Hi, new here and just wondering if anyone here has had a cat survive saddle thrombus? Ours had possibly 3 blood clots last weekend, only one of which affected his back legs, he didn't seem to be in a lot of pain and regained full use of his legs days later. Also, his last clot, he lifted his front paw before he passed out. He had lifted his front paw randomly weeks earlier but nothing else happened. Anyone else see this behavior before a clot? We now know he has cardiomyopathy and had found out a month earlier he has hypothyroidism. From what I've read of saddle thrombus, we've been extremely lucky so far. But has anyone had a cat throw several clots and then recover and live longer? We have him on plavix for three days so far as well as medication for his heart and hypothyroidism. It's been so stressful wondering when/if another clot will hit but everyday is a gift. He seems almost back to normal but I'm so scared for him.
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Saddle thrombus-recovery?
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Wow, I would say so far he's one very lucky cat. 3 clots and he's still hanging in there, WITH the use of his back legs
And also not much pain! He must not have been completely occluded with the blood clot, but still, you must have been out of your mind with fright
.
Along with the plavix,is he on any blood thinners? I thought blood thinners would help prevent clots and Plavix prevented plaque from building up in the arteries, but not completely sure.
What does your Vet say about all this? Do they think as long as he gets his meds, he has a fighting chance.? Obviously there are no guarantees, but still,your guy certainly seems like a fighter
I'm not sure if I recall anyone having a cat survive a diagnosed saddle thrombosis or not, but maybe someone will pop on here and respond if they have.
Along with the plavix,is he on any blood thinners? I thought blood thinners would help prevent clots and Plavix prevented plaque from building up in the arteries, but not completely sure.
What does your Vet say about all this? Do they think as long as he gets his meds, he has a fighting chance.? Obviously there are no guarantees, but still,your guy certainly seems like a fighter
I'm not sure if I recall anyone having a cat survive a diagnosed saddle thrombosis or not, but maybe someone will pop on here and respond if they have.
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Hi, thanks fo your response. Yes, every minute I count my blessings. He also collapsed and almost went into cardiac arrest that weekend too but fought back. Not sure if plavix is a blood thinner but that is all he is on for the clots. Our vet thinks he does stand a chance at leading a quality life (we asked if we should keep him going) for while but with the caveat that these next two weeks are touch and go until the Meds fully kick in. I'm going out of my mind with worry, he had just started sneezing a lot, maybe it's just a cold or allergies but so scared. I can't believe all that he's been through and he's made so much of a recovery.
As I said, your guy seems to be a fighter
. And when I posted earlier that I don't recall hearing about any cats surviving diagnosed Saddle Thrombosis, I mean every leaving the Vet's office, let alone regaining the use of their legs, so I think he's doing spectacularly! Beating the odds, that's for sure.
Not sure what the sneezing is all about now, but could definitely be allergies. I'd bring it up with the Vet via phone, just in case. ANY and EVERYTHING right now could be important.
Of course your out of your mind with worry...who wouldn't be? I've got a chronically ill cat myself, so I know EXACTLY what you are going through. Every day when I get up, I wonder what I am going to find
. In my girls case, she has kidney disease, for which there is no cure. Once the kidney's are gone, they're gone. Not like the liver which can regenerate, or the heart which can be controlled with medication.
But, anyway, what's your boy's name, and how old is he? He's over half way thru that tenuous 2-week period, as I see it, so fingers crossed that this next week flies by without any issues until the meds fully kick in.
Not sure what the sneezing is all about now, but could definitely be allergies. I'd bring it up with the Vet via phone, just in case. ANY and EVERYTHING right now could be important.
Of course your out of your mind with worry...who wouldn't be? I've got a chronically ill cat myself, so I know EXACTLY what you are going through. Every day when I get up, I wonder what I am going to find
But, anyway, what's your boy's name, and how old is he? He's over half way thru that tenuous 2-week period, as I see it, so fingers crossed that this next week flies by without any issues until the meds fully kick in.
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Thanks 
we did go see the vet but they say it's only a cold. His name is Wamba and he's 14, he's been with me since I was a freshman in college and has moved with me overseas as a married woman.
