I am giving milk thistle to my cat who has liver disease and she HATES it.?

I'm not sure if this is what you mean but you can get Denamarin from a vet ( or maybe you can buy it online) . The one I used for my cat was in pill form and has milk thistle and SAMe . It really really helped my cat when he had liver damage from pancreatitis and DKA . His liver really healed, all his numbers went back to normal and it looked much improved in ultrasound.

I think they do have a flavored one now but I don't knwo how palatable. The pills werent that big and i didn't have trouble giving them.

Hope your cat will be better.

Milk thistle is *said* to improve liver function, but it won't 'cure' anything. Cats can have bad liver numbers due to so many different causes - the REAL cause needs to be determined and that real cause treated. Jaundice is merely a symptom of a liver that isn't functioning properly, not a thing that can be treated. If she is ill for some other reason, and didn't eat for a week, then that will cause what's called hepatic lipadosis - fatty liver disease. I can be cancer, a blockage of a liver shunt - or something entirely unrelated to the liver. And this is why it's so difficult to pinpoint the real problem. Did the either vet do a blood panel specifically looking at liver and pancreatic enzymes? That can give many clues on how to treat what's going on. What did the ultrasound show? And while I hear your anxiety, if the ultrasound showed nothing, then really the next step *is* a liver biopsy. How can any vet diagnose and treat if they have no idea what they are treating for? To take her to a vet to be checked every three weeks - free or not - really isn't pinpointing the cause of her problem. As you said "I am hoping, because she is relatively young, that she can live longer and reasonably happy". Without finding out just what's causing the liver issues and jaundice, that can't happen :(

Best way I found, get a 20 cent syringe (the kind you syringe feed cats with, the pharmacist would even give you one for free if you ask nice), mix the milk thistle in with a glob of meat baby food, syringe it up and give it to the cat that way. It goes in all at once, the cat tastes the baby food, and it's over and done with in seconds.

They say the powdered milk thistle has no taste, but I've tasted it, they're wrong. Disguising it though, and in a glob, it's easier to give.

I've found cats will eat most anything if it is mixed with tuna broth...

If you fail with the milk thistle, ask your vet about lecithin. Also very good for fixing dickie livers.

Look for "granular lecithin" in a health food store and sprinkle a quarter teaspoon or so on his/her canned food like coarse ground pepper on a salad; or you might cut the end off one "triple strength" lecithin gelcap and mix in in tuna broth (squeeze the lecithin out of the gelcap into the broth). I've served it to my cat both ways and not only did she eat it, but it helped her quite a bit after liver damage from a de-worming.

Good Luck and GodSpeed

I've given my cat Milk Thistle that is sold through Petwellbeing.com. I've tried other varieties, but she much prefers that brand. Its not that expensive either.