My cat Marley went to the vet on Tuesday night for his yearly check-up. Nothing's ever come back wrong with his bloodwork, and I expected the same this time, except the vet called last night (while I was standing in the produce aisle of the grocery store) to tell me that his liver enzymes came back elevated. She said several things could cause this, such as cancer or toxins - but if he'd gotten into anything poisonous, he'd be showing symptoms, and he's not. He's running around, playing, eating, crying to be let out (he imagines himself an outdoor cat, but he's not), and jumping on my head in the middle of the night like normal. He vomited the other day, but he does that occasionally, with no more frequency than any other cat I've ever had. And he actually gained a pound and a half since his last vet visit, which is the only thing keeping me from freaking out. Most of the really scary stuff cites weight loss as a symptom.

I know there are other things that can affect a cat's liver enzymes that aren't deadly and can be managed, but I was wondering if anyone else has experienced this? He has an abdominal ultrasound scheduled for January 17. The vet also said one of his heart markers was elevated, but she was more worried about his liver. He was prescribed medicine (something for liver support) that he gets once a day, and I was told by the vet to keep an eye on him and if he starts showing any symptoms, like lethargy or loss of appetite, to take him to an emergency vet. I noticed today that he hasn't eaten much, but it could just be that I'm hyper-fixated on what he's doing. He ate his treats fine, and basically tried to climb me when I opened a can of tuna earlier.

He's essentially a rescue cat - we "rescued" him from an owner who didn't give a crap about him and just let him wander around the neighborhood - and we don't know how old he is. He's at least 11, as we first saw him wandering through our yard in March 2013 and he was fully-grown then. A vet tech friend said in 2019 that he has "the teeth of a young cat", though we know that isn't really a guarantee that he is all that young. I just love this boy so much I can't stand the thought of losing him, even though I know it's unreasonable to expect him to outlive me!