Need Urgent Advice!

[krokodzilla]

Hi,

Today at midnight I went with ny cat to the emergency vetinarian because my cat heads got all swollen. Moisture was leaking out of her eye and mounth and she seemed very weak and disoriented. She has a history of bad kidney and an heart attack a year ago. But after that it seemed to go very well. Two days ago she seemed to make some strange noices and today it's very bad. The vetinarian checked her and she had some very bad teeth in the back, the root canals were all exposed. However the vetinarian didn't gave a clear cause of her swelling or anything. She told me that the chances of her living are small and that we had to wait and need to call her back in the morning to say how it's going. My cat also had a heart beat of 220 apperently. Can the bad teeth cause this swelling and here situation. She was shaking very bad. Now she just stand at one place for hours. Just standing, not even lying. I put some milk and water and it seems she tries to drink it sometimes but fails too. I suspect it's the teeth that cauzing this. Hear breath stinks extremely. But it seems that she wants to drink, she also cleans herself a little by little still. A week ago she seemed perfectly fine. I have this cat for 18 years already and it was mt first cat from my childhood. It's really breaking my heart to see her like this.

 

[Antonio65]

Bad teeth, just like in humans, can give serious infections that could spread all over. Did the vet run a basic blood test, just to check her WBC?
Don't know about the swollen head (it might be rotten teeth related), but heart disease can be related to bad teeth.
The foul smell from her mouth tells you everything about the situation.
She's feeling bad, that's why she's not eating or drinking.
You need to keep the infection under control, then consider to remove all her teeth, for her own sake and health.

 

[lolliegoth]

Having to look after a 18/19 year cat on behalf of my parents for a short period while they were away - our beautiful boy Kam Thong became very ill over a short time frame (four days). This was a beautiful Siamese cat that found our family at aged two. He owned us all and my brother and I (as adults) could not make the make the ultimate decision until our parents came home. It was probably the most heartbreaking yet important decision we made as a family.

Whilst I cannot help you make any decision for your cat or any animal in your life - I can only offer this advice: Think of the quality of life for your pet, then determine your path. No matter the path you choose for you and your pet, this is the forum to find support.

 

[JamesCalifornia]

~ I hope your kitty recovers and can come home with you again. Remember a cat can live just fine without teeth! Antonio65 made a good suggestion. A vet told me the same thing about an old cat likes yours .
Sending some hope your way ~

 

[krokodzilla]

Thanks for all the reaction.

So we went back today to the vetinarian. I was a little bit paranoid about the teeth, but the teeth are actually in good state to stay like they are and it aint the problem. We did a blood test and she had some deviations here and there, but not in the critical range. Here kidneys work the same as a year before. The vetinarian found it difficult to come to a conclusion but she thinks its an infection so they gave her some antibiotics. If that won't solve the problem then it is most likely a tumor. Her throat is all swollen and her head too. She got like this water infusion (? English aint my native language so I am not sure if thats how you name it), its that thing everyone gets injected in their hand whole being hospitilized. The vetinarian thought that because of that her head might be that swollen. But it was already kinda swollem yesterday so i don't know. I'll just wait and see and hope its just an infection. She tries to drink and clean herself but after to sips or two lick she stops and that worries me as if the swelling in he throat is stopping her from doing so.

If anyone has any tips or advice for anything for this situation then I would love to here them. Her swollen head is what worries me the most.

 

[di and bob]

Just make sure she gets the antibiotic. I'm surprised the vet didn't suggest Prednisone, which helps with swelling, tumors, etc. I've had several cats receive this when I thought all hope was gone and it really helped. You might call and ask. My heart breaks for what you are going through, at that great age it is difficult to know what to do. I'll pray that he has a recovery, just love him all you can for now, your love is the most important thing to him right now.

 

[Antonio65]

Hasn't the vet thought of doing an x-ray to see if it's something in her head/throat, a tumor or else?
What are the deviations you are writing about?
I'm so worried about her, not being able to drink or eat is terrible, just think of it.
I'm telling you this because I was there before... This story is tearing my heart apart!

 

[krokodzilla]

Just make sure she gets the antibiotic. I'm surprised the vet didn't suggest Prednisone, which helps with swelling, tumors, etc. I've had several cats receive this when I thought all hope was gone and it really helped. You might call and ask. My heart breaks for what you are going through, at that great age it is difficult to know what to do. I'll pray that he has a recovery, just love him all you can for now, your love is the most important thing to him right now.

