I have had Matty for about 2 years now. Her name will be obvious once you hear her story.
I was walking around outside when I spotted these eyes looking out at me from some bushes in my yard. I tried talking to them but couldn't get them to come out. I started placing plates of canned and dry food outside and talking to the eyes for weeks. Finally after awhile the eyes started moving closer out of the bushes until one day what emerged was probably one of the saddest things I think I have ever seen from a stray. Out comes this these eyes with a mat that started between the ears that ran all the way to the tip of the tail and around her back and belly. This poor thing was so sore she could barely move because the mat was so tight to the skin. Finally we got to a point where I could talk to her and try and pet her but she would growl at me and I couldn't blame her really.
I was finally able to grab her one day and put her in a crate. I had to put her in my basement in the crate because I already had 7 cats upstairs. I covered her crate and went upstairs to let her calm down a bit and what I saw when I came back down made my heart sink. There was blood spray on everything! Every time she coughed or sneezed it was just blood. Called the vet took her in. She had an URI that had turned into pneumonia. We got the mat off of her almost on one piece. Her skin was raw and bloody too it was so sad. We got her blood tested and meds to treat everything but the vet thought she might be too far gone with all the damage to her lungs with all that was going on. She only weighed 3 lbs and the vet thought she was around 2 years old. The vet told me if I wanted we could try to give her a chance and after all this poor cat had been through I had to try. Her and I spent hours upon hours in a steamy bathroom trying to clear her nose and lungs so she could breathe. Antibiotics, steroids and a ton of other meds for her skin.
A month later she was a new cat her coat had grown out and she was clear in her lungs. Since then she has always had a slight cough but we just figured it was probably from all that went on with her and that she would probably have it for the rest of her life as long as it was once in awhile and she didn't have any issues breathing she should be ok.
This cat is a love, she is talkative, runs around the house, cuddles, follows you and just generally one of the best cats I have ever had. Except I know why she was probably thrown out by her past owners. She pees. She pees everywhere on everything. She is spay, she has no uti we have changed her litter type multiple times but she is stubborn heck even prozac has not worked. I tell her everyday she is lucky I love her because I spend hours daily anti icky pooing my house and using a handheld carpet cleaner to clean her piddles.
So fast forward to this past weekend. I noticed she was coughing a lot more. She was also breathing pretty fast so I call the vet. This is a new vet to her because since I got her we have moved from Mass to Florida. He noticed her breathing was 3xs the normal rate and feared he was going to have to put her on oxygen until she did her normal thing and started jumping up on the counters, zipping around the room exploring, helping the girl fill out paperwork lol. He said I can not believe she can do this with her breathing. He took blood and wanted xrays. He was worried about stressing her holding her down for the xrays but in true Matty fashion she was a trooper. She laid there and took the x rays like it was no big deal. He again was surprised she wasn't upset or stressed they flipped her around held her down and her breathing rate never changed. She is such a laid back cat you truly can do just about anything with her and that is why I let her get away with the piddles. Though one day we will find a fix to the piddle issue I hope.
Anyways x rays come back. Vet comes in and he was grim. He put her x rays up on the screen and they are supposed to show all black on the film hers looked like it was covered in white spider webs both sides. My heart sank. He thought she had lung cancer even though at her age now 4ish it wasn't common. We sent her x rays to a cancer specialist and waited 30 mins for them to send their results back. No cancer! Thank god but he had no idea what it is in her lungs. Since we are in Florida now he asked me if there were any common things up in Mass we might have that they don't have down here. The only thing I could think of was one of the ferals I brought in had lung worm. He went back and researched it and said it could be lung worm, fungal or something else. Her blood work came back with high EOS which points to allergy or parasite infection. Rest of her blood work came back good and we even tested for heart worm.
Has anyone dealt with Lung worm? She has been indoors for over 2 years now. She had to have a vet inspection done before the transport company would even bring her across state lines. 2 years seems a long time for an infestation to show up in her lungs to me. We have ruled out Asthma too for now.
She is currently taking Clavimox, 2 1/2 ccs of Panacur and prednisone . He gave her a steroid shot in the office as well. She has been on the meds for 3 days and I am not seeing much improvement in her breathing rate or the coughing. Do they cough up the worms as they die or do they come out the other end? lol. I thought the prednisone would help her breathe. She is not struggling, she eats like a champ, she runs around the house following me and still talking up a storm but it bothers me watching her breathe and the way she lays sometimes I can tell she isn't comfortable. We are doing the Panacur for 10 days and Clavimox for 10 days, Prednisone for 30 days. How long do you think it will be before I see some improvement if it is Lung worm? He wants her to finish her 10 days of meds and then recheck her x rays at that time. If it isn't cleared up or gets worse I will take her to a specialist and have a bronchial wash done and have that tested. From what I understand that test is over $2000 ugh. So if I can get her well without having to do that I would like too.
Are there any other breathing problems that might cause the spider webs in the lungs? Like I said down here they apparently don't see lung worm. I know we had a lot of snails up north and she was living outside for god knows how long but darn 2 years to really kick up and no one noticed it before?
We just moved in to a brand new house a few months ago. I was thinking of mentioning that to him next time we go. Do you think the dust that is still around could cause her lungs to look like that?
Sorry so long and thank you for reading. I am open to any suggestions you might have and hoping maybe someone has experienced something like this before that could chime in.
