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- Nov 27, 2017
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Hello all!
I'm new to this site-- after perusing quite a few posts I saw about cat health, I decided to create a profile and start a thread with the hope that I may find some help, for both my cat and myself.
I adopted Charlotte over a year ago from ASPCA; she's a maine coon mix and she's the love of my life. She's three years old, and when I adopted her, they had tested for feline leukemia and she tested negative.
She's usually a very perky, vocal, energetic, snuggly kitty. Everything started to go downhill last week-- I had noticed she was acting pretty lethargic and maybe losing a bit of weight. I had to head home for thanksgiving, so I entrusted her care to a close friend of mine, who is very good with animals. I asked her to keep a lookout for Charlotte, seeing as she had been acting a little funny. My friend messaged me Friday evening to let me know Charlotte was even more lethargic-- not playing with her favorite toys, no meows, no greetings at the door. She also noticed that Charlotte's breathing was a little labored and that she wasn't eating, so we both agreed that the best option was to take her to an after hours vet.
There, the vet noticed that Charlotte was in respiratory distress and put her on oxygen. They diagnosed her with congestive heart failure, and stabilized her overnight. I brought Charlotte home Saturday afternoon with orders to put Charlotte on Lasix, 12.5 mg twice a day to help drain the fluid from her lungs. Mind you, Charlotte hadn't eaten since Friday morning either...come Sunday, she still hadn't eaten (though she had been drinking a lot because of the Lasix) and was still extremely lethargic, so I decided to take her back to the vet.
There, the vet decided to re-do the x-rays, which showed that Charlotte's lungs hadn't really lost any of the infiltrates, though her breathing was much better than it was on Friday. So we decided to do some blood work, which ended up showing that Charlotte had a white blood cell count of 64,000-- a cause for concern, the vet decided to do a feline leukemia test, for which Charlotte tested positive.
At this point, the vet basically tells me that there are roads to pursue, but that they'd be very expensive and probably wouldn't provide a good quality of life. The vet wasn't super clear about this...so I decided to call another vet, who had worked with Charlotte on Friday, to get her opinion-- she said the same thing: that Charlotte's prognosis was really poor, and that her quality of life wasn't likely to be great. I was devastated-- my cat is only THREE years old. I didn't understand how euthanasia could be the only reasonable outcome after all of this. It took just a few days for my sweet kitty to fall so ill.
I decided to take Charlotte home, and per the vet's suggestion, I took her off of the Lasix and put her onto an appetite stimulant (mirtazapine 15mg every 48 hours). I called a few cat friends and people who had worked in a cat rescue shelter with me years ago-- we all agreed that I should take Charlotte to another vet to get a second opinion. Ended up getting a referral from the first vet to the clinic at the University of Minnesota. We went today and got another exam, and the vet consulted a cardiologist and they agreed to do an echo-cardiogram. Turns out, it was NOT Charlotte's heart-- there's nothing wrong with her heart right now, and the respiratory distress on Friday was NOT from congestive heart failure. So...here comes the tough part. The vet seems to think that Charlotte is suffering from mediastinal lymphoma. We have another appointment on Wednesday with the medicinal unit to go over her bloodwork and do a few more exams to try and get a firm diagnosis, then to talk about treatment plans. This vet sent me home with an antibiotic (just in case she has an infection and that's what is causing the infiltrates), as well as maropitant 16mg to try and help the appetite.
Where we are now: Charlotte is still not very interested in eating, even with all the appetite supplements. The vet mentioned that the antibiotic could worsen her appetite even more, and if that happens to take her off the antibiotic...but I've only given her one dose. Should I go forward with the other three doses? Or take her off of it? I'm worried about her not eating...but also worried that if she has an infection, taking her off the antibiotic could worsen her health. Anyone have any advice on appetites for super sick kitties?
Also-- has anyone had a super young kitty who suffered from lymphoma? If so, what are some ways you coped? And any estimates on what her treatment would be like?
Sorry for the novel, I'm just so desperate and heartbroken. Charlotte is my world-- I call her "mon petite oiseau" or "my little bird" because she chirps like a bird whenever you'd speak to her. Or, she used to...she doesn't do much talking anymore.
If anyone has words of wisdom, please share. They'd be most welcome!
