My Cat Has Been Diagnosed With Saddle Thrombus. Looking For Advice.

[mxnt]

Hello, sorry if I'm posting in the wrong forum or anything. I'm new here and I just made this like a minute ago, after coming back from the vet. About a few hours ago, my precious baby, Bluebell, suddenly screamed. I ran to find him unable to move his back legs. My family rushed to the vet and we found out that he has saddle thrombus. He can't move both of his back legs, but his legs are still warm, not cold (the vet said it's a good sign).

The vet gave him some painkillers and medicine (I don't remember the name, but it helps with the blood clot stuff). We scheduled an appointment with another hospital for tomorrow. The vet told us to bring him back home for now and wait for tomorrow's appointment.

So I've been trying to research on the Internet about saddle thrombus and I have a lot of questions.

- The Internet says cats with saddle thrombus should be in strict cage rest immediately. Is that true? Why did the vet just let me bring him back home? He didn't mention about him having to stay in cages, or stay at hospitals at all. (For tonight, I plan to limit his movement and bring all his food, water, and other necessary things into my bedroom and let him stay in the room only until the next appointment since we don't have a cage. My bedroom is pretty small. Is that good enough?)
- I also asked the vet how I can take care of him, and the vet told us to just look after him more and check if his legs are still warm or not. Is that it? Is there anything else I should do?
- Obviously, my cat won't be able to use a litter box. Will he pee and poop all over the place? Is there anything I can do to help him?
- I've also read that many owners have to euthanize their cats, and I really don't want that. Is there a chance that he may recover? Or is euthanization probably the best thing for cats with saddle thrombus since (according to the Internet) it is super stressful and it hurts a lot? But I really wish he would recover.
- Any other advice would be appreciated. Please. Thank you.

I'm sorry if the questions are stupid or anything... I don't have much knowledge about saddle thrombus and I'm very shaken up by the whole thing. Bluebell has always been healthy and he rarely gets sick at all. I'm very shocked, and it pains me greatly to watch him being unable to walk properly. I'm so so sorry for him that he has to go through this.

 

[Kelise]

My 12 year old dog had this, except his back legs were cold, not warm.

The way I understood it, the condition is very painful and is usually indicative of an underlying problem (heart disease, hormonal issue, cancer, etc) that affect the clotting of the blood. I opted to have my dog euthanized because of how painful it was, and because it was pretty clear there was something else going on. He was pretty old (he was a CKC spaniel, so 12 is pretty old for that breed) and I didn't feel right putting him through all of that pain and diagnostics and trying treatments. He had other problems (severe arthritis, hip dysplasia, definite cognitive decline with old age, hypothyroidism), so with the thrombus on top of all of those, I felt it was the right choice to make.

I'm not saying this is the right road to take with your cat. I think that probably depends on his individual prognosis. My pup was old and had many other problems, so his prognosis was not good. Did the vet not tell you what his prognosis was, or suggest other tests? Asking a forum if he will recover probably won't get you reliable answers. Maybe a second opinion is in order? It seems like it might be a good idea to do more diagnostics to check for risk factors that result in this happening.

 

[cat princesses]

Do you have an animal chiropractor or acupuncture place they might be able to help. I’m not sure on using the potty I had a cat that was 23 and near the end she was able to poop on her own but I had to use a boot tray with some litter in it and manually express her bladder multiple times a day my vet showed me how.

 

[lavishsqualor]

Several months ago when I was at my veterinarian's clinic a cat was being euthanized for this condition. I go to a cat only vet and trust her implicitly. She is not the type to jump to euthanasia as long as the cat is not in pain and its quality of life is decent. However, she claimed that this condition is extremely painful and always indicative of serious cardiac disease, and that euthanasia is almost always the kindest option. Even so, you will want do do your own research and seek guidance from your own vets. I'm so very sorry this has befallen you and your Bluebell.

 

[MonkeyGingy2]

Just my opinion but I would just wait until you get better information tomorrow. You will read a thousand different opinions about this and most of it will not be good. As far as the litter pan situation, have the pan so that he can keep familiar things around him but just get some unscented puppy or nursing home pee pads to put under him. Continue the meds, especially the pain meds. Get some sleep and spend time with him. You will need your strength tomorrow to make good decisions. Bless your heart and sending my best for good and informative news tomorrow.

