Senior cat with heart condition

Hi everyone,

I'm not sure if anyone has any advice for this, but I wanted to ask somewhere.  I have a 15/16 year old female cat named Little Bit; she's been with me for literally half my life.  She's been having some health problems since back in April, and about a week and a half ago, they got worse.  Her appetite has failed, her breathing is labored, she is weak and clumsy, she's taken to eating her litter, and she no longer wants go anywhere or do anything but lie by the wall in the back of the laundry room.   I took her to the vet last week and he gave her some antibiotics, some sub-cutaneous fluids, and a steroid injection for her bad skin allergies.  Over the weekend, her abdomen became swollen, so I took her back in.  The vet diagnosed her with a heart condition and said the swelling in the abdomen and her breathing problems were because of fluid gathering in her abdomen.

Right now, she is back in the laundry room.  I cannot get her to eat anything and she doesn't seem to be drinking water anymore.  I've gotten her to eat a few teaspoonfuls of a high calorie nutrient gel over the past couple of days, but that's pretty much it.  I've tried steak, canned tuna, several different flavors of cat food, but all she does is lick at it a little and then leave it.  I was thinking of trying some of the meat baby foods next. 

What I guess I really want to know, though, is if I'm really helping her or just prolonging the inevitable?  She doesn't seem to be in any pain, but she's clearly not comfortable, either.  The last time I had a cat pass away, he was in kidney failure, and I told the vet to try to save him.  In retrospect, I think that was a mistake, and all I really did was prolong his suffering, unnecessarily, and I've never fully forgiven myself for that.  I grew up with a mother that wanted to put cats to sleep if they missed the litter box a few times in a row, and I've always rejected that.  As a result, though, I'm not very good at knowing when to keep trying and when it's time to let an animal go.  If I had more money, I might take her to another vet for a second opinion, but I am living on disability and am already stretched past my financial means.  I just don't know what to do.  As I said, she doesn't seem to be in pain, but she mostly just seems to be existing at this point.  It's breaking my heart to watch her lie there and breathe hard, knowing that I can't even pick her up and hold her because she doesn't want to be held right now.  If anyone has any advice or just some suggestions for how I could make her more comfortable, please let me know.


Thank you,
Amy

Amy,

It is never an easy decision to make, but I think your girl might be letting you know she's ready.  She is not eating or drinking, and those are very important quality of life factors.  It doesn't sound like she's happy or doing anything that she enjoys.

I think that letting our furkids go when they are ready is one of the greatest gifts we can give.  I wish sometimes that people would realize that about other human beings, that just because there might be something to be done, does not mean we need to exhaust every possible option.  If quality of life is low, to me, there is little point in prolonging the suffering of someone we love--and it can verge on the selfish.

Be assured that you are not jumping the gun.  She is a sick kitty, and though she might not appear to be in pain, cats are excellent at hiding their pain.  The fact you say she seems uncomfortable means, to me, that she probably IS in pain.

There are some medications that can help with CHF (that sounds like what she has) but they are not a cure, and depending on how much fluid buildup there is, they may be fairly ineffective.  They can prolong life, but with cats I like to keep their temperament in mind as well.  Some cats are not good about being medicated and it's kinder to let them go than to give them even 6 more months if they're constantly stressed about being medicated.

It sounds like she has end stage chf (congestive heart failure). I lost my Cali to it early last year. From this point on, it's basically a question of quality of life. Cali was on a combination of furosemide (diuretic), prednisone (steroid) and inhaler steroid with bronchodialator (used with an AeroKat chamber). Additionally, he had B12 injections, diuretic injections and steroid injections periodically from the vet, and needed oxygen a couple of times. With hindsight, we may have fought a little too long, but mum wasn't ready to let go.

Cali did very badly until we introduced the AeroKat and inhalers - they made a huge difference to him, and he almost went back to normal for a month or so. Throughout the whole time he needed a lot of encouragement to eat, and needed hand feeding a lot of the time.

If you're able to afford these measures, and can devote a significant amount of time to nursing Little Bit, then you may have a few more weeks, or even a couple of months with her. However, this is the beginning of the end. There's no way of knowing whether she'd respond as well as Cali did to the meds even if you take that route. To be honest, having been through what I did with Cal, I wouldn't be in a hurry to do it again...not because of the time involved, but because of how bad the bad days can be. I'm now dealing with the same condition in my greyhound. I've already decided that I'm going to let him go without the extra measures Cali had. I personally don't want to see him experience that.

I hope this is of some help. I'm so, so sorry you're in this position.

Agree, sounds like congestive heart failure. In CHF the fluid buildup will make it harder for her to breathe, and when she has trouble breathing she won't feel like doing much of anything, including eating.  She is hiding in the laundry room likely because she doesn't feel well; it is instinctive for cats to hide when ill.  Whether or not it's exactly pain may be in question but certainly it is discomfort.

If you are ok with doing some more vet care including giving her daily medication and trying to restart her eating, I think she could potentially be more comfortable with additional meds, assuming the diagnosis really is CHF.  Some of the meds are mentioned above.  Another one is Vetmedin which is labeled for dogs but is seeing increased use in cats with some good results.  Again this is assuming CHF and obviously we can't make such a diagnosis over the web.  It's not quite clear if your present vet is in tune with this.  Some vets may still think oh well, 15 year old cat in decline, we don't want to do much of anything.  But, you don't want her to be uncomfortable either, and you may not want to overlook some treatments which may be fairly simple, non-invasive and not super expensive (although not nothing either).  Or at least, as simple and non-invasive as giving medication can be, as well as attempting to get her to eat (which she will if she feels a little better).  If your current vet doesn't seem to be helpful with this, you may wish to get a second opinion.

If you don't want to do more vet care that is not necessarily wrong.  What you would want to consider in that case is if she has any real quality of life left at this point.  It sounds like she isn't eating or drinking on her own, isn't enjoying her surroundings or your attention really, probably isn't going to the litter box (though she might not need to if not eating), etc.

It's also possible that you attempt some further treatment and something sudden will happen anyway.  This is what happened with my own cat a couple years ago.  She had some bouts of time spent not eating, a bit of hiding, etc, and we were trying to turn a corner as she was also diagnosed with kidney disease, which is what I was more focused on than the CHF.  But then she had a sudden event, probably something like a heart attack or other serious blood clot of some kind, before we saw much improvement.

Whatever you decide, I'm sorry you have to go through it, and I wish you well in making your decisions.

Thank you so much to everyone that's replied.  I cannot tell you how much I appreciate your advice and your compassion.  I am going to try a round of Vetmedin and diuretics on the Bit tonight, and if they don't help her, I'll at least know that we tried.  Again, thank you all so much for your support <3

Thank you,

Amy