My little girl Helen almost died yesterday!
Just as I was getting ready to leave the house, I heard the sound of a cat throwing up. I went to see what was happening, and found Helen, collapsed on the floor with a pool of vomit in front of her and a puddle of urine behind her. She was completely blue, ice cold, couldn't stand up, totally limp and panting. Just moments earlier she had been walking around normally. I threw a blanket around her and drove 100 miles an hour to the ER.
They put her in the oxygen cage immediately and took her temp (96 degrees). First order of business was to get her stabilized before they could even try to figure out what caused this. She was still completely blue half an hour later when I left her. But I saw her making biscuits in the oxygen cage, so I wasn't giving up on her.
Well, my little trooper pulled through!! When I picked her up this morning she was oh so happy to see me. I got some serious kisses and lovin'. (I was even happier to see her, though!!) The ER vet admitted to me this morning that she didn't think she was going to make it through the night.
The problem...we have no idea what caused her collapse. No clue. She had a clear echocardiogram 6 months ago. She had a full senior blood panel last month that was perfect. The only thing out of ordinary with her is that she's had a chronic cough that's been unresponsive to antibiotics. Her heart still looks great on her radiographs, but her lungs look "blotchy", my vet says it doesn't look like asthma, but it looks like bronchitis...? And it doesn't explain the collapse.
Now I'm thinking this may be heartworms. Before I rescued her last year, she was in a cage outside. In Florida. Lots of mosquitos here... and though we still don't see a lot of cases of heartworms in cats, she would be a strong candidate for it. I'm waiting for the results of her HW test now. Heartworms might explain the collapse, if an adult HW died, it could cause an embolism and cause her to collapse (often this causes sudden death!) but the strange thing is that Helen recovered so quickly from it, and they don't usually recover the way she did. The whole thing is so confusing, and without answers, I'm absolutely terrified that she's going to collapse again.
The ER vet also mentioned doing a tracheal wash to check for lungworms and doing a C & S, but I am far too fearful right now of anesthetizing a cat that just turned blue for reasons unknown!!
Please pray for a negative HW test. As you may know, heartworm infections in cats are not safely treatable. I'm prepared for just about anything else.
Helen needs all of your magical TCS vibes and prayers please!!!
Just as I was getting ready to leave the house, I heard the sound of a cat throwing up. I went to see what was happening, and found Helen, collapsed on the floor with a pool of vomit in front of her and a puddle of urine behind her. She was completely blue, ice cold, couldn't stand up, totally limp and panting. Just moments earlier she had been walking around normally. I threw a blanket around her and drove 100 miles an hour to the ER.
They put her in the oxygen cage immediately and took her temp (96 degrees). First order of business was to get her stabilized before they could even try to figure out what caused this. She was still completely blue half an hour later when I left her. But I saw her making biscuits in the oxygen cage, so I wasn't giving up on her.
Well, my little trooper pulled through!! When I picked her up this morning she was oh so happy to see me. I got some serious kisses and lovin'. (I was even happier to see her, though!!) The ER vet admitted to me this morning that she didn't think she was going to make it through the night.
The problem...we have no idea what caused her collapse. No clue. She had a clear echocardiogram 6 months ago. She had a full senior blood panel last month that was perfect. The only thing out of ordinary with her is that she's had a chronic cough that's been unresponsive to antibiotics. Her heart still looks great on her radiographs, but her lungs look "blotchy", my vet says it doesn't look like asthma, but it looks like bronchitis...? And it doesn't explain the collapse.
Now I'm thinking this may be heartworms. Before I rescued her last year, she was in a cage outside. In Florida. Lots of mosquitos here... and though we still don't see a lot of cases of heartworms in cats, she would be a strong candidate for it. I'm waiting for the results of her HW test now. Heartworms might explain the collapse, if an adult HW died, it could cause an embolism and cause her to collapse (often this causes sudden death!) but the strange thing is that Helen recovered so quickly from it, and they don't usually recover the way she did. The whole thing is so confusing, and without answers, I'm absolutely terrified that she's going to collapse again.
The ER vet also mentioned doing a tracheal wash to check for lungworms and doing a C & S, but I am far too fearful right now of anesthetizing a cat that just turned blue for reasons unknown!!
Please pray for a negative HW test. As you may know, heartworm infections in cats are not safely treatable. I'm prepared for just about anything else.
Helen needs all of your magical TCS vibes and prayers please!!!