Loss of apetite - HCM

[Miathebsh]

Hello,
I am coming back to ask some advice from people that handled HCM for their little friends.
we have a british shorthair wich was diagnosed with early HCM when we spayed her .
In the last months, Mia wastreated for staphylococcus felis, another thing that i don t know how to translate from Romanian and struvites crystals. Last week we went on a trip and we needed to take her with us because she was on treatment (pills and ear drops after hard cleaning) and nobody could touch her .Everything was good when we arrived, she was hiding for a few hours and thatwas all. When we came back home she lost her eating appetite. From 6-8 meals/day x 7-8 grams , now she is eating maybe 3-3.5 meals/day x7-8 grams (we have an automatic feeding machine). We went to vet too see how the treatment is going for her ears and she said that she can be stressed but i know her and even after spaying she was like a hungry lion .Another problem that i saw when petting her is the meowing after touchingher back legs.It might be some pain there or she just don t like being touched there ?
we are very stressed about everything that means out of her rutine and we really don t know what to do .Our vet isn t Cardiologist and the last one who putted the verdict of HCM was like a butcher (she came back very frightened). For the moment our last hope is a very good cardiologist but we need to wait our appointment like 2 weeks .
I must say that when she wqs fiagnosed with HCM the vet didn t gave us any medicine or changing the diet/routine etc .
My guess is she might be in pain because she was so active all the time , she never refused food. Now she is another cat .
If any of you have or had cats with HCM, how did u handle the situation? If i search on the internet the final verdict is : death sentence and is the last thing i want to hear after we put so much effort in treating her, give her the best food and treatment possible . We lost another cat from FIP after 1 month of intensive care and fights and we are devastated .
i looked around the internet and i saw that in USA was developed a cure for HCM (for humans) and they are on the final steps to do it for the cats . Does anyone know something about this ?
Any advice from you are very welcome .
Best regards,
Mia’s dad.

 

[Furballsmom]

Hello -

and struvites crystals.

meowing after touching her back legs.

Is the meowing just since you got back home? I don't know if her discomfort with her back legs and a possible issue of crystals could be related in any way, but did she drink much water while you were travelling? Did you take water from home or did she drink the water at the different location(s)?

There might be something here; Tips To Increase Your Cat’s Water Intake – TheCatSite Articles

And also here;
Any Good Tips To Get Your Cats To Eat? Share Them Here!

 

[Miathebsh]

Hello -


Is the meowing just since you got back home? I don't know if her discomfort with her back legs and a possible issue of crystals could be related in any way, but did she drink much water while you were travelling? Did you take water from home or did she drink the water at the different location(s)?

There might be something here; Tips To Increase Your Cat’s Water Intake – TheCatSite Articles

And also here;
Any Good Tips To Get Your Cats To Eat? Share Them Here!

The meowing isn t just from the trip. It is an old “habbit”.
i forgot to mention but she is drinking water (we bought her a fountain and she loves it ) she is drinking only bottled water , same company, same water like home . Everything the same .
i just saw now that i gave her some pate from my hand and she ate like half a portion .
i think we will wait unthis wednesday to see if this changes in any way and we will take her bavk to vet. I don t want to make her blood tests now because the cardiologist told us to make in the same day , can suffer modifications in time and is not good but if we don t find the cause probably we will run a full check (x-rays, blood test etc).
Every trip to vet is so stressful for her and i try to check as many things as i can in that day ..
thanks for your response i will look on the links .

 

[fionasmom]

My Jamie was diagnosed with HCM at 2 and is now 6. He also has kidney disease and we stumbled onto the HCM when his vet did an echocardiogram to see if that might have impacted the kidney issue (which it did not) and we found the HCM. As I understand your post, you are going to see a cardiologist which is exactly what you should be doing. Once I took Jamie to a specialist, I found that she disagreed with the medications that the regular vet had prescribed for Jamie. She was quite clear in her opinion that regular vets may not be entirely qualified to handle heart conditions.

