Lost Little Red to saddle thrombus and heart failure - now what?

[mxw1214]

I'm sad to report that this morning I found 2.5 year old Little Red in my yard with a saddle thrombus. I thought he had been hit by a car since he couldn't move his back legs but the ER identified it right away since his feet were cold. We did an X-ray to confirm he was already in heart failure, and decided to put him to sleep. It was a tough decision and even though I read a lot of successful recovery stories on here while I was in the waiting room, I believe it was the right decision given his state of heart failure and probability of another thrombus, which seems incredibly and terrifyingly painful.

Little Red was born near my yard to a feral mom. He was one of 4 - after TNR on all 5 of them, two of the litter live with me inside and he and one sister stayed out with the mom. The three of them were always traveling around together and visit every day to eat and use my shelters to stay warm at night in winters. The other two were with him when the thrombus happened (as seen on my patio camera footage) and tried to comfort him as he cried out. They left for a bit and he tried to get into my Kitty Tube, but couldn't get his back legs in and then the plastic cat-sized entry door got stuck on his torso when he backed out of the shelter. He cried out again and the other two sprinted back to his side from the woods, and tried to help him but didn't take long for them to head back off to the woods. It was heartwarming and heartbreaking at the same time to see them care for him in the footage.

He eventually got the plastic door off by dragging himself around, and about an hour later (3 hours after the thrombus), I went out to feed them which is when I heard him crying and then it was another hour before we made it to the ER and they gave him pain medication. I feel terrible that I didn't go out sooner, but I didn't check the camera first thing like I sometimes do and had no idea he was hurting. At the same time I am grateful he was so close to home and that I wasn't away at work and was able to help him as soon as I did. And in his life he knew he had a home and was loved.

Anyway, I have a couple doubts about what's best at this point. The two cats outside seem to be waiting for him here and lingering longer than normal. They must be worried about him given they saw him in so much pain. At the ER I opted for cremation, but is it better to bring his body back here and let them see him so they know he passed? I think I could call the vet in the morning to change it if that's better. But even if I bring him back, will he smell too much like the hospital for them to know him? Will he smell like me and they might think I am dangerous? I hate robbing them of closure if they need it.

I also don't know if I need to worry about his littermates' health and possible heart conditions? The ER vet didn't seem to concerned.

Thank you for making it to the end of this post!

 

[Meowmee]

I am very sorry for your loss of Little Red I also lost my beloved Sybil of 17 1/2 years to a saddle thrombus. I know how traumatic it all is.

She had had severe end-stage HCM and I was caring for her at home. Even though she was on preventative medication at that time they could not put cats on real anticoagulants at that time in 2018, although now they are available, and she had the thrombus.

She became paralyzed and at the emergency Dvm they said they didn’t think she was going to survive long so we let her go.

I guess one good thing was that she really did not seem to be in severe pain like most people say happens. She was in some pain but if she was in severe pain she certainly didn’t show it. I think she was more distressed but she didn’t know why she couldn’t jump and run around the way she had her whole life. She was the most athletic cat I have ever seen- she could fly around like no other cat. I miss her terribly.

I’m not sure what the best thing to do is in terms of ashes or showing the other cats his body. I usually bring my cats home and I let the other cats see them with wake, and then they are cremated or buried. It seems to give them some closure.

It would be very hard to get feral kittens in to be screened for HCM and almost impossible to give them medication. Unless they are coming inside and will be tamed. Hcm is believed to be hereditary. I think the most you could do is probably just try to keep an eye on them and hope for the best. I think it would be unlikely that they would all have inherited it, I don’t remember what the statistics are now.

For your kittens who came inside they can be screened with an echocardiogram. If the disease is not evident yet it probably wouldn’t show up right away though.

I have heard of people having their cats diagnosed early with some mild symptoms and then having an echo which showed hcm. Which is the best situation.

For my two cats who had HCM they went into congestive heart failure before the diagnosis was made and that was how the diagnosis was made. Although one of my cats did have symptoms of rapid breathing on and off which the DVM ignored.

Run free sweet Little Red and watch over your person and family

 

[mxw1214]

I am very sorry for your loss of Red. I also lost my beloved Sybil of 17 1/2 years to a saddle thrombus.

She had had severe end-stage HCM and I was caring for her at home. Even though she was on preventative medication at that time they could not put cats on real anticoagulants at that time in 2018, although now they are available, and she had the thrombus.

She became paralyzed and at the emergency Dvm they said they didn’t think she was going to survive long so we let her go.

I guess one good thing was that she really did not seem to be in severe pain like most people say happens. She was in some pain but if she was in severe pain she certainly didn’t show it. I think she was more distressed but she didn’t know why she couldn’t jump and run around the way she had her whole life. She was the most athletic cat I have ever seen- she could fly around like no other cat. I miss her terribly.

I’m not sure what the best thing to do is in terms of ashes or showing the other cats his body. I usually bring my cats home and I let the other cats see them with wake, and then they are cremated or buried. It seems to give them some closure.

It would be very hard to get feral kittens in to be screened for HCM and almost impossible to give them medication. Unless they are coming inside and will be tamed. Hcm is believed to be hereditary. I think the most you could do is probably just try to keep an eye on them and hope for the best. I think it would be unlikely that they would all have inherited it, I don’t remember what the statistics are now.

Run free sweet Red and watch over your person and family

Thank you for sharing about Sybil! I appreciate hearing your experience and I am sorry for your loss as well.

I think I will call the ER tomorrow morning and see if it is not too late to bring his body home. It didn't even occur to me that is something I should do before I saw them looking around for him.

 

[mxw1214]

UPDATE - I called this morning and Little Red has already been cremated. I hope his family is able to move on soon. His mom definitely seems like she is looking for him by coming to my patio frequently to look around and then going back out to look some more, like she's rechecking all his usual spots. I feel really awful, like I keep making bad decisions for these cats.

 

[Furballsmom]

RIP sweetheart

Do you have anything, even the carrier you took him in, a blanket you wrapped him in, whatever you used in the process of getting him to the vet, and take that out to the yard and leave it for a bit. I realize it sounds like a reach, but that might be enough for them to figure things out.