Munchie's Many Issues

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cprcheetah

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Wait, is this an infection or fluid overload going on in his lungs?
He has a chronic respiratory/rhinitis/sinusitis which causes fluid draining down into his lungs (according to the Internal Medicine Vet).  Kind of like post nasal drip in humans.  But because his infection is so severe, that's causing the fluid buildup.  Remember it took 2 liters of fluid to flush out all the snot out of his nose so it was/is quite severe.
 

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He has a chronic respiratory/rhinitis/sinusitis which causes fluid draining down into his lungs (according to the Internal Medicine Vet).  Kind of like post nasal drip in humans.  But because his infection is so severe, that's causing the fluid buildup.  Remember it took 2 liters of fluid to flush out all the snot out of his nose so it was/is quite severe.
He takes Lasix for that?
 
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cprcheetah

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He takes Lasix for that?
Yes when it is severe and causing problems with his breathing.  Lasix is a diuretic which helps get rid of excess fluid, most often used for heart conditions but it can be used for pneumonia type infections as well.  Also it could be a combo of his sinus/respiratory issue and heart.
 
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Ugh, Munchie is acting very strange.  He has been down in the basement all afternoon, I had to go find him to get him up for dinner.  He hasn't eaten anything since last night, and is just laying around.  I don't know if he's having a reaction to the zithromycin or if the morphine is making him act like this or what, but I am worried.  My dad told me to watch him and see how he does, if he's still like this in the morning I will take him up to him to be checked.  Good thing he just lives up the street a little bit.   I did hear back from my holistic vet and she gave me some holistic remedies for both his respiratory issues and his arthritis.  So once he is over this hump that is something we will start.  She said she's had really good success with the treatments for chronic respiratories.  He gets it 3 times a day for 7 days then reevaluate and possible add and or change remedies.  I had to go buy Vodka to make it up.......never bought it in my life, we only use liquor to cook with, so that was an experience LOL.  She did go over his treatment protocol and didn't say anything should change so that's good, she does think we are on the right path, she also mentioned some remedies for his heart but wants to focus on one thing at a time so as not to overload his system.
 
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cprcheetah

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Any ideas? Munchie has now not eaten for 36 hours. He wont touch raw, canned, kibble, treats, chicken cooked, shrimp cooked (all things he REALLY loves). I think this is due to the zithromycin as he was fine before that, and when he injured his leg. He isn't moving and just wants to hide in my basement. Thinking I may need to syringe feed him, is that okay or will it mess everything up since he's been on raw for 2 weeks? I am taking him up to see my dad/vet in a few hours if he's not improved. He had a shot of morphine mid morning yesterday and I have buprenex I can give him today.
 

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Plenty of people feed canned and raw. If he'll eat a canned food, by all means feed it. And absolutely get him some pain release.

Did the vet do a chest xray before putting him on Lasix? Lasix is a strange way to treat pneumonia.
 

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Yes, I would definitely syringe feed him some canned even though he's now on raw.  He needs some food, especially since he's a large cat.  The last thing he needs now is to get Fatty Liver


 

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Yes, syringe feed by all means.

One of my cats tolerates Zithromax well, my other cat got nasty loose stools and I took him off of it immediately. He was already ill, and it just made things worse.

My cat was on Lasix in emergency when he had anaphylactic shock during dental surgery (swelling of tongue and throat etc.) and his lungs filled with fluid. But they took him off it as soon as we could (after one day), because it is a pretty hard drug on kidneys and something about diagnostics suggested it was likely not needed. Rexy has lung infections and we've never even talked of using Lasix. And Murchie has bad chronic upper respiratory and his lungs are fine. I'd just want to be really sure Lasix was needed as even in emergency they were very conservative in its use.
 
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cprcheetah

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 Yes there was a chest xray.  It could be a combo of his heart and the lungs according to the vet.  He may be going into heart failure, that could be what is causing his not eating.  I am beyond worried about him.  I just don't know if it's the zithromax causing him not to eat or something else.  Munchie is ALWAYS hungry, he usually clears his own food then goes and eats everyone elses (If I don't lock him up).  I don't know what is going on but it probably isn't good.  He is still purring but he is hiding in the basement again today.  He's not limping any more on his leg.
 

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BTW Zithromax has a long 1/2 life (48-72 hours) so if you do take him off it, it will take quite a number of days before you would see an improvement. So if it is the problem, it is not a drug that will clear the system in one day.

Do you think that he could have an upset tummy or feel ill from the combination of supplements and several drugs that he is on?? That would be better than him being in heart failure.

When did you last do bloodwork?
 
