Cat with severe heart disease and CHF - wwyd?

[Balloondog]

Hello all, I need a little advice please as DH and I are far too emotional right now to think straight.

DCat (8ish years old) has been breathing rapid, shallow breaths for almost a month now but despite numerous vet visits we were consistently told there didn't seem to be anything wrong with her and as she hates the vets and blood tests often result in a bloodbath, to just monitor her.

On Saturday night she seemed to be getting worse and just as we decided it was back to the vets first thing in the morning she howled and keeled over panting and drooling, unable to move. We took her straight down to the emergency vets where she was admitted, put in an oxygen tent and fluid drained off her lungs. We were told her heartbeat was irregular and that an X-ray showed her heart to be enlarged. She was discharged with a diuretic tablet and we booked the first available heart scan for her next week. Last night she seemed to be struggling for breath again and this morning we took her down to the emergency vet again. She's been readmitted, oxygen tent again and the scan has shown she has severe heart disease.

The vet called earlier this evening to say she has a maximum of 12 months left to live IF we can get her to take 2 lots of tablets twice a day. There is a chance she could develop a clot which is obviously not good news and this could result in paralysis and she would have to be put to sleep. The alternative he's asked us to consider is to have her PTS sooner rather than later. Neither sounds like a great option to us and thought of losing our darling girl is devastating but we have no experience of whether trying to prolong her life will only be for our benefit not hers. Given that she showed us no signs of being anything less than 100% up until a few weeks ago, I don't have much faith that we can spot if she's suffering unduly but while I don't want her to suffer, I don't want to let her go if we can offer some quality of life for her last few months.

Has anyone been in a similar situation? What did you do and do you think you made the right decision? If not, what would you have done differently?

Sorry to hear about your cat. One if my Persians had very severe Cardiomyopathy, diagnosed last November. Her heart was a complete mess. She was on 4 tablets twice daily. Frusemide, atenolol, clopidogrel, cardalis and vet medin. She also had a large amount of fluid round her heart.
However she was incredibly well with it. Took all her tablets like an absolute superstar and was heavily insured.
Unfortunately her kidneys started to fail and she was put to sleep last week. But I can honestly say that she never suffered.
Sadly I don't think it's going to be the same for your cat and to be honest I'd have a serious think about what's fair. Sending hugs and

You will know when the time is right. I just knew with fatty. If you are anywhere near derby/Staffordshire/Nottinghamshire I can recommend and excellent cardiologist.

Actually reading your post again, I think if she's not cooperative. I think I'd PTS

It seems to me your vet is advising you to PTS sooner rather than later so that sounds like they think it's the best option for your cat. Nothing wrong with you taking a few days or weeks if your cat is well enough on the medication before you do that if that helps you come to terms with it all. .

My cat has hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, which yours has too from the sounds of it. She also got a blood clot last year, which no one thought she’d survive but the vets worked some sort of miracle and she’s still here.

She currently has atenolol twice a day and aspirin 4 times a week. She was on another blood thinner for a while, but it tasted awful and I had such a struggle getting her to take it that she was really distressed and it was ruining her quality of life.

Apart from the clot, she’s been ok but her snoring has been getting worse and I don’t know how much longer she’ll have until the chf becomes a real issue.

She’s around 11 years old which is a great age for cats with this condition, and she’s a happy wee soul and content to bumble around but I dread the day that I have to make that decision. The vet has promised that he’ll be straight up and tell me when the time comes, and I will take his advice whatever it might be.

It’s so hard trying to figure out what’s best and I’ve spent hours agonising and crying over what to do. I’ve had a few years of it gradually getting worse, so I can’t imagine how hard it must be for you to have your wee cat get ill so quick.

I don’t really have any decent advice, but maybe consider the medication for a while and see if that makes a difference. Ultimately though, you know her best and you’ll see when she’s not enjoying life anymore. My vet told me that pets don’t worry about how long they live, just how well they live and it sounds corny but it’s true.

Sorry I couldn’t be any help. I really feel for you, and wish I could help but it’d be the blind leading the blind. I hope you can find a way forward that’s a calm and peaceful solution for you all (I know that sounds very trite, but I can’t think of any other way of saying it).

Thanks all... Posh Penny, sadly I think you may have hit the nail on the head. In lieu of knowing what the hell else to do I think we will indeed medicate her for now as long as she is not in distress while we come to terms with the situation.

Our 9 year old collapsed at beginning of summer rushed to vet and got told it was heart disease. She was on frusemide twice a day but this has now been reduced to 1/4 tablet once a day as her breathing improved. Worse case scenario we have been told 6 months and be prepared for her kidneys to fail. Totally heartbreaking but we are trying to enjoy every day we have with her.

