Please help me solve a deadly mystery.
I just lost my favorite cat three days ago (Monday). He had a massive infection in his chest that had progressed to far to treat. Sounds pretty straight forward at first glance, but this case was anything but simple. I'll list the strange facts first then explain in more detail.
Willow was a neutered male, 12 yr old, short haired, black cat. My wife and daughter got him from people giving away kittens. Because he has never been stray and we like to keep our cats indoors, he has never been exposed to the dangers of being an outdoor cat (poison, disease, fights with other animals, etc.....).
About 3 yrs ago he lost his sense of balance. We thought stroke but the vet said he was poisoned. My best guess is that he swallowed a human dose of zoloft (anti-depressant). He never recovered his balance. He has been on anti-depressants for most of his life because otherwise he was subject to in-discriminant urination. Prior to this we had tried doxepin, and amitriptyline and was having success with the later. Unfortunately this stopped working after a while and had to try something else. Since our options were limited, the vet and I had agreed to try zoloft. The the reasoning was that we think he'd taken 100mg and it wasn't fatal so a small dose should be OK. After trial and error we found 12.5 mg a day to be enough. Zoloft sounds risky but remember our options were stark, find something that works or have him put to sleep.
We are a multi-cat household. 3 indoor cats is my ideal but we have been as high as 7. At the time of Willows death we had 5. Because he was vulnerable (balance) he lived in my bedroom.
We have regular feeding times twice a day since that allows us better control of weight issues. We feed our cats a combination of Wellness canned food, plain yogurt,and Blue Buffalo dry food. Willow had gotten used to that and would wait impatiently at the foot of my bed until we brought the food. He would also wait for his medication, since he received treats after wards. I should mention that he received 322 mg ammonium chloride daily to avoid urinary tract infection.
About 2 – 3 months ago he started having a problem with constipation. The vet had suggested we give him oil to soften his stool. We did but he hated it. He started hiding under the bed at feeding time. We decided we needed a more palatable solution and the vet suggested a prescription high fiber food. We switched him but his appetite never fully returned. He would eat but was more indifferent about food. He still hid under the bed when it was time for his meds. He was no longer interested in the treats. Over the last couple of months his appetite slowly decreased. He often left some food in the dish and occasionally would skip a meal.
We stared thinking about his medication. Zoloft could cause stomach pain but it usually went away after you get used to it. It can also cause loss of equilibrium. In the time since we started him on zoloft we had great success using prozac on two other cats. I figured with less possible side effects that was the way to go. I doubted it would help but thought we should at least try.
We scheduled an appointment for a check-up even though he wasn't due yet. He would be due in a couple more months, there was the nagging concern about loss of appetite, and we wanted to switch his meds. He received a full check-up. He wasn't running a fever. Respiration and heart beat seemed normal. Eyes, ears, teeth were clean and clear. No sign of fleas, etc... Doc agreed to the switch in meds and we agreed to gradually wean him off the zoloft. He had lost significant weight,but was still an 11 lb cat. We would come back for blood and urine labs in a month.
Over the next week his appetite continued to decrease to the point that he was hardly eating at all. We scheduled an appointment which was exactly one week from his check-up. Doc checked him again and nothing seemed obvious except for a 1 lb weight loss. He wanted to do labs and since the lab people did regular pick-ups the next morning, Doc decided to keep him overnight so he could give the lab fresh samples.
Over the next few days his appetite dropped to zero. By Saturday we couldn't even get him to eat sliced turkey or beef baby food.
So far we were thinking that the labs would give us the answer. I currently have two cats with renal (kidney) failure and one has diabetes. I'm pretty savvy at this. So if something like subcutaneous fluid injections need to be done we already have the supplies. My money would have been on diabetes since we had switched to a higher carb food.
Just our luck the vet office is regularly closed on Thursday, contractors were scheduled to do maintenance of Friday and Doc was taking a mini-vacation until Monday. The vet tech was suppose to call us with the results but the contractor wouldn't let her in on Friday. When she didn't call Saturday I convinced the answering service to contact Doc while he was on vacation. He contacted his tech and got the lab results. What was surprising is the the labs showed nothing.
Next thought was a blockage in his digestive tract. Made sense, aside from the possibility of fur causing the blockage this cat likes to chew on plastic shopping bags. We hadn't found any sign of chewed up plastic but cats can be pretty sneaky. Doc arranged for us to pickup a barium solution from his tech the next morning. We did that and administered the barium a little at a time,over the course of the day.
The next morning, Monday, I took him in for x-rays. There was no blockage but much to our surprise there was fluid in his chest that had collapsed his lungs. Doc operated but it was too late. The fluid was puss so thick, Doc said it was like cottage cheese. He went back in postmortem and reports that there was no cancer. just an infection. He said it seems like it had been there a long time. I didn't have the presence of mind to ask that tissue samples be sent out to the lab until Wednesday but he had already been cremated.
What type of infection can get this massive and deadly without showing any signs? If anyone recognizes this please let me know. I'd at least like to know so I don't lose another cat or dog this way.
Joe
I just lost my favorite cat three days ago (Monday). He had a massive infection in his chest that had progressed to far to treat. Sounds pretty straight forward at first glance, but this case was anything but simple. I'll list the strange facts first then explain in more detail.