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cprcheetah

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BTW Zithromax has a long 1/2 life (48-72 hours) so if you do take him off it, it will take quite a number of days before you would see an improvement. So if it is the problem, it is not a drug that will clear the system in one day.

Do you think that he could have an upset tummy or feel ill from the combination of supplements and several drugs that he is on?? That would be better than him being in heart failure.

When did you last do bloodwork?
His last bloodwork was 1/21.  I don't know if it's a combo of the meds/supplements etc.  If could be a little bit of both.  I really don't know what to think.  I do know his nose on the left side is completely clogged up, I am trying to clear it out so he can smell, maybe that's the problem?
 
What did it show? If you mentioned earlier, I have forgotten. Was there fluid in the lungs or something?
Yes he has fluid in his chest/lungs. 
 

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HCM is a form of heart failure. It makes perfect sense to treat fluid overload with Lasix, now I gotcha. Pneumonia we try to thin secretions and expell them, not drag the water back in and make thick sludge in the lungs. When facing both? Yuck, you treat the more pressing issue.

Purring as I'm sure you already know can be contentment or pain. You know him best, but I'd be getting him some comfort.
 
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cprcheetah

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So updated, nothing physically wrong with him so probably the Zithro. We gave him a vitamin b injection and I have force fed him about 1oz of his raw food (ground up with water). As my vet/dad felt that was the most optimum nutrition for him. We are stopping the zitrho and will see how he does for a few days. If not better in a day or two will have a comprehensive blood panel ran on him again (just had it 1/21) His heart sounds just fine so he doesn't think he's going into heart failure. We may have to just treat his chronic respiratory issue with natural/holistic medicine rather than antibiotics. He is backed up again in his nose so we may have to do another flush. We are going to add antibiotics/antiinflammatory drops up his nose. He has lost 6oz since Friday.
 

peaches08

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I'm glad he ate. Maybe he can't smell the food as well while plugged up?
 

scarlett 001

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Exactly how bad is he re snuffling? My Murchie is snuffly with his nose nearly always, but does not have to mouth breathe and does not struggle to breathe. Have you tried the simple things like putting him in the shower with you every morning etc.? My Murchie has no problems with eating when stuffed up - he seems able to smell or at least enjoy his food.

I know that I said this before, but I would ponder multiple nose flushes since it only took a few weeks for him to clog up again this time - I really can imagine that just irritating already damaged nasal passages if you do nasal flushes every few weeks the rest of his life and moreover that might end up being financially impossible to sustain - and while it might get him breathing in the short term, it might not help things in the medium term if it irritates already irritated tissues. Just a thought. I've watched my Murchie's chronic respiratory play out now for nearly 15 years now, and there is very little that has much impact on it. Maybe I am too easy to give up, but from all I've read with the chronic respiratory snuffling due to damaged nasal passages, there is only so much you can do. Although it does sound like it is affecting your Munchie more than my Murchie so I do understand the need to try and alleviate things. It is almost like it is no longer viral issue from what I read but it is more a case of physical damage - nor is these necessarily an obvious bacterial infection (although such cats are more susceptible to bacterial infections in their noses) - it just seems as if the damaged passages for some reason just seem to make lots of snot - not sure why - would be interesting to figure this out more.

p.s. Don't forget Zithromax has a loooong 1/2 life compared to many drugs, so it will take longer to clear out of his system.
 
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cprcheetah

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The funny thing is he was WAY more stuffed up before the flush and didn't have a problem eating which is why we think it's due to the zithromycin.  He has been hiding for over an hour and I cannot find him anywhere :(  I am freaking out a little bit.  I have been reading up a lot about chronic sinusitis/rhinitis in cats and have been learning a lot.  I think we are going to go with the homeopathic/natural treament method over antibiotics.  As I don't think the antibiotics are going to be a good idea with his sensitive system. 
 
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Ugh little Munchie gave me a heart attack today he hid in my basement for about 5 hours, I kept looking for him but couldn't find him, I did finally hear his collar jingling but boy did he give me a scare.  He finally came around at dinner time precisely on the dot, however wasn't interested in eating anything so I force fed him about an oz of his raw food.  He did eat maybe 2-3 bites of DeeJay's food go figure it's the exact same as his.  I do think he is nauseated, so we gave him some pepcid for that in case it's due to acid reflux or build up from the Zithromycin.  He's not getting the zithromycin tonight, we are going to see how he does tomorrow.  I am going to continue force feeding him making sure he gets all the amount of food he should have each day, if he's not better Tuesday, taking him to work for bloodwork/xrays etc.  Poor guy HATES going to the vet, I think that and me force feeding him is why he hid out for so long today.
 
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