Diagnosed with congestive heart failure, what do I do?

I have 2 cats, both a little over 11 years old and female, and one of them was diagnosed with congestive heart failure today. I took her in a few days ago when I noticed that she was bloated. Originally she was only showing mild symptoms of bloating and the vet thought it was an allergic reaction and gave her a shot of cortisone (2 days ago). Today the bloating was really bad and she was retaining fluids, so the vet took an x-ray.

The vet drained the fluid and is giving her a shot of diuretic and has advised that I give her a diuretic three times a day.

The vet also said that he could refer me to a specialist to have an echocardiogram done, etc., but that it wouldn't, in his opinion, change the treatment options. He also said there was some more options for medication if I wanted to talk about them.

I'm not really sure what to do and it's all happening pretty quickly. I also have commitments to keep and I'm supposed to go visit family, but I just don't want to leave her alone. The last 11-12 years have brought a lot of change to my life, but my cats have always been there.

Well, I DO know that cats can live with CHF if they take their meds, at least for awhile, possibly years.  What prognosis did your Vet give your little one? 

I would definitely talk to them about the other medications available, and also talk about options for whether or not you can easily pill your furbaby, or optional ways to give any meds, ie in liquid form, transdermal (via rubbing on her ear or paw pads) or even compounded into a chicken or fish flavor to easily mix in her food.

Hi and welcome to The Cat Site!

I'm sorry you had to join under these circumstances. My mother's cat went into congestive heart failure about a year and a half ago and she is still with us. She takes Lasix and I believe Enalipril (sp). One is twice a day, the other is once a day. My mother sneaks them into her food.

We did have the echocardiogram done and it confirmed the HCM (Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy) diagnosis from the ER vet. I know some others here have not had the echo done. There are a fair amount here that have dealt with this issue, so I am sure others will be along in a bit to offer their experiences.

Hi I'm so sorry to hear about your kitty.  Six years ago, our oldest kitty was diagnosed with heart failure when she developed difficulty breathing.  She was seven at the time.  Like your little one, our vet drained the fluid (and inadvertently punctured a lung), and after a few misdiagnoses (including cancer), they finally did the echocardiogram and we received the definitive diagnosis of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM).  

She gets medicine twice a day (diltiazem), as well as prednisone every third day.  She's never been on a diuretic.  But as I understand it, treatment of HCM in kitties isn't as standardized as it is in humans.  I've had acquaintances who are vets tell me that prednisone and diltiazem don't go together, but when they find out that she's been on this regimen for six years without an exacerbation, they admit that as long as it's working for her, we shouldn't change it.

As far as the echocardiogram goes, if you have a definitive diagnosis without it, there's really not much more information you're going to get from it.  The echo results probably will not help direct her care.

But please have hope.  As MrsGreenJeens said, cats with CHF can live a long time if properly medicated.

I will keep you and your little one in my thoughts!