I was walking around outside when I spotted these eyes looking out at me from some bushes in my yard. I tried talking to them but couldn't get them to come out. I started placing plates of canned and dry food outside and talking to the eyes for weeks. Finally after awhile the eyes started moving closer out of the bushes until one day what emerged was probably one of the saddest things I think I have ever seen from a stray. Out comes this these eyes with a mat that started between the ears that ran all the way to the tip of the tail and around her back and belly. This poor thing was so sore she could barely move because the mat was so tight to the skin. Finally we got to a point where I could talk to her and try and pet her but she would growl at me and I couldn't blame her really.
I was finally able to grab her one day and put her in a crate. I had to put her in my basement in the crate because I already had 7 cats upstairs. I covered her crate and went upstairs to let her calm down a bit and what I saw when I came back down made my heart sink. There was blood spray on everything! Every time she coughed or sneezed it was just blood. Called the vet took her in. She had an URI that had turned into pneumonia. We got the mat off of her almost on one piece. Her skin was raw and bloody too it was so sad. We got her blood tested and meds to treat everything but the vet thought she might be too far gone with all the damage to her lungs with all that was going on. She only weighed 3 lbs and the vet thought she was around 2 years old. The vet told me if I wanted we could try to give her a chance and after all this poor cat had been through I had to try. Her and I spent hours upon hours in a steamy bathroom trying to clear her nose and lungs so she could breathe. Antibiotics, steroids and a ton of other meds for her skin.
A month later she was a new cat her coat had grown out and she was clear in her lungs. Since then she has always had a slight cough but we just figured it was probably from all that went on with her and that she would probably have it for the rest of her life as long as it was once in awhile and she didn't have any issues breathing she should be ok.
This cat is a love, she is talkative, runs around the house, cuddles, follows you and just generally one of the best cats I have ever had. Except I know why she was probably thrown out by her past owners. She pees. She pees everywhere on everything. She is spay, she has no uti we have changed her litter type multiple times but she is stubborn heck even prozac has not worked. I tell her everyday she is lucky I love her because I spend hours daily anti icky pooing my house and using a handheld carpet cleaner to clean her piddles.
So fast forward to this past weekend. I noticed she was coughing a lot more. She was also breathing pretty fast so I call the vet. This is a new vet to her because since I got her we have moved from Mass to Florida. He noticed her breathing was 3xs the normal rate and feared he was going to have to put her on oxygen until she did her normal thing and started jumping up on the counters, zipping around the room exploring, helping the girl fill out paperwork lol. He said I can not believe she can do this with her breathing. He took blood and wanted xrays. He was worried about stressing her holding her down for the xrays but in true Matty fashion she was a trooper. She laid there and took the x rays like it was no big deal. He again was surprised she wasn't upset or stressed they flipped her around held her down and her breathing rate never changed. She is such a laid back cat you truly can do just about anything with her and that is why I let her get away with the piddles. Though one day we will find a fix to the piddle issue I hope.
Anyways x rays come back. Vet comes in and he was grim. He put her x rays up on the screen and they are supposed to show all black on the film hers looked like it was covered in white spider webs both sides. My heart sank. He thought she had lung cancer even though at her age now 4ish it wasn't common. We sent her x rays to a cancer specialist and waited 30 mins for them to send their results back. No cancer! Thank god but he had no idea what it is in her lungs. Since we are in Florida now he asked me if there were any common things up in Mass we might have that they don't have down here. The only thing I could think of was one of the ferals I brought in had lung worm. He went back and researched it and said it could be lung worm, fungal or something else. Her blood work came back with high EOS which points to allergy or parasite infection. Rest of her blood work came back good and we even tested for heart worm.
Has anyone dealt with Lung worm? She has been indoors for over 2 years now. She had to have a vet inspection done before the transport company would even bring her across state lines. 2 years seems a long time for an infestation to show up in her lungs to me. We have ruled out Asthma too for now.
She is currently taking Clavimox, 2 1/2 ccs of Panacur and prednisone . He gave her a steroid shot in the office as well. She has been on the meds for 3 days and I am not seeing much improvement in her breathing rate or the coughing. Do they cough up the worms as they die or do they come out the other end? lol. I thought the prednisone would help her breathe. She is not struggling, she eats like a champ, she runs around the house following me and still talking up a storm but it bothers me watching her breathe and the way she lays sometimes I can tell she isn't comfortable. We are doing the Panacur for 10 days and Clavimox for 10 days, Prednisone for 30 days. How long do you think it will be before I see some improvement if it is Lung worm? He wants her to finish her 10 days of meds and then recheck her x rays at that time. If it isn't cleared up or gets worse I will take her to a specialist and have a bronchial wash done and have that tested. From what I understand that test is over $2000 ugh. So if I can get her well without having to do that I would like too.
Are there any other breathing problems that might cause the spider webs in the lungs? Like I said down here they apparently don't see lung worm. I know we had a lot of snails up north and she was living outside for god knows how long but darn 2 years to really kick up and no one noticed it before?
We just moved in to a brand new house a few months ago. I was thinking of mentioning that to him next time we go. Do you think the dust that is still around could cause her lungs to look like that?
Sorry so long and thank you for reading. I am open to any suggestions you might have and hoping maybe someone has experienced something like this before that could chime in.