Her quality of life sounds very poor. I would put to sleep sooner rather than later.

I know how hard it is though

Wish some had told me to be prepared for Fatty's kidneys to fail. I couldn't get my head round the fact that it was her kidneys and not her heart in the end. 😿

@Toddlerteaplease I'm so very sorry for your loss Thank you for your kind advice, unfortunately we are not in your area but thank you for the offer of a cardiologist recommendation too.

The more I think about it, the more I suspect I know what we need to do but for tomorrow I think we will bring her home to be in her familiar surroundings and surrounded by love and treats and take it from there. Oh this is so much harder than I ever dreamed

It is much harder than I thought it would be. But I had had time to plan what I wanted for her. And where her ashes would be scattered etc. Which helped. In the end it was a beautiful death. If such things can be beautiful. Very peaceful.

SoupKitten was diagnosed with heart failure. The medication didn’t give any improvement really and she lost weight (and was tiny to start with) and I made the very hard decision to have her PTS. She was going to die anyway and there was no need for her to suffer.

I felt awful and, 5 years on, I have moments when I think I should have tried more medication. I do know I did the right thing at the right time though.

Medication is only an option of the cat will take it without issue or distress. I was extremely lucky that Fatty did take it. But she refused. I wouldn't have pushed it. All that I wanted was quality of life for her.

*if she had refused.

We had a very similar situation with DH's then-10 year old cat a few years ago. He was prescribed 6 different tablets, morning and night. He was an exceptionally difficult cat to tablet (I saw experienced veterinary nurses fail), so we ended up grinding them, mixing them with pate, and syringing the mix into his mouth - which he also hated, and often dribbled a lot out.

We did it for a couple of months until his condition worsened, and DH decided enough was enough.

With hindsight, we could see we had made the wrong decision. The cat hated the medication and was miserable. We shouldn't have done it to him.

Now - this is only our experience. You know your cat best. Do they take tablets easily? Or will that impact on their quality of life too much?

Sending lots of - it is an awful, heartbreaking situation, and I'm so sorry you're going through it.

@Balloondog

Sorry to hear your cat has been diagnosed with this horrible condition.

My cat was diagnosed with HCM and unfortunately severe heart failure mid 2015. We were told to be prepared to lose him at any point, and if he had developed a blood clot we would have had him PTS.

He was immediately started on a small cocktail of drugs and is still here today, happy and thriving. Obviously with the benefit of hindsight I’m so pleased we gave him a chance, and him being only around 7/8 when diagnosed was also a factor in us wanting to try to treat him.

Happy to discuss in more detail if you have any questions.

My cat is now on atenolol, clopidogrel, and frusemide. He improved very quickly once on medication and has since had his doses titrated down to tiny amounts. He doesn’t like having tablets but it’s over in a second and he forgets it ever happened with a stroke or little cuddle.

Thank you all for such kind words. I'm sad to say we decided to let her go - she would have needed to give her 5 different medications 3 times a day and knowing her resistance to any such intervention it didn't seem like we would be offering her much quality of life. This was reinforced when we saw her and she was a bedraggled, limp shadow of herself. I think we made the right decision.

None of which makes it any easier right now. I can barely see through my tears to type, the house is so empty and quiet without her padding around and for shouting indignantly for wet food. I can't believe she's gone.

and a hand hold. You did the right thing by her no matter how hard it was for both of you.

I'm so sorry for your loss. We have a cat with a similar condition, and again, gets very upset at being taken to the vets, or any sort of intervention at all.

when the time comes ours will be PTS too. We have known this for some years. Still, atm, quality of life is very good, but we know it is only a matter of time,

I'm sure you have made the right decision. You have my sympathy

So sorry, Balloondog. They are never with us for long enough.

Thanks all, I hope you don't mind, I wanted to share a few pictures of our darling wee balloon cat, with her favourite 'toy' - a chopstick and snuggled up on the sofa

Thanks all, I hope you don't mind, I wanted to share a few pictures of our darling wee girl with her favourite 'toy' - a chopstick and snuggled up on the sofa

So so sorry for your loss. She is beautiful.

You absolutely did the right thing. I hope you are comforted by the fact that you gave her the ultimate act of selfless love.
Dignity in death.
Play peacefully on rainbow bridge now kitty

So sorry. This was me last week so I know exactly how it feels. Was she a persian? She was absolutely stunning. Run free little one and Fatty.