I'm so sorry to hear of your cat's condition. My heart breaks reading people's stories of having to deal with an ill cat or losing them. For me it's a wake up call, I just didn't want to believe he's ever really get old or have anything wrong with him. What about your girl? What's her name and how long have you had her.
we did go see the vet but they say it's only a cold. His name is Wamba and he's 14, he's been with me since I was a freshman in college and has moved with me overseas as a married woman. I'm so sorry to hear of your cat's condition. My heart breaks reading people's stories of having to deal with an ill cat or losing them. For me it's a wake up call, I just didn't want to believe he's ever really get old or have anything wrong with him. What about your girl? What's her name and how long have you had her.
My old girl is Callie, she'll be 16 in January
. We adopted her when she was 1 1/2 years old, so had her for quite some time now. She is our little diva. Definitely my hubby's princess. Doesn't want much to do with me, but absolutely dotes on HIM, and vice versa
. Sadly, she is our 3rd kidney cat
. After our last one, I changed their diet to try to avoid this, but I guess it was already too late for her. Hopefully we can still prevent it with her younger "brothers"
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Hi, I've been seeing more about saddle thrombus these days and it's positively scary. I'm so glad to hear a story of a kitty who has survived! Hope things continue to go well for Wamba.
I have some questions. Is cardiomyopathy thought to be the cause? Inactivity? Overweight? I'm sure those last 2 are only variable factors that makes things worse. I'm also wondering if there's a certain type or brand of cat food that might be a common denominator in these cases too. For years I've fed mine Friskies and Fancy Feast canned and a variety of different dry foods. All of their food had gluten/grains. Now I'm feeding 1/2 Nature's Variety canned grain-free (it's expensive!) and Friskies turkey pate mostly, some Fancy Feast chicken pate. I'm staying away from gluten almost entirely and from grain as much as possible. I'm also wondering about your kitty being 14 years old. My Gracie was also 14 when she passed. Maybe it's just coincidence but I'm seeing an awful lot about cats getting sick and dying at age 14. Coincidence? Or no?
I have some questions. Is cardiomyopathy thought to be the cause? Inactivity? Overweight? I'm sure those last 2 are only variable factors that makes things worse. I'm also wondering if there's a certain type or brand of cat food that might be a common denominator in these cases too. For years I've fed mine Friskies and Fancy Feast canned and a variety of different dry foods. All of their food had gluten/grains. Now I'm feeding 1/2 Nature's Variety canned grain-free (it's expensive!) and Friskies turkey pate mostly, some Fancy Feast chicken pate. I'm staying away from gluten almost entirely and from grain as much as possible. I'm also wondering about your kitty being 14 years old. My Gracie was also 14 when she passed. Maybe it's just coincidence but I'm seeing an awful lot about cats getting sick and dying at age 14. Coincidence? Or no?
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Hi happened upon this thread tonight. Not sure what happened for the original poster long term?
I did want to share that my cat Harvey is doing really well, now over a year since the horrifying night of his saddle thrombus.
He has regained full use of his back legs and also regained four pounds.
Due to a large number of veterinary errors, his condition got very very bad before we turned it around.
If your cat is hyperthyroid, it is essential to get that under control ASAP. I wish our vets had known that, as Harvey could have been doing much better much sooner, had the focus been on reversing heart disease by controlling hyperthyroidism.
In the meantime, make sure you understand how to use Lasix to prevent edema and congestive heart failure. Unfortunately we were not given that guidance, either, until far too late.
Nevertheless, and it required quite a lot of devotion on my part mostly because of the appalling malpractice of the veterinarians, he did recover.
I urge people not to assume just because a vet tells you it is hopeless that it is. I have two miracle cats now. But I had to stand up to veterinarians at every turn to get here.
I did want to share that my cat Harvey is doing really well, now over a year since the horrifying night of his saddle thrombus.
He has regained full use of his back legs and also regained four pounds.
Due to a large number of veterinary errors, his condition got very very bad before we turned it around.
