Need help with info about a cat with an enlarged liver

My friend's cat has been diagnosed with an enlarged liver. They did tests and can't see a tumor, but the liver is huge, and is pushing poor Tony's stomach out of whack. They have him on appetite stimulants, that gets him to eat a little, but not much. Basically, he'll starve himself to death if they can't get him to eat.

The vet said the only way to see what's going on for sure, is a liver biopsy, and that means opening him up. My friend doesn't want to do that. I just think there has to be some way to figure out what's going on without opening him up--has anyone ever had to deal witha problem like this? He's had an ultrasound, but that didn't show anything other than that the liver was very big. I would think that there'd be some medication they could try to get the liver to get back to normal size, especially if it isn't a tumor that's causing this. Any help you can give is greatly appreciated. Poor Tony is only 7--he should have a lot more years left in him!

Thanks!!!!!!

she had liver biopsy, then liver surgery and survived for four more years. She had cysts on her liver that caused the enlargement.

Tell them to go ahead-he is young and should survive the surgery. Lulu was 12 when she had it, and 16 when she died (kidney failure).

...did your cat go through a sudden weight gain. and then a weight loss? Tony ballooned up a year or so ago, but since he's a male, we didn't think anything of it, but then at the end of last year he started losing weight rapidly. Just wondering if there's a connection. Thanks!

can quit drinking and druggin and live a straight and quiet life, one day at a time.
Jeesh. The way some of these cats these days carry on.

A very clean-living cat, unless you count the fact that he'll eat anything that drops onto the floor.