks my heart.  

Thank you!!
Loving mommy needs help for his baby.

[Poobear222]

Thank you doctor Sims.  Vet is now suspecting immune system dysfunction.  Since we cannot do biopsy (vet also added vitamin K to his meds) they are administering steroids tonight to see if there is any improvement.    Is there anything I can do now other than wait to see if she's right on the immune system thing or other end where Cubby's liver gets worse from the steroids?

[Dan Sims, DVM]

A toxin could be the cause of Cubby's liver disease as the ultrasound did not reveal a tumor
or obvious lesion. Toxic plants such as Coontie and other cycad species can result in severe liver damage when ingested as well as rodenticides such as phosphorous. maybe the attached web site will be helpful.
I wish you and Cubby well
Dr Sims
http://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/cycad.aspx