Possible Saddle Thrombus death?

[mw086]

Hi everyone

I lost my cat Maggie last Saturday morning. She greeted my husband as normal when he got up at 9.30am, followed him into the kitchen demanding her breakfast (as usual!) and then on her way back to the sitting room to her bed, she let out a strange low long meow that I have never heard before. I came down to see and she had run from the sitting room to the front hall and just lay there for a minute, then ran into the next room (my office) where she used to be everyday while I was at work - so really it was her room. She ran but she was on her back toes, so it was like her hips and ability to move the legs was there, but her toes bent back - strange looking. She then lay on the floor obviously distressed and open mouth breathing. I felt her back paws and they were cold, I gave them a gentle squeeze and she didn't react so I presume she couldn't feel that. The rest of her was normal temperature.

We made an appointment with the vet but decided to just bring her straight away in the hope he would fit her in before her appointment but she passed after about 20 minutes and before we got to do anything.

She had recovered from pneumonia a couple of months ago and was doing well. She was 14 and a half. She had had a few instances over the past few months where she was breathing fast, but otherwise fine, lying normally, no distress. The vet said her heart was a bit fast but otherwise she was fine. In fairness, she never liked going to the vet and would always breathe fast when she was there. When she recovered from pneumonia, I brought her back to the vet to have her heart and lungs listened to, to make sure her lungs were back to normal and they were.

It happened so fast. I am thinking from what I have read that it may have been saddle thrombus, would anyone have any ideas? We probably will never know fully without an autopsy but we didn't want to do that to her.

She was in good health and happy all her life really, so out of the blue. I miss her so much, the house is so quiet without her snores, meows and purrs

Thank you in advance.

 

[mrsgreenjeens]

First off, I'm so sorry for your loss .

I've never witnessed a cat in the throes of a saddle thrombosis, but have heard that it causes severe pain and paralysis in the hind legs, so it's possible what you saw was the beginnings of the paralysis, particularly if her feet were cold when you felt them. Did you ask your Vet if they think it could have been that?

Again, you have my sympathies.

 

[mw086]

First off, I'm so sorry for your loss .

I've never witnessed a cat in the throes of a saddle thrombosis, but have heard that it causes severe pain and paralysis in the hind legs, so it's possible what you saw was the beginnings of the paralysis, particularly if her feet were cold when you felt them. Did you ask your Vet if they think it could have been that?

Again, you have my sympathies.

Thank you!
I haven't spoken to the vet yet, i don't want to fall apart in his office, the poor man deals with enough! I will go see him next week. I just wondered if anyone on this site had experienced such a thing.

 

[FeebysOwner]

I, too, am so sorry this happened to Maggie. RIP little angel girl. I don't know whether you are up to reading other threads on this site related to saddle thrombus, but if you are, here is a link to them (if you haven't already done so yourself).
Search Results for Query: saddle thrombus | TheCatSite

 

[silent meowlook]

Hi. I am sorry for your loss.
I have worked at emergency vet hospitals and specialists. I have seen many cases of saddle thrombosis and what you are describing sounds just like it. The real tell is the cold back feet. I am sure if you had tried to feel a pulse, you wouldn’t have.
I have only seen one cat survive more than a week. He survived a year, but shouldn’t have. He spent a couple of weeks in an oxygen tank and came back in often.He was a rare case with an owner that was more interested in keeping him alive than his quality of life. It was very sad.

Most cats die, often before they get to the vet. If they do make it to the vet the usual treatment is oxygen until the owners sign paperwork for euthanasia. Also pain meds.

It is usually caused by hypertrophic cardiomyopathy and usually isn’t ever diagnosed before hand. There are usually no symptoms or murmer.

it’s a terrible disease. But please know there was nothing you could have done to prevent it from happening.

 

[fionasmom]

I lost my cat Eliot in a very similar way to that which you describe as Maggie's passing. He was about 5 and I was much less knowledgeable about cat heart conditions. When I took him to the vet on a couple of occasions, the vet tech pointed out to the vet that he had a murmur, but the vet always suggested that it was not of any consequence. I trusted that and a few months later he passed away at home before I had any chance to even call the vet. After the fact, the vet agreed that he had a saddle thrombus.

