Vibes for Helen, please!!

My little girl Helen almost died yesterday!

Just as I was getting ready to leave the house, I heard the sound of a cat throwing up. I went to see what was happening, and found Helen, collapsed on the floor with a pool of vomit in front of her and a puddle of urine behind her. She was completely blue, ice cold, couldn't stand up, totally limp and panting. Just moments earlier she had been walking around normally. I threw a blanket around her and drove 100 miles an hour to the ER.

They put her in the oxygen cage immediately and took her temp (96 degrees). First order of business was to get her stabilized before they could even try to figure out what caused this. She was still completely blue half an hour later when I left her. But I saw her making biscuits in the oxygen cage, so I wasn't giving up on her.

Well, my little trooper pulled through!! When I picked her up this morning she was oh so happy to see me. I got some serious kisses and lovin'. (I was even happier to see her, though!!) The ER vet admitted to me this morning that she didn't think she was going to make it through the night.

The problem...we have no idea what caused her collapse. No clue. She had a clear echocardiogram 6 months ago. She had a full senior blood panel last month that was perfect. The only thing out of ordinary with her is that she's had a chronic cough that's been unresponsive to antibiotics. Her heart still looks great on her radiographs, but her lungs look "blotchy", my vet says it doesn't look like asthma, but it looks like bronchitis...? And it doesn't explain the collapse.

Now I'm thinking this may be heartworms. Before I rescued her last year, she was in a cage outside. In Florida. Lots of mosquitos here... and though we still don't see a lot of cases of heartworms in cats, she would be a strong candidate for it. I'm waiting for the results of her HW test now. Heartworms might explain the collapse, if an adult HW died, it could cause an embolism and cause her to collapse (often this causes sudden death!) but the strange thing is that Helen recovered so quickly from it, and they don't usually recover the way she did. The whole thing is so confusing, and without answers, I'm absolutely terrified that she's going to collapse again.

The ER vet also mentioned doing a tracheal wash to check for lungworms and doing a C & S, but I am far too fearful right now of anesthetizing a cat that just turned blue for reasons unknown!!

Please pray for a negative HW test. As you may know, heartworm infections in cats are not safely treatable. I'm prepared for just about anything else.

Helen needs all of your magical TCS vibes and prayers please!!!

Thank you for the prayers, food_lady! I opted to have her blood sent out because the in-house snap test only looks for heartworm antigens, and the lab will look for antigens and antibodies, so it might be more accurate. In Helen's case - since we have basically no answers - I went for the most accurate test.

I should have an answer tomorrow. I'm glad to hear your test was negative in a high risk area...that gives me hope!!

Helen is doing well tonight, staying warm and pink. She's been sleeping a lot and I keep waking her up and checking her gums to make sure she isn't blue again. No doubt she's getting sick of me by now!

Thanks, Jacky. Is Coco the kitty you use the inhaler with? The ER vet mentioned asthma (though my regular vet didn't think it was asthma) and said I may consider an inhaler if her HW test is negative. I hope I do as well with my cats as you've done with yours!!

Helen's heartworm test was negative!!

I still have no answers as to why she collapsed, and am terrified that it will happen again...but I am SO relieved the HW test was negative.

The next step is 3 weeks of strong antibiotics to see if it helps her cough...she was already on antibiotics that didn't stop the coughing, but she was more active and playful during the antibiotics (Baytril), so my vet is hopeful they were starting to work and she just needs a longer course of them...??? Does this sound right?

I'm going to go ahead and have her dewormed for potential lungworms, too.

Thanks for the vibes, everyone!!

Bunnelina, best of luck to you and your boy today. A cough is always a scary thing. Vibes right back at you!

Thank you for checking in, everyone! Helen is doing really well. She's been sleeping a bit more than usual, but I suppose that's to be expected considering the ordeal she's been through... Interestingly, I haven't heard her cough once since she's been home. I wonder if that's a result of the nebulizer treatment she got while she was in the ER...? And if so, does that indicate her problem might be asthma?

My vet insists that she doesn't have asthma, because of the pattern on her lungs, but we all know cats don't always follow the textbook when it comes to these things. At this point, he has no idea what is wrong with her or what caused her collapse. This is really upsetting to me, because I fear without treating something, is she at risk of collapse again?!

Helen is a compulsive licker, btw. She has the world's roughest tongue - like 40 grit sandpaper. She is always trying to lick my face but it hurts too much and I make her stop...but ever since this happened, I've been letting her get a few licks in. She's milking it for all it's worth!! I'll probably need reconstructive surgery soon.

Bunnelina, do you have a thread about his coughing? I haven't been on TCS enough to have seen one. I'm curious what it sounds like...is it a wet sounding cough (like Helen's) or a dry, hacking cough?

Her coughing comes out of nowhere, too, usually while she's resting. And it's not every day, but maybe every other day. The fits don't last for more than a few seconds, but the morning of her 'episode' she had a fit that lasted for about 45 seconds.

Here's hoping you get some answers, too!

Yay!!! So glad to hear another negative HW result!! The waiting was awful, right?

Possum's coughing spells sound different than Helen's...oddly, while she's coughing, she doesn't seem uncomfortable at all. My HCM boy has terrible coughing fits with his neck extended very low to the ground, and I can tell he's struggling to get air, but when Helen is coughing, she barely even sits up. Sometimes she doesn't open her mouth. I could almost describe it like she's clearing her throat...but...cats don't do that.

"How useful to have a cat who is also an exfoliator! If she liked to lick feet, she could give pedicures! "

Funny you should say this...when she gets into one of her obsessive licking moods, I've tried offering her a foot! She refuses to lick my feet. Yes, she will lick her own bottom, but she won't lick my feet. I try not to take it personally...

Regarding consulting another vet...yes - that's the plan. If the 3 weeks of Baytril don't have any effect, I'm going to take her for a second opinion somewhere. She did have an echocardiogram about 8 months ago (just routine, since HCM is so prevalent in her breed) and her heart was in great shape, and still looks great on xray now. So, I'm not too concerned about her heart, but I would like to find a vet that knows a lot about kitty lungs because they look awful. She does have Feline Herpes. I'm also considering a PCR to find out if she's got any other upper respiratory thing going on in addition to the herpes.

Anyhow, it's been 4 days since the "incident" and still no coughing. She's in the kitchen being a diva and yelling for me right now...still taking full advantage of my pity!

Great to hear Max's cough went away on it's own! How long did the coughing last before it went away?

I wish my vet were more willing to try some things like yours...for example, I've asked him to treat Helen for lung worms - just in case - but he won't do it because he says it's rare and not likely. He won't even do a fecal to check her for lung worms because they rarely ever show up in a fecal. URGH!! On the other hand, he has no idea why she's coughing and isn't offering up any other suggestions to figure it out. I'd feel a lot better if we were doing something diagnostic!