If your cat is hyperthyroid, it is essential to get that under control ASAP. I wish our vets had known that, as Harvey could have been doing much better much sooner, had the focus been on reversing heart disease by controlling hyperthyroidism.
In the meantime, make sure you understand how to use Lasix to prevent edema and congestive heart failure. Unfortunately we were not given that guidance, either, until far too late.
Nevertheless, and it required quite a lot of devotion on my part mostly because of the appalling malpractice of the veterinarians, he did recover.
I urge people not to assume just because a vet tells you it is hopeless that it is. I have two miracle cats now. But I had to stand up to veterinarians at every turn to get here.
How wonderful that Harvey was able to overcome all his issues. Yes, you definitely need to be an advocate for your cat. Do not assume that Vets know everything and just take their word for whatever they say, because they are only human, after all. We ALL need to question things if they don't seem right, and do a little research ourselves and most importantly, ASK QUESTIONS until we are fully satisfied with the answers when caring for our furbabies
Hello Readers,
As I write this post, I hope my message gets out there. My best friend "Armstrong", fell to the disease (FATE) Saddle Thrombus on June 24th, 2013. Not only did he have both rear legs affected, he was in heart failure and his temperature was <98.9. Armstrong had all 3 strikes against him and unlike most, I elected treatment! He was seen by a Cardiologist and diagnosed with Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy (HCM) which is the most common feline heart disease. Not only was I given a grave prognosis, I was told that if Armstrong survived and was discharged, he would have 4 months to live. My message to owners is, try not to look at the negative side and to give your cat a fighting chance. Armstrong lived for 2 years and 9 months and just passed away on March 13th, 2016. If this situation presented itself again, I would do it in a heartbeat. My goal is to one day own my own Rehabilitation Center for these saddle thrombus cases. Everyday cats are euthanized and its about time we put an end to it! Many owners are told inaccurate and misleading information which in return leads to euthanasia. I am a Registered Veterinary Technician (RVT) and have been in the veterinary field for 17 years. I am not justifying and saying that this disease is not complicated, however, I feel that it is very manageable. Thank you for taking your time to read this!
Sincerely;
Janene
As I write this post, I hope my message gets out there. My best friend "Armstrong", fell to the disease (FATE) Saddle Thrombus on June 24th, 2013. Not only did he have both rear legs affected, he was in heart failure and his temperature was <98.9. Armstrong had all 3 strikes against him and unlike most, I elected treatment! He was seen by a Cardiologist and diagnosed with Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy (HCM) which is the most common feline heart disease. Not only was I given a grave prognosis, I was told that if Armstrong survived and was discharged, he would have 4 months to live. My message to owners is, try not to look at the negative side and to give your cat a fighting chance. Armstrong lived for 2 years and 9 months and just passed away on March 13th, 2016. If this situation presented itself again, I would do it in a heartbeat. My goal is to one day own my own Rehabilitation Center for these saddle thrombus cases. Everyday cats are euthanized and its about time we put an end to it! Many owners are told inaccurate and misleading information which in return leads to euthanasia. I am a Registered Veterinary Technician (RVT) and have been in the veterinary field for 17 years. I am not justifying and saying that this disease is not complicated, however, I feel that it is very manageable. Thank you for taking your time to read this!
Sincerely;
Janene
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My cat just died of "Saddle Thrombus". I'd never heard of it before, and it happened very quickly. Question to Janene: were your cat's hind legs fully paralyzed, or did he still move them a little. Anyway, Rusty's story is we found him crying, not able to move his hind legs. Took him to Emergency Care (United Vet in San Jose), and the said he had this condition. I'd never heard of this before, but she said some cat's have come in with it before. She said though some treatments have been tried in her experience, such as blood thinner, there is always the same outcome. Rusty had a turn for the worse when I asked them to take an X-ray (more paralysis and discolored), so we did euthenasia.
Afterwards, I found out from my mom that Rusty had gone to the bathroom behind the TV set this morning. That's something Rusty never does or would do, so he must have been going through this all day, but we had no idea until we found him in the evening, crying and lower body paralyzed. Yesterday, he seemed fine to me, eating as usual, letting me pet him...