I am very sorry for your loss of Maggie; there is no way that you would have suspected this on your own.

 

[mw086]

Hi. I am sorry for your loss.
I have worked at emergency vet hospitals and specialists. I have seen many cases of saddle thrombosis and what you are describing sounds just like it. The real tell is the cold back feet. I am sure if you had tried to feel a pulse, you wouldn’t have.
I have only seen one cat survive more than a week. He survived a year, but shouldn’t have. He spent a couple of weeks in an oxygen tank and came back in often.He was a rare case with an owner that was more interested in keeping him alive than his quality of life. It was very sad.

Most cats die, often before they get to the vet. If they do make it to the vet the usual treatment is oxygen until the owners sign paperwork for euthanasia. Also pain meds.

It is usually caused by hypertrophic cardiomyopathy and usually isn’t ever diagnosed before hand. There are usually no symptoms or murmer.

it’s a terrible disease. But please know there was nothing you could have done to prevent it from happening.

Thank you for your reply, it is very informative and makes me feel better and a little bit of closure. I knew when i looked at her she wasn't going to make it and that for her, that would be kinder. I'm just glad it was quick because she didn't deserve to suffer poor thing it did not look nice

 

[EnelradSedir70]

Hi. I am sorry for your loss.
I have worked at emergency vet hospitals and specialists. I have seen many cases of saddle thrombosis and what you are describing sounds just like it. The real tell is the cold back feet. I am sure if you had tried to feel a pulse, you wouldn’t have.
I have only seen one cat survive more than a week. He survived a year, but shouldn’t have. He spent a couple of weeks in an oxygen tank and came back in often.He was a rare case with an owner that was more interested in keeping him alive than his quality of life. It was very sad.

Most cats die, often before they get to the vet. If they do make it to the vet the usual treatment is oxygen until the owners sign paperwork for euthanasia. Also pain meds.

It is usually caused by hypertrophic cardiomyopathy and usually isn’t ever diagnosed before hand. There are usually no symptoms or murmer.

it’s a terrible disease. But please know there was nothing you could have done to prevent it from happening.

Hi and thank you for sharing your experience. It helps those of us who made the difficult decision to let a cat go with this condition, feel less guilt. I’m amazed there isn’t more that can be in the 20 years now since I lost a cat the first time to ST. A new treatment using Rapamyvin shows promise, but it’s too late when they are in heart failure. Still a relatively new treatment protocol and not enough cardiologists are using it or convinced to try. My girl just passed today 1/7. The third cat with HCM I have had. It’s just flat out sucks.
RIP Gigi 4/2014-1/2024.

 

[silent meowlook]

Hi and thank you for sharing your experience. It helps those of us who made the difficult decision to let a cat go with this condition, feel less guilt. I’m amazed there isn’t more that can be in the 20 years now since I lost a cat the first time to ST. A new treatment using Rapamyvin shows promise, but it’s too late when they are in heart failure. Still a relatively new treatment protocol and not enough cardiologists are using it or convinced to try. My girl just passed today 1/7. The third cat with HCM I have had. It’s just flat out sucks.
RIP Gigi 4/2014-1/2024.

I am so sorry you lost your cat to this horrible disease. When I was working at ER, there was a tech who had a cat there who suffered from saddle thrombosis. One of the vets was saying that times have changed and we can treat. All I saw was a cat suffering horribly for 3 nights before she died.
I wish there was more that could be done.

 

[EnelradSedir70]

I am so sorry you lost your cat to this horrible disease. When I was working at ER, there was a tech who had a cat there who suffered from saddle thrombosis. One of the vets was saying that times have changed and we can treat. All I saw was a cat suffering horribly for 3 nights before she died.
I wish there was more that could be done.