She did inject her something for against the swelling the vetinarian said, forgot to say that! I and don't what it was called and its also in Dutch. The antibiotics are called Clindaseptin that we have to give her at home.

Its extremely hard since I was 7 when I got this cat and now I am 25. She's like a major part of my childhood and beginning of my young adult life. But its part of life and if it may be that its going to be the sad ending then I know she had a really good life and she also outlived all of her children, she had like 15 in total of them. Its a norwegian forest cat, they are so beautiful.

 

[krokodzilla]

Hasn't the vet thought of doing an x-ray to see if it's something in her head/throat, a tumor or else?
What are the deviations you are writing about?
I'm so worried about her, not being able to drink or eat is terrible, just think of it.
I'm telling you this because I was there before... This story is tearing my heart apart!

We life in a small city with only one vetinarian, I think they didn't have an x-ray device here. The vetinarian suspects that she should be feeling better by friday if its just an infection so I'll just wait and she. But the swollen head doesnt fit in the story for me for an infection and the vet couldn't understand the swollen head neither.

She was a little low on red blood cells, but on the other side she was too high on creating new young red blood cells, so thats good. Kreatinine were 216, but that is stable from last year. Glucose was higher and white blood cells at the higher end i believe, not sure.

 

[Antonio65]

High blood cell could be indicating an infection or an inflammaion, this is the signal of something wrong. High glucose could be stress or fear related, sometimes it happens. I'm not sure about creatinine, 216 might be in a range different from what I know. My lab says creatinine must be 0.0-2.0. But if it's the same level of the last year and the vet says it's fine, then it's fine
Any calcium level read?

 

[krokodzilla]

Nothing that I remeber that she said about calcium. Yea in the netherlands they have the ranges between 110-160 for animals for creatinine. She did have a slight anemia. But pretty sure the white blood cells were to high.

 

[Antonio65]

If creatinine should be 110-160, then 216 is high, but not to justify the current issue.
I asked you about the calcium because it's one of the first thing to go high in the case of a tumor.

If her head is swollen, then there's some fluid under her skin. If the vet has taken a sample of that fluid she could have it analyzed to see what it is.
The possible test to be done on the fluid could mainly a cytology, a bacteria test, a cytofluorimetry and a PARR.
These are the tests my vet did on the fluid my cat has in her chest.
The results from these tests can tell you if it's an infection or a tumor-related fluid.

 

[Pixxelated]

High blood cell could be indicating an infection or an inflammaion, this is the signal of something wrong. High glucose could be stress or fear related, sometimes it happens. I'm not sure about creatinine, 216 might be in a range different from what I know. My lab says creatinine must be 0.0-2.0. But if it's the same level of the last year and the vet says it's fine, then it's fine
Any calcium level read?

It is in a different unit (the creatinine), some countries forego the decimal, IIRC. So it is 2.16 in this case. Although that might be another different measurement unit.

I’m not sure about kidney disease in cats, but I do know kidney disease in humans (lots of first hand experience) and it might be kidney related after all. Water retention and swelling is incredibly common in humans with CKD.

The red blood cell count could also be indicative of this. As the kidneys play a part there as well.

This can happen in humans even if the GFR is relatively stable. It might also be an indication the kidney function is declining or she is entering a new stage.

CKD gives you things like; lethargy, anemia, water retention, a sort of mental haze where you cannot quite remember things. Makes you feel like you’re going mad, might not be very noticable in cats

High creatinine usually causes a load of unpleasant symptoms, everyone reacts differently though... but like I said though, don’t know about cats - but it might be similar.

 

[krokodzilla]

Hey!

So my cat was really bad, she could bearly swallow and breath. No that the antibiotics kicked in the swelling is gone, she eats again, she cleans her self and after 2 days of not sleeping she sleeps very deep and everyday she becomes more herself again. So I believe it was just a severe tooth infection that made it all swollen. So i think everythinf is fine with her now and that made me really happy. Hopefully it will stay like this.

Would anyone have how to improve her very light state of anemia?

 

[Antonio65]

Glad to read that she's much better now. The next step is to take care of those teeth to avoid this issue to repeat.

Has a blood test shown a low RBC and hemoglobin? You should ask your vet about a supplement of iron. But I warn you, it might be a very long course of therapy (we're talking months) and iron pills could give stomach ache or upset. The vet has to prescribe the right pill, to be given after a good meal to avoid vomiting.

 

[di and bob]

Her anemia will improve when she starts eating well again. Offer raw meat, that is high in iron, like cut up red meat. That tooth was most likely abscessed and will come back if not removed. The infection is usually taken care of first just like in humans.