Hello, I'm looking for answers. My 5 year old cat hid somehow in the house we moved from. We assumed she got out during the move because we couldn't find her. She is very timid and wasn't responding to our calls so we just gave up. The house remained vacant and the new owner would frequently go there to work on it but never saw her. On July 5th, 6 weeks later, she suddenly appeared inside the house. Mind you, there was no way for her to get outside so she had been there the whole time, in a completely empty house with no food and only trickles of water from a hose in the basement. My vet said she does have fatty liver and lost between 3-4 pounds but she is eating now and gaining strength. Tell me how she survived?
Hi Karen,
I think only your kitty can truly know the answer to how she survived that long. Cats are very resourceful though. People don't really think of cats as desert animals, but the ancestors of our housecats were once highly revered family members of the ancient Egyptians. They have the ability to retain water really well so I'm not surprised your kitty was able to survive with just a small amount of running water. For food, perhaps there was some food source she was able to access, even if it was hunting and eating insects. Hepatic lipidosis may occur after varying amounts of times for different cats and there is no way to predict how it will take. We do know that the risk becomes very high after just 24 hours of complete anorexia. In my experience it takes at least couple days for most cats. Your kitty may just have been very fortunate with it taking a lot longer for the disorder to develop.