 

[1 bruce 1]

Hello, sorry if I'm posting in the wrong forum or anything. I'm new here and I just made this like a minute ago, after coming back from the vet. About a few hours ago, my precious baby, Bluebell, suddenly screamed. I ran to find him unable to move his back legs. My family rushed to the vet and we found out that he has saddle thrombus. He can't move both of his back legs, but his legs are still warm, not cold (the vet said it's a good sign).

The vet gave him some painkillers and medicine (I don't remember the name, but it helps with the blood clot stuff). We scheduled an appointment with another hospital for tomorrow. The vet told us to bring him back home for now and wait for tomorrow's appointment.

So I've been trying to research on the Internet about saddle thrombus and I have a lot of questions.

- The Internet says cats with saddle thrombus should be in strict cage rest immediately. Is that true? Why did the vet just let me bring him back home? He didn't mention about him having to stay in cages, or stay at hospitals at all. (For tonight, I plan to limit his movement and bring all his food, water, and other necessary things into my bedroom and let him stay in the room only until the next appointment since we don't have a cage. My bedroom is pretty small. Is that good enough?)
- I also asked the vet how I can take care of him, and the vet told us to just look after him more and check if his legs are still warm or not. Is that it? Is there anything else I should do?
- Obviously, my cat won't be able to use a litter box. Will he pee and poop all over the place? Is there anything I can do to help him?
- I've also read that many owners have to euthanize their cats, and I really don't want that. Is there a chance that he may recover? Or is euthanization probably the best thing for cats with saddle thrombus since (according to the Internet) it is super stressful and it hurts a lot? But I really wish he would recover.
- Any other advice would be appreciated. Please. Thank you.

I'm sorry if the questions are stupid or anything... I don't have much knowledge about saddle thrombus and I'm very shaken up by the whole thing. Bluebell has always been healthy and he rarely gets sick at all. I'm very shocked, and it pains me greatly to watch him being unable to walk properly. I'm so so sorry for him that he has to go through this.

Oh no!! I'm so sorry!
Your questions aren't stupid. Folks here are really nice and will hopefully be able to help you.
I don't know anything about this condition. I am really sorry I can't offer any advice.
I've had good experiences with acupuncture for all kinds of "weird" conditions. It might be worth calling around to see if there's a veterinarian that practices acupuncture in your general area and ask if they think they can help (we have an acupuncturist for pets about 40 minutes away and I feel extremely lucky that they're so close...you might have to travel but it might be something worth checking into.)
Again, so sorry you had such a scare and that things are looking frightening due to the diagnosis being something you're unfamiliar with.
Please keep us updated if you can.

 

[1 bruce 1]

Just my opinion but I would just wait until you get better information tomorrow. You will read a thousand different opinions about this and most of it will not be good. As far as the litter pan situation, have the pan so that he can keep familiar things around him but just get some unscented puppy or nursing home pee pads to put under him. Continue the meds, especially the pain meds. Get some sleep and spend time with him. You will need your strength tomorrow to make good decisions. Bless your heart and sending my best for good and informative news tomorrow.

Yes! Our neighbors had a cat get ganged up on and attacked in a litter box and she took to not using the box at all, but she self trained on pee pads made for puppies. It's not ideal, but it's amazing that they can learn these things and find a workable solution for something they and we (the owners) consider a problem.
I'm told that if the pads are unavailable or are dirtied she'll come to them and meow/cry, and once a clean pad is placed she uses it automatically.

 

[MonkeyGingy2]

How are you doing?

 

[Nanda Kruger]

My 8 year old Tigger has saddle thrombus... hind lengs and tail...
Feet are cool but not ice cold from his knees up they are the same temp as the rest of his body...

Has anyone ever tried leech therapy for saddle thrombus? I have read a lot about leeches and their medical properties. Just wondering if anyone has tried it before and what the results were?

 

[trom77]

I just had to put my boy to sleep last week due to this condition. It was completely unexpected. In my case, even though I had gotten him to the animal hospital within 30 minutes of the first signs, the vet said that his odds of survival were very slim - that if he survived surgery, there was no guarantee that he'd regain use of his hind legs and there was a very high probability of it happening again very soon. I'm still completely devastated over it. My story about it is here.

I'm not saying that your cat's circumstances are the same (my cats legs were cold), I just wanted to make sure you knew that this is a very serious condition. Please be mindful of any changes in his behavior and make sure you enjoy every minute you have with him.