He was seen three times over a period of 2 weeks. During that time he never ran a fever.
Last week he had blood and urine samples taken. When the lab results came back there was nothing unusual. His white blood cell count was not elevated. I looked the lab results myself. They were easy to read because the lab graphs each item and indicates what the .normal range is.
Finally, he never coughed, wheezed, or showed any kind of respiratory distress. I would know since he sleeps right next to my head. Nothing sounded unusual on the stethoscope.
Willow was a neutered male, 12 yr old, short haired, black cat. My wife and daughter got him from people giving away kittens. Because he has never been stray and we like to keep our cats indoors, he has never been exposed to the dangers of being an outdoor cat (poison, disease, fights with other animals, etc.....).
About 3 yrs ago he lost his sense of balance. We thought stroke but the vet said he was poisoned. My best guess is that he swallowed a human dose of zoloft (anti-depressant). He never recovered his balance. He has been on anti-depressants for most of his life because otherwise he was subject to in-discriminant urination. Prior to this we had tried doxepin, and amitriptyline and was having success with the later. Unfortunately this stopped working after a while and had to try something else. Since our options were limited, the vet and I had agreed to try zoloft. The the reasoning was that we think he'd taken 100mg and it wasn't fatal so a small dose should be OK. After trial and error we found 12.5 mg a day to be enough. Zoloft sounds risky but remember our options were stark, find something that works or have him put to sleep.
We are a multi-cat household. 3 indoor cats is my ideal but we have been as high as 7. At the time of Willows death we had 5. Because he was vulnerable (balance) he lived in my bedroom.
We have regular feeding times twice a day since that allows us better control of weight issues. We feed our cats a combination of Wellness canned food, plain yogurt,and Blue Buffalo dry food. Willow had gotten used to that and would wait impatiently at the foot of my bed until we brought the food. He would also wait for his medication, since he received treats after wards. I should mention that he received 322 mg ammonium chloride daily to avoid urinary tract infection.
About 2 – 3 months ago he started having a problem with constipation. The vet had suggested we give him oil to soften his stool. We did but he hated it. He started hiding under the bed at feeding time. We decided we needed a more palatable solution and the vet suggested a prescription high fiber food. We switched him but his appetite never fully returned. He would eat but was more indifferent about food. He still hid under the bed when it was time for his meds. He was no longer interested in the treats. Over the last couple of months his appetite slowly decreased. He often left some food in the dish and occasionally would skip a meal.
We stared thinking about his medication. Zoloft could cause stomach pain but it usually went away after you get used to it. It can also cause loss of equilibrium. In the time since we started him on zoloft we had great success using prozac on two other cats. I figured with less possible side effects that was the way to go. I doubted it would help but thought we should at least try.
We scheduled an appointment for a check-up even though he wasn't due yet. He would be due in a couple more months, there was the nagging concern about loss of appetite, and we wanted to switch his meds. He received a full check-up. He wasn't running a fever. Respiration and heart beat seemed normal. Eyes, ears, teeth were clean and clear. No sign of fleas, etc... Doc agreed to the switch in meds and we agreed to gradually wean him off the zoloft. He had lost significant weight,but was still an 11 lb cat. We would come back for blood and urine labs in a month.
Over the next week his appetite continued to decrease to the point that he was hardly eating at all. We scheduled an appointment which was exactly one week from his check-up. Doc checked him again and nothing seemed obvious except for a 1 lb weight loss. He wanted to do labs and since the lab people did regular pick-ups the next morning, Doc decided to keep him overnight so he could give the lab fresh samples.
Over the next few days his appetite dropped to zero. By Saturday we couldn't even get him to eat sliced turkey or beef baby food.
So far we were thinking that the labs would give us the answer. I currently have two cats with renal (kidney) failure and one has diabetes. I'm pretty savvy at this. So if something like subcutaneous fluid injections need to be done we already have the supplies. My money would have been on diabetes since we had switched to a higher carb food.
Just our luck the vet office is regularly closed on Thursday, contractors were scheduled to do maintenance of Friday and Doc was taking a mini-vacation until Monday. The vet tech was suppose to call us with the results but the contractor wouldn't let her in on Friday. When she didn't call Saturday I convinced the answering service to contact Doc while he was on vacation. He contacted his tech and got the lab results. What was surprising is the the labs showed nothing.
Next thought was a blockage in his digestive tract. Made sense, aside from the possibility of fur causing the blockage this cat likes to chew on plastic shopping bags. We hadn't found any sign of chewed up plastic but cats can be pretty sneaky. Doc arranged for us to pickup a barium solution from his tech the next morning. We did that and administered the barium a little at a time,over the course of the day.
The next morning, Monday, I took him in for x-rays. There was no blockage but much to our surprise there was fluid in his chest that had collapsed his lungs. Doc operated but it was too late. The fluid was puss so thick, Doc said it was like cottage cheese. He went back in postmortem and reports that there was no cancer. just an infection. He said it seems like it had been there a long time. I didn't have the presence of mind to ask that tissue samples be sent out to the lab until Wednesday but he had already been cremated.
What type of infection can get this massive and deadly without showing any signs? If anyone recognizes this please let me know. I'd at least like to know so I don't lose another cat or dog this way.
Joe