I'm new to this site-- after perusing quite a few posts I saw about cat health, I decided to create a profile and start a thread with the hope that I may find some help, for both my cat and myself.
I adopted Charlotte over a year ago from ASPCA; she's a maine coon mix and she's the love of my life. She's three years old, and when I adopted her, they had tested for feline leukemia and she tested negative.
She's usually a very perky, vocal, energetic, snuggly kitty. Everything started to go downhill last week-- I had noticed she was acting pretty lethargic and maybe losing a bit of weight. I had to head home for thanksgiving, so I entrusted her care to a close friend of mine, who is very good with animals. I asked her to keep a lookout for Charlotte, seeing as she had been acting a little funny. My friend messaged me Friday evening to let me know Charlotte was even more lethargic-- not playing with her favorite toys, no meows, no greetings at the door. She also noticed that Charlotte's breathing was a little labored and that she wasn't eating, so we both agreed that the best option was to take her to an after hours vet.
There, the vet noticed that Charlotte was in respiratory distress and put her on oxygen. They diagnosed her with congestive heart failure, and stabilized her overnight. I brought Charlotte home Saturday afternoon with orders to put Charlotte on Lasix, 12.5 mg twice a day to help drain the fluid from her lungs. Mind you, Charlotte hadn't eaten since Friday morning either...come Sunday, she still hadn't eaten (though she had been drinking a lot because of the Lasix) and was still extremely lethargic, so I decided to take her back to the vet.
There, the vet decided to re-do the x-rays, which showed that Charlotte's lungs hadn't really lost any of the infiltrates, though her breathing was much better than it was on Friday. So we decided to do some blood work, which ended up showing that Charlotte had a white blood cell count of 64,000-- a cause for concern, the vet decided to do a feline leukemia test, for which Charlotte tested positive.
At this point, the vet basically tells me that there are roads to pursue, but that they'd be very expensive and probably wouldn't provide a good quality of life. The vet wasn't super clear about this...so I decided to call another vet, who had worked with Charlotte on Friday, to get her opinion-- she said the same thing: that Charlotte's prognosis was really poor, and that her quality of life wasn't likely to be great. I was devastated-- my cat is only THREE years old. I didn't understand how euthanasia could be the only reasonable outcome after all of this. It took just a few days for my sweet kitty to fall so ill.
I decided to take Charlotte home, and per the vet's suggestion, I took her off of the Lasix and put her onto an appetite stimulant (mirtazapine 15mg every 48 hours). I called a few cat friends and people who had worked in a cat rescue shelter with me years ago-- we all agreed that I should take Charlotte to another vet to get a second opinion. Ended up getting a referral from the first vet to the clinic at the University of Minnesota. We went today and got another exam, and the vet consulted a cardiologist and they agreed to do an echo-cardiogram. Turns out, it was NOT Charlotte's heart-- there's nothing wrong with her heart right now, and the respiratory distress on Friday was NOT from congestive heart failure. So...here comes the tough part. The vet seems to think that Charlotte is suffering from mediastinal lymphoma. We have another appointment on Wednesday with the medicinal unit to go over her bloodwork and do a few more exams to try and get a firm diagnosis, then to talk about treatment plans. This vet sent me home with an antibiotic (just in case she has an infection and that's what is causing the infiltrates), as well as maropitant 16mg to try and help the appetite.
Where we are now: Charlotte is still not very interested in eating, even with all the appetite supplements. The vet mentioned that the antibiotic could worsen her appetite even more, and if that happens to take her off the antibiotic...but I've only given her one dose. Should I go forward with the other three doses? Or take her off of it? I'm worried about her not eating...but also worried that if she has an infection, taking her off the antibiotic could worsen her health. Anyone have any advice on appetites for super sick kitties?
Also-- has anyone had a super young kitty who suffered from lymphoma? If so, what are some ways you coped? And any estimates on what her treatment would be like?
Sorry for the novel, I'm just so desperate and heartbroken. Charlotte is my world-- I call her "mon petite oiseau" or "my little bird" because she chirps like a bird whenever you'd speak to her. Or, she used to...she doesn't do much talking anymore.
If anyone has words of wisdom, please share. They'd be most welcome!