Afterwards, I found out from my mom that Rusty had gone to the bathroom behind the TV set this morning. That's something Rusty never does or would do, so he must have been going through this all day, but we had no idea until we found him in the evening, crying and lower body paralyzed. Yesterday, he seemed fine to me, eating as usual, letting me pet him...
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Oh Yes!!! Thank you so much for expressing this. I agree, this is manageable. And if people were accurately being informed of their options, I bet many more people would choose treatment.
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MhLarry, my heart goes out to you. The ST night was possibly the worst night of my entire life.
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I feel so troubled reading so many people's story of what they were told by vets, and how they went for euthanasia because they didn't think they had a choice.
Right now it's very late here and I need to get some sleep. It's the energy healing that got us through this, not only because it heals ... also because it allowed me to tune into intuition even when I was being told all kinds of misinformation and dire horrific prognoses by the vets.
I'm an energy healer for a living, it's my entire life really. This is how I pay my bills so I don't coach people for free. Just like the vets charge many thousands because they need to make a living, same with me.
What I do offer for free though on my blog is my "emergency protocol energy healing CPR" that really saved both my cats. It saved them in part because it bought us time to do the research and explore all our options. I published it for free because it's pretty easy to learn and anyone can try it without being an expert. It's really just a starting point but I can't help but think that many people would make a different choice in these situations if they had this emergency protocol. In the midst of absolute desperation when this happened - honestly the vets were far worse than the paralysis itself, because their attitudes were so negative - emergency protocol was the lifeline for Harvey and me.
I did emergency protocol probably every single day for the first nine months of our recovery.
13 months. Things are not perfect yet. He's got some asthma and I spend quite a bit of time each day on his meds and monitoring his breathing, etc. It's worth it though, no question it's worth it having him here.
Right now it's very late here and I need to get some sleep. It's the energy healing that got us through this, not only because it heals ... also because it allowed me to tune into intuition even when I was being told all kinds of misinformation and dire horrific prognoses by the vets.
I'm an energy healer for a living, it's my entire life really. This is how I pay my bills so I don't coach people for free. Just like the vets charge many thousands because they need to make a living, same with me.
What I do offer for free though on my blog is my "emergency protocol energy healing CPR" that really saved both my cats. It saved them in part because it bought us time to do the research and explore all our options. I published it for free because it's pretty easy to learn and anyone can try it without being an expert. It's really just a starting point but I can't help but think that many people would make a different choice in these situations if they had this emergency protocol. In the midst of absolute desperation when this happened - honestly the vets were far worse than the paralysis itself, because their attitudes were so negative - emergency protocol was the lifeline for Harvey and me.
I did emergency protocol probably every single day for the first nine months of our recovery.
13 months. Things are not perfect yet. He's got some asthma and I spend quite a bit of time each day on his meds and monitoring his breathing, etc. It's worth it though, no question it's worth it having him here.
Hello,
I'm so sorry to hear of your loss! Yes Armstrong had both rear legs affected, was in CHF and his temp was <98.9. I elected to treat him and he lived for almost 3 years! Two years, 9 months, and 11 days to be exact! So many veterinarians do not recommend treatment so I am happy to learn that yours did. Armstrong was in such respiratory distress and coughing up fluid, I knew he was in CHF. I elected not to do radiographs because when these Saddle Thrombus cases come in they are to critical to obtain radiographs. The number one protocol is Plavix however Armstrong developed more clots in his Left Atrium so we had to switch him to Lovenox! Once he was on Lovenox, he developed no more clots. Saddle Thrombus happens due to the primary disease of (HCM) Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy. This is only diagnosed via Echocardiogram!