Not that I like to hear about any others suffering from this awful diagnosis, it does help my broken heart to think that I may have just subjected her to more suffering. I usually am one who is will to try almost anything, but in this case and another one of my cats, Muni, who had oral cancer around her upper canine where removal was near impossible, I just couldn’t let her go beyond three months when it was apparent it was speeding. The poor girl also had epilepsy! Awful what these poor babes can endure.
Thank you, again.

 

[IndyJones]

Thank you for describing your experience. It will probably help me know when Kabuto will pass away he was diagnosed with early chf almost 7 months ago. My vet said "it could happen any time he could have another good year or two or could throw a clot tomorrow." Her exact words. Very guarded about it.

He seems happy enough now though with his meds twice a day. Ive decided i think ill let him pass at home by God's hand unless he is in obvious distress.

 

[enelradsedir]

Thank you for describing your experience. It will probably help me know when Kabuto will pass away he was diagnosed with early chf almost 7 months ago. My vet said "it could happen any time he could have another good year or two or could throw a clot tomorrow." Her exact words. Very guarded about it.

He seems happy enough now though with his meds twice a day. Ive decided i think ill let him pass at home by God's hand unless he is in obvious distress.

Hello there,

You're welcome. How old is Kabuto? Gigi was nearly 10, and diagnosed with HCM, about 1.5 years ago. I was overdue for a f/u echo for her in Dec, couldn't get int til Feb 12 next month. Usually, I'm on top of it going earlier than recommended, like every 4 months. She seemed to be doing well, so I pushed it. But now that I look back, there were small things that I think was indicating something may have been changing in her, sort of hiding, staying in the back of the house at times, but it wasn't really obvious. Sleeping under blankets on my couch. I do wonder if she was trying to tell me something.

I know we all probably do this, and I am sure I did it with every pet that has passed. But, I feel like my family gets really tired of hearing me talk about it. That's really painful. They didn't live with her every day, so it's just not as close to them. They can sympathize but it seems like they have moved on, after a day.

I do hope when it's time for Kabuto to pass that it is not distressing, because so many people report extremely distressing events when a cat has thrown a clot. Gigi, hadn't gotten to the point of wailing, but she did meow several times on the car ride over to the ER.

I wish you luck,

Gigi's Mom

 

[IndyJones]

Kabuto is 16 almost 17

 

[EnelradSedir70]

I am so sorry you lost your cat to this horrible disease. When I was working at ER, there was a tech who had a cat there who suffered from saddle thrombosis. One of the vets was saying that times have changed and we can treat. All I saw was a cat suffering horribly for 3 nights before she died.
I wish there was more that could be done.

Hello,

Thank you for the reply. Hearing this type of information is really eye-opening. I have to imagine once they start forming clots, they are well into their disease progression. My girl was already on Plavix at home, since August I think. I had to drop down the dose to .4 once a day because she would vomit up the .5 ml (I was giving to her compounded with beef/marshmallow flavor in a string with fussy cat puree and heart and kidney glandular, plus her other vitamins E and Magnesium which she was deficient in). So, clearly it wasn't working for her. Or, may be it did for awhile, can never know.

I just posted elsewhere that the ER report was finally sent to me and they noted they she had partial thrombosis. Which we were not told. I have read the recovery may be more successful with partial? I'm sure i"m missing the bigger picture, that her end was coming, whether yesterday, or some day here going forward, sooner, rather than later.

 

[EnelradSedir70]

Hi and thank you for sharing your experience. It helps those of us who made the difficult decision to let a cat go with this condition, feel less guilt. I’m amazed there isn’t more that can be in the 20 years now since I lost a cat the first time to ST. A new treatment using Rapamyvin shows promise, but it’s too late when they are in heart failure. Still a relatively new treatment protocol and not enough cardiologists are using it or convinced to try. My girl just passed today 1/7. The third cat with HCM I have had. It’s just flat out sucks.
RIP Gigi 4/2014-1/2024.

My vet cardiologist just said that Rapacymcin is being evaluated by the FDA. Here is the abstract on it: Delayed-release rapamycin halts progression of left ventricular hypertrophy in subclinical feline hypertrophic cardiomyopathy: results of the RAPACAT trial - PubMed.