Cat food suggestions for cat with Heart Disease

Hi everyone.  I think I posted in the wrong forum so repeating here.

Today I took my 11-year old cat to the vet after I noticed he was breathing weird…quicker than usual.  I was told he had congestive heart failure.  They are keeping him for a few days and then will send him home with medication.  They said he might have another year or so.

I am now trying to figure out what the best wet food to feed him when I bring him back home.  The problem is that he's had UTI's and so I need a food that is both low sodium and high protein (for his cardiovascular health) but also one that has low pH (for his urinary tract health).  I seem to only find foods that specialize in one or the other….but can't seem to find one that has both. Any suggestions??

Also, I read that giving him supplements such as Taurine, L-arginine, and acetyl L-carnitine is helpful.  But do I get these at a regular Vitamin Shopp type of store?  Or are there some specifically designed for cats?  

Many thanks in advance!

Hi
I'm sorry for your news. I had a cat who went through this and there are other members th the same problem right now. Is your cats CHF a result of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy? If yes, I will address this in a follow up post. Nutrition is always important, but if it's HCM that has resulted in the CHF, Then it can be a difficult challenge to balance the cat medically, but I will wait for your reply.

Yes, my cat's CHF was a result of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy.

@prbs75

HCM is very sad and one of my cats Felix, died of it 2 years ago.  He never had any symptoms until he went into CHF. The fluid in and around the lungs is from congestive heart failure, a symptom of this disease.  Your vet is going to get this under control most likely with diuretics like lasix, which will cause him to pee a lot and drain his lungs.  In addition to meds to help his heart, he will probably stay on Lasix for life.  I want to go over a few important points.

- Unfortunately, Lasix can put a cat into kidney failure (this happened twice to Felix).  So you will need to pay very close attention to kidney values and appetite.   If his appetite crashes, its probably a kidney value emergency.  And the usual treatment for kidney failure is Sub Q fluids, but you can't give sub Q fluids to a cat with HCM and CHF (Congestive heart failure) because the fluids go straight to the lungs putting the cat back into CHF.  An effective emergency treatment for HCM cats in kidney failure is to insert a main line into their neck or chest and administer the fluids directly into the blood stream.  This is a big deal, and requires temporary hospitalization, but it works.

- The trick so to speak with many cats with this illness is to keep them in balance between kidney failure and heart failure.  Your cat may in time bounce back and forth between these two problems.

- You can tell when your cat is going into CHF by timing his breath rate while at rest or asleep. A cat who is getting fluid in his lungs will have a faster breath rate.  Speak to your vet about this, and get a stop watch or a watch with a second hand etc, and start timing him daily. 20/min or less is great.  Around 40/min and its an impending urgency/emergency.  The best time to time him is when he is asleep.  Your vet can give you specifics, when to be concerned, how to adjust his lasix, when to give an emergency injection(see below) and when to bring him in for an emergency.

- Assuming you get Lasix in pills, ask your vet for a couple of emergency doses of Lasix in syringes that can be given sub Q (under his skin, super easy, takes one second and he won't even feel it).  Have your vet teach you how do give an injection by sub Q (he could show you with saline solution and you could even try it there at the office, the amount is very very small, a few 10th's of a cc, like a few drops.  Then if he has a heart failure crisis, you can inject him before you rush to the vet.

- You need to be prepared to be make numerous visits to the vet over the course of his remaining life.  You may need an 24/hr hospital if one is near you.  If you have a good relationship with your vet, now is the time to ask for his or her private cell number, and my vet was happy to oblige, and this will be helpful to you if you have to make a call after hours.

The good news is that you may be able to control this for some time, and get some quality time with him.  Also, when he's not in CHF he will probably feel just fine.  You, in consultation with your Vet will know when the time has come to let him go.

I know what this is like and it is devastating news.  I'm so sorry.

@StephenQ

Thank you for your response.

I am now convinced that the CHF was due to hyperthyroidism not HCM.  They are still waiting on bloodwork to confirm.  Over the last year or so he had lost weight.  But I didn't think anything of it as he was very active and always had a very healthy appetite.  In fact, his appetite seemed to have increased.  I'm hoping this will help with his heart.  But I'm also kicking myself for not taking him in sooner to get checked out before the resulting CHF.  He just seemed so happy and so NOT 'sick'.

I had no idea that hyperthyroidism could cause CHF, but it can!  I found research to support this, and the research i found suggests its reversible.

http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/hyperthyroidism/basics/complications/con-20020986