If you have not had an echocardiogram, I urge you to have one done. The usual medications for this condition are a blood thinner and a blood pressure medication, although there are other options. Jamie's cardio disagreed with the use of the blood pressure meds in HCM cats, but that might just be her opinion.

Jamie never exhibited any symptoms, including loss of appetite. The only point I am going to add, and remember that I am not a vet nor a medical professional of any kind, is that the pain in the back legs could be significant....or not, so don't panic. If you see increased symptoms such as extreme pain, paralysis, dragging a leg, very cold or blue/gray leg, get to an ER as it could be a saddle thrombus. That is only a caution, not a diagnosis; there could be a very plausible explanation for the sensitivity in the leg.

Please keep us posted.

 

[Miathebsh]

My Jamie was diagnosed with HCM at 2 and is now 6. He also has kidney disease and we stumbled onto the HCM when his vet did an echocardiogram to see if that might have impacted the kidney issue (which it did not) and we found the HCM. As I understand your post, you are going to see a cardiologist which is exactly what you should be doing. Once I took Jamie to a specialist, I found that she disagreed with the medications that the regular vet had prescribed for Jamie. She was quite clear in her opinion that regular vets may not be entirely qualified to handle heart conditions.

If you have not had an echocardiogram, I urge you to have one done. The usual medications for this condition are a blood thinner and a blood pressure medication, although there are other options. Jamie's cardio disagreed with the use of the blood pressure meds in HCM cats, but that might just be her opinion.

Jamie never exhibited any symptoms, including loss of appetite. The only point I am going to add, and remember that I am not a vet nor a medical professional of any kind, is that the pain in the back legs could be significant....or not, so don't panic. If you see increased symptoms such as extreme pain, paralysis, dragging a leg, very cold or blue/gray leg, get to an ER as it could be a saddle thrombus. That is only a caution, not a diagnosis; there could be a very plausible explanation for the sensitivity in the leg.

Please keep us posted.

Thank you for your response . It might be just in my head with the meowing when i touch her . I check her 1 time/day to see if there are any pain . (Pressure the belly, the legs , the back). If u just touch her for 2-5 seconds on the legs, everything is fine, but if you do it longer she is meowing . She might not like it . No paralysis on legs, she is jumping , running from time to time, no change on the leg colours. I am very stressed in the last period so i may be overreact when i see changing in her routine .
Our vet said she is not competent heart problems and she suggested us to go for somebody that is, so we are waiting .
i am so glad to hear your Jamie is good . He s a figher 🥷.

 

[fionasmom]

The back leg may have nothing to do with the HCM. Your vet is to be given credit for admitting that this is not her specialty and referring you on.

 

[Miathebsh]

The back leg may have nothing to do with the HCM. Your vet is to be given credit for admitting that this is not her specialty and referring you on.

Yes, she is a very nice lady and she helped us very much . I am so sorry for her when we bring Mia to control because she is getting so many scrathes

 

[Miathebsh]

So after a quick call to the vet she told me that Mia maybe stopped eating as much as usual because the food - Urinary S/D from Hills . She said that she isnt that concerned about eating less. A problem would be if she didn t eat at all.
any one of you hadproblems with cats being picky at dry food ? She was on Acana grasslands and Schesir/Canagan wet food 1 time a day until 1.5 month ago and she loved it . Should we try buy her some Acana again to see if she s eating it fine ? Or another urinary tract food ? What food is similar to the Hills S/D ? I wouldn t go for royal or purina but if no other options we will try them too.
thank you!

 

[Furballsmom]

Hi
Try the acana, and see if you can obtain a product made by Purina called Hydra Care. Several members' cats including mine really like it

She said that she isnt that concerned about eating less.

Are you weighing her at home so that you can specifically see whether she starts losing weight or is stable in that regard?

There are adult cat body condition charts online that you may want to review.

