William has CHF

My boy William was just diagnosed w severe late stage chf and heart disease after having a blood clot that partially paralyzed his back legs. Treatment with blood thinner helped him regain function. I'm taking him to a cardiologist tomorrow just to make sure he is as stable as possible with the meds we were given. Sadly it's almost impossible to even find a cardiologist vet in Chicago and when I called the few places that have one, I learned they were all at a national conference. Now the week they are back in town they are backed up w appts so I have to go thru the ER.

I just hope the stress of taking my boy there does not kill him. Here is his pic when he was first diagnosed w hyperthyroidism and I posted about him. My boy also hates the pills and I may try the capsule method too. He runs from me after I med him. He too has spent his entire life outdoors and I am beside myself that he will die or get another blood clot while outside. Lately he isn't as active, he is not eating much so I syringe feed him. 35ml AD daily. Thank you for letting me post about dearest William, it helps just to talk this out.

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barbb . Lots of for William. We went through that rollercoaster ride of HCM and CHF with Jamie, the difficulty getting meds and often food into him, and above all the fear of thrombosis when we weren't right there with him.

Thank you jcat. I will start a thread after he goes to the cardiologist tomorrow assuming he makes it. It is pure hell right now for all the reasons you just said .

I am only taking him to the vet to make sure he is stable and to see if we can get him to eat more on his own. I'm scared he will die en route to the vet as it is a long distance and he pants and gets extremely upset whenever he has to travel. I took him to an internist almost 2 weeks ago and they said he had days or weeks left and not months. But now we are into those weeks and he is still with us so I'm doing this just bc none of the vets who saw him have any other advice as far as what do do now. I think the specialist center wanted me to euth him right there but he is not panting or cold or in pain, just low energy and not eating. Mostly he is depressed bc he knows something is wrong and also I'm not letting him outside as much. He is adjusting to his new normal. But his wife outside, Ace, is very upset .

Thank you for words of comfort. It is terrible not to be able to perk him up via fluids and just to give him that little bit of AD. Hopefully the cardiologist will have more info. But I don't think ill even get to see her, and she will see William and communicate thru the ER staff. This is all I can get for my boy and it really sux . Ty for listening. I. So sorry you went thru this with Jamie .

Also jcat I remember Jamie from your picture that you entered of him in the cat photo contest where he is sitting by the window which is to his left. You posted it when my Toby was sick and I remember really loving that pic of him. I'm so sorry he is gone.

Mega for William. Chf is hell. I so hope today's appointment goes ok.

I am back to post again about William, who has CHF, first diagnosed in April or May of this year. My other thread is here: http://www.thecatsite.com/t/299982/...-stage-congestive-heart-failure-heart-disease

I am so very sorry to see that some other kitties have gotten CHF and gone through a similar saga. It is good to have these threads because I feel we can all learn from each others' experiences, including when it is time to let go and how to deal with the grief, not to mention the ups and downs, and the various symptoms as well as the treatments.

William is still hanging in there. We ended up following a very similar path to kmd and Elmo. After much trial and error, we got #1 sized gel caps and put his clopidogrel, pepsid, benazapril, methimazole, and lasix all into it. This was much easier and much much much better than crushing them and mixing into fluid and syringing that. I never thought we could get him to swallow such a big pill, but it goes down much more smoothly than anything else and I always give him a tiny squirt of water before and after so he doesn't aspirate anything.

Also William's cardiologist prescribed vetmedin, but William hated it so much that we made the decision to not give that to him. We called the vet ahead of time to ask if it had some kind of side effect and they said yes, it is from the same drug family as caffeine, and it could make him feel jumpy and uneasy.

Because William was originally a feral kitty, he has and still does live outside with his wife, Ace. Because of that, we had to slowly get him into a routine so he would come in at night and then we would do his meds in the morning. This meant that could not also not give him meds in the evening, ie his thyroid and more lasix. He hated getting his pills so much, we had to just focus on giving him an incentive to come inside routinely. So we got him in and fussed over him and petted him and gave him treats. Then in the morning he got his meds and went back outside.

In the past few weeks he started to accumulate fluid in his stomach (ascites). At this point we finally did add a #3 sized gel capsule in the evening. We increased his lasix to a whole one in the morning and half at night along with methimazole too at night. He didn't seem to mind the small pill and we could still fuss over him and leave him in at night.

Starting yesterday around 2PM he went outside and didn't eat or come back to come inside like he usually does. My husband and I went outside an built a fire in our fire pit to see if he would come around. He did leave his house in the gazebo ;-) and come out to the woods to vomit bile and to let us know he was feeling sick. My husband slept with him a little bit in the gazebo and then I called my husband inside so he wouldn't have any adventures with skunks or raccoons lol also in our back yard under the deck.

This morning I was up super early, worried of course. I went outside and William was still in the gazebo, feeling sick and he was lipsmacking, so we knew he was feeling very nauseated. We were able to pick him up from outside (he was THAT sick, he didn't run away) and took him to the vet. They said he had lost almost 2 lbs of fluid since he was there earlier in the week, and his heartbeat was a little more irregular than last time, but otherwise he seemed ok. They gave him a shot of cerenia and also a shot of pepsid and sent us home. We also have mirtazaprine but I don't think that will work for him as it didn't work either when he was first diagnosed.

Anyhow, when we got home I gave him his pill and syringe fed him a little AD, and then we were not going to let him outside, but his wife Ace came to the door crying for him, and he went running to her. I let him out and he rewarded me by eating a lot of the food I set outside. So, it looks like our boy is still with us for now, and hope that we will see more of that appetite later tonight and tomorrow.

As far as how much time is left, i can see he is very slowly winding down, his path seems to follow kmd and Elmo's story. I just wanted to say that it has been very helpful to refer back to everyone's stories through this difficult long goodbye with our boy. I am not on this site a lot because I do rescue too and it seems like all I do is take kitties to the vet, or pet them, buy them special food, and lately with William coming inside at night, I've had to do a lot of shutting some our our kits and fosters inside their rooms at night and managing feedings so that William and the other kitties who are less aggressive still get enough to eat. Plus the 2 foster kitties are special needs augh, one is very fear aggressive and sensitive and he has his health issues too :-(. Thank you again everyone. If you have thoughts or advice on what to do to help William now, I am open to advice or suggestions ;-) to make his life happier or better.

Here are pictures of William with his wife Ace (he is the black kitty) and inside with his step brother Curly (who is FIV+) and another of William and Ace this past summer. After he got sick, she began to groom him, whereas he always groomed her for the last 10 years!!

It sounds extra complicated to take care of a CHF cat who is also semi-feral.  You are so awesome to do this wonderful act of kindness for William and to keep letting him be with his lady while doing it!  He's also a handsome boy and is lucky in all his family!

It sounds to me as if you are doing your best with the situation as it stands.  I wish I had more suggestions.  Hugs to you and scritches to William and all your other furry family.

It sounds like you're doing an amazing job with William. He's lucky to have you looking out for him. I wish I had more suggestions for you. All I can say is that, especially in this situation, it might help to start making end of life plans now. That way you'll be clear what will happen when it IS time (and you'll know ).