I'm so sorry to hear of your loss! Yes Armstrong had both rear legs affected, was in CHF and his temp was <98.9. I elected to treat him and he lived for almost 3 years! Two years, 9 months, and 11 days to be exact! So many veterinarians do not recommend treatment so I am happy to learn that yours did. Armstrong was in such respiratory distress and coughing up fluid, I knew he was in CHF. I elected not to do radiographs because when these Saddle Thrombus cases come in they are to critical to obtain radiographs. The number one protocol is Plavix however Armstrong developed more clots in his Left Atrium so we had to switch him to Lovenox! Once he was on Lovenox, he developed no more clots. Saddle Thrombus happens due to the primary disease of (HCM) Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy. This is only diagnosed via Echocardiogram!
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Erika,
You are very welcome! I am glad there is another owner that has elected treatment and has had success! Armstrong lived for almost 3 years and eventually passed away of his heart disease. It was so progressed his heart couldn't take it anymore. He went into a horrible arrhythmia and didn't come out of it. I knew it was his time to stop fighting and he did a superb job at it! Not one day goes bye where I don't think of him!
Janene
You are very welcome! I am glad there is another owner that has elected treatment and has had success! Armstrong lived for almost 3 years and eventually passed away of his heart disease. It was so progressed his heart couldn't take it anymore. He went into a horrible arrhythmia and didn't come out of it. I knew it was his time to stop fighting and he did a superb job at it! Not one day goes bye where I don't think of him!
Janene
Hi, I just wanted to respond with our cats story of saddle thrombosis. He had first clot October 2015. (Was fine then all of a sudden couldn't use back legs). He never seemed like he was in pain which is what typically is described. We kept him home over the weekend, took him in Monday. At that point he was pretty dehydrated and had a urinary tract infection b/c despite our best efforts; would not eat or drink much, or urinate when we took him outside. He stayed at the vet for 4 days. We took him home knowing that the prognosis was not good, and a specialist would be about $6000. (We had recently spent $1200 on him in August b/c he was stung by a scropion!). We decided to let him recover and see how he did, if he seemed to be in pain and was hiding out, we would have him put down. He never acted like that. He wanted to play, and would drag himself out to wherever we were in the house. It took 2 months for him to be able to stand on his legs again. And 2 more months for him to have any feeling in them and use his claws appropriatley. During this time period we had to provide intense care for him. Help him in and out of litter box, feed him, and change gauze and tape we had to keep on his hind legs b/c he would wear holes in them from dragging his legs around. He never seemed to be in pain. Just a few days ago in August he had another clot, but this time was completely paralyzed with all four legs not working. He was definitely in pain this time and we decided to put him down. This was 10 months since his first clot and I'm glad we helped him get through the first, but the second, none of us could go through again. I hope this story helps others going through the same thing! Wild Bill was only four years old when he died, but he had a good life!
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HI all,
Sorry i had not realized there was more responses to this thread. Just an update on our story, almost a year later. Wamba is doing really well. He's slowed down but he's himself. I am grateful for every minute we have with him. And as people have said, I think too many vets are unfamiliar with this disease. I had to through three until I found one who knew how to treat him. I'm so glad i followed my gut and got rid of vets who weren't helping.
Now the stress is my husband got a new job back in the US and we are taking wamba with us. it's a huge risk and i'm so worried. but i'm posting another thread about this.
Sorry i had not realized there was more responses to this thread. Just an update on our story, almost a year later. Wamba is doing really well. He's slowed down but he's himself. I am grateful for every minute we have with him. And as people have said, I think too many vets are unfamiliar with this disease. I had to through three until I found one who knew how to treat him. I'm so glad i followed my gut and got rid of vets who weren't helping.
Now the stress is my husband got a new job back in the US and we are taking wamba with us. it's a huge risk and i'm so worried. but i'm posting another thread about this.
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My cat, Odin was diagnosed with heart disease a year ago. He's been on asprin and developed saddle thrombus this morning. We went immediately to the vet as soon as I saw his legs twitch. Currently they gave him pain medicine Plavix as well as a blood thinner. He doesn't have use of his back feet as of this evening but he's still drinking water and eating a bit. He still has some pain and we were given a 50-50 chance of his feet working again. We'really going back to the vet tomorrow for more Plavix, pain meds and a check up. I'm hoping his feet regain mobility. My concern right now is the pain. How long did it take for your cat's pain to subside?