 

[Miathebsh]

Hi
Try the acana, and see if you can obtain a product made by Purina called Hydra Care. Several members' cats including mine really like it


Are you weighing her at home so that you can specifically see whether she starts losing weight or is stable in that regard?

There are adult cat body condition charts online that you may want to review.

We are at the vet right now. Just did full blood works and we are waiting results . She just threw up just like human spit. The weight is ok. 4.60 kg. She taked like 100 grams in one week . . I will come back with full response .. god sake

 

[Furballsmom]

sending a group hug and lots of positive thoughts!

 

[Miathebsh]

The full blood works looks very good , the doc said some red cells are a little high and she might be dehydratated because of puking maybe and the trip might be a cause too. She got some antipuking shots and another things i don t know what.
it s a never ending trip ha

 

[Furballsmom]

Good news that her test results are good

 

[Miathebsh]

Thank you for your support . We changed her food with another brand and she is eating like a champ .
she was a little lethargik last night and her pupils was dilatated, maybe from the shots vet gave her ? I stayed until 2 in the morning with her trying to feed with my hands and finally, after hours of just licking she started to eat and didn t stop until she finished all the kibbles .
i attached a photo with her eyes last night maybe anyone have another idea or i don t really know .
until 9 september i stay on fire for the cardio full report too see if anything is wrong .

 

[Furballsmom]

I stayed until 2 in the morning with her trying to feed with my hands and finally, after hours of just licking she started to eat and didn t stop until she finished all the kibbles .

That's wonderful! You're fantastic to have done that

I don't know about her eyes being dilated like that, possibly the shots? How are her eyes and behavior today?

 

[Miathebsh]

That's wonderful! You're fantastic to have done that

I don't know about her eyes being dilated like that, possibly the shots? How are her eyes and behavior today?

She is fine today, eated , drinked A LOT of water and going to the litter box both ways . The vet told dilated pupils it s ok after everything that she endured.
We will see next week that cardiologist is telling us . There we will have more investigations done .

Thank you all !

 

[Furballsmom]

We're keeping you in our thoughts

 

[Miathebsh]

We're keeping you in our thoughts

Thank you very much for your support .

I attached the blood test maybe someone can give an oppinion about these values. My only concern is the RBC values and GGR <5 (i really don t know what it means this value. It indicates the liver function and i may be concerned about some corelation between the RBC and GGR with loss of apetite, vomiting .
I must say that i sent to our cardiologist the blood tests and she is ok with the values until 9th september when we are appointed . I did sent them to the head of vet university in Bucharest and i m waiting a response . More opinions i think it s good . I still stay a little concerned about her change of behavior . It seems Acana she eated good yesterday .
I don t know if i should go with more tests that would cost about 1500$ (cardio included) or i m just paranoic .
If anyone is in a good relationship with his vet and can get another opinion would be gladly appreciated.

Thanks !

 

[Furballsmom]

This TCS article doesn't refer to the GGt
Cat Blood Test Results Explained – TheCatSite Articles

and this one doesn't refer to the RBC;
What Blood Tests Can Tell You About Your Cat's Health

However neither piece of information is going to tell you anything more or new. I would wait until you hear more from Bucharest, and can talk about it at the next appointment on the 9th.

 

[Miathebsh]

This TCS article doesn't refer to the GGt
Cat Blood Test Results Explained – TheCatSite Articles

and this one doesn't refer to the RBC;
What Blood Tests Can Tell You About Your Cat's Health

However neither piece of information is going to tell you anything more or new. I would wait until you hear more from Bucharest, and can talk about it at the next appointment on the 9th.

Well, the professor answered and he said that it shouldn t be any pathological sign if other liver markers are in the parameters and no clinical sign of repetitive (puking, not drinking water, eat food etc) and the RBC markers are showing a little dehydratation . Well, everybody said the same thing and i may be overreacting .
thanks all for yoursupport . I ll come with more news after cardio .