First Thread! My 5-year-old cat was diagnosed with fluid around her heart and pancreatitis...

[jmckale90]

Hi all!  This is my first post, and it's kinda a doozy so bear with me.

On Tuesday 8/2 my 5-year-old black cat, Astra, stopped eating completely and was acting lethargic.  I could immediately tell something was wrong with her, because she's usually so talkative and spunky and she wasn't meowing or interested in her toys at all.  She was still drinking water, but barely.  Thursday was the soonest we could take her to the vet, and by that time it had been almost 3 days since I'd seen her eat.  The vet was not friendly at all - he acted like he could care less about our cat and wasn't willing to do any tests until she exhibited more symptoms of what was wrong, since he couldn't find anything wrong simply by feeling her body.  100 dollars later we had an antibiotic (azithromycin) and appetite stimulant (mirtazapine), but we still had no clue what was wrong with our cat and decided to get a 2nd opinion.

The next day I took my cat to another vet first thing in the morning.  It was the original vet I always use but their office had been closed the previous day.  Early that morning, Astra started meowing in our doorway like she was in pain, so I got up and noticed she was being very affectionate and purring (which she rarely does anymore...she's grown aloof with age).  I saw her go to the litter box and strain, and made another sound like she was in pain.  I saw that something was hanging from her butt when she walked out of the litter box so I quickly wiped it and saved it to show to the vet.  It looked like a small piece of rubber band.  Once at the vet, they immediately found that my cat had a grade 2 heart murmur, something the other vet apparently missed...or didn't feel the need to tell me.  What had come out of Astra's butt was mucus from her intestines.  To make the already long story short, they kept her at the vet for the day and did a urinalysis, xray, fecal examination, bloodwork, and thyroid test.  They found that Astra had a buildup of fluid around her heart, pancreatitis, and a secondary urinary tract infection.  They prescribed enalapril and furosemide for her heart, and then gave me a steroid for the pancreatitis (prednisolone).  Also oral buprinex for pain and told me to keep using the azithromycin as an antibiotic.  I had spent 600.00 in two days.  

Needless to say, I am still reeling from everything.  My heart is breaking for my poor cat - I'm happy we were able to get the meds she needed and find out what was wrong, but heart disease at 5 years old?  Even the vet told me she was a little shocked by that.  The heart medication isn't cheap either, and we aren't exactly rich people.  

I'm not even sure why I posted this now, because it wasn't really a question that needed answering...I guess I was looking for similar experiences and how ones have dealt with their cat's issue(s).  Thankfully Astra is doing okay a week later, but still not back to herself.  I'm hoping that we don't have any more issues any time soon.  

A big thank you for whoever made it to the end of this post.  I appreciate it.  <3 

 

[foxxycat]

I am so sorry your baby is sick=I would for a next step recommend ultrasound of the belly and heart.

The steroids contradict heart disease BUT they will help with inflammation from pancreatitis.

I just reread and didn't pay attention that you are giving meds for the fluid around the heart-you are a good mom!

I would also do whatever you can get your baby to eat. Tuna, Chicken, meat baby food no onion/garlic. Rotisserie chicken.

Pancreatitis is very painful. So be sure to give the pain meds as directed.

I had a cat who used to get bouts of pancreatitis and we never knew why.

One medication that I would ask your vet about giving is Pepcid. This helps the stomach acid issues that sometimes cause more pain on top of the pancreatitis. I was instructed by my vet to give it every 12 hours. your vet may want to give it less. I found it made a BIG difference in eating.

The other medication you may need is anti nausea meds=Cerenia or Zofran. Ask the vet-normally for pancreatitis we do a combo of Cerenia/Pepcid to relieve the retching feelings. I saw big difference in my girl while she was on these meds. When they wore off she stopped eating. She later found out to have cancer so be sure to get the ultrasound done. Its better to know what you are battling than to be shooting in the dark.

Also they recommend fluids for prancreatitis but where your baby has a heart condition=they can still do fluids but we watch for increased respirations. My girl also had heart issues so we did half the recommended fluids. We did it every 24-36 hours depending on her hydration. The fluids/Pepcid/Cerenia made a world of a difference in my sick cat. The good news is pancreatitis is treatable but very painful. So the most important thing is eating. Make sure getting enough food and water in them. If they don't drink enough water that's when you can ask the vet about doing sub fluids at home if your vet feels comfortable allowing you to do this or you can bring the cat in for this. its a very simple procedure and most cats sit still for the 5 minutes needed to give the fluids.

I am so sorry to hear your baby has been ill and I thank you for not letting it go on for days. This will make a big difference in recovery.

This will be a balancing act with the heart disease/fluids and other meds=its possible the eating stopped because the heart fluids were filling up making it impossible to eat as she was trying to focus on breathing. The increased in purring was her way in telling you something was wrong.

Thank you for helping your baby!

 

[foxxycat]

I also forgot to mention if the pills are too hard to give there are a few compounding sites where they have treats that have the medications.

one place I have heard a lot from is Diamondback Pharmacy I believe in Arizona.

Wedgewood Pharmacy is another one. Roadrunner pharmacy is another one you can try. They will send the vet empty blanks of flavors of treats and your vet can set u up to try them out.