4 year old cat, fluid around heart

[GrumpyWombat]

Noticed her breathing heavily last night, still the same this morning. Took her to the emergency animal trust vet an hour away thinking she may need antibiotics or something to be told she has fluid around her heart and needs admitting for 48 hours to do more investigations.

When I asked what could be causing it she said infection, tumour, heart condition, I’m so worried and annoyed with myself as I had let the pet insurance lapse. It’s cost me £800 today and I’m worried it’s going to be hundreds/thousands on top 😢

It could by hypertropic cardiomyopathy. It happened to my cat Troy. I don't want to worry you but I'd rather be honest and I'm sorry to say, the prognosis wasn't good.

I’m sorry 😢 did everything happen quickly for you? I have two other cats in double figures, would never have expected this for our youngest one.

I am so worried for my daughter, she is 18 and this cat is her very best friend. They have such an amazing bond.

My girl had HCM. She lived a great life for another nine months after diagnosis.

What do they do for it? Medication?

If they rule out the heart please mention FIP to the vet in case they haven't considered it, my cats only symptom was fast breathing due to fluid in the pleural cavity. They thought it was HCM first but the fluid was thick and straw like. FIP has become easily treatable in the past 4 to 5 years with antiviral meds, but there's no quick diagnosis and lots of vets have out of date knowledge. Also vets will tell you it's super expensive, but the medication is coming down in price all the time. It's a 12 week course.

Troy was diagnosed in January 2016 and passed away quickly whilst I was rushing him to the emergency vets on 10 May 2016. He was exactly two months short of his 6th birthday. I have thought of changing my username to reflect my current cat Haribo but I just can't bear to lose Troy again.

The vet called me at around 6.30, basically saying they thought it was lymphoma and the prognosis wasn’t good. They could have done investigations etc but he felt that it wasn’t worth it. We drove there, and spent some time with her before she was put to sleep. I’ve driven for 4 hours today back and forth from the vet. Feel heartbroken. My daughter is so sad 😔

Just to say please be kind, I had an in depth discussion with the vet and this really was the kindest option.

Sorry for your loss. I'm sure it was the right decision for your cat x

So sorry for your loss. Lots of love to you and your dd xx💕

Ah bless you, we lost one of ours at age 6, same thing. So sorry for your loss 💐

So sorry for your loss 💐,

You had no choice, you did the kindest thing for your cat.

I'm so sorry. This is heartbreaking. Of course you did the right thing.

So sorry to read your update OP. Yes you made the right decision for your cat. Never an easy decision to make but the kindest one.

Thank you everyone for your kindness. We are all so upset today, coming home to an empty windowsill, she would always sit there waiting for my daughter 😢 I don’t know what to do to help DD. She didn’t go to college today, her face is all puffy from crying on and off for 24 hours. I am worried about her 😢 it was all so sudden it’s been such a shock and usually when she is upset about something they would snuggle together. It’s just heartbreaking.

It will take time OP, it’s very early days, ur poor DD,I can empathise. Our last cat had to be PTS in the middle of DS’ GCSE’s it was a horrible time.

It’s so awful 😢 she’s just told me she thinks she’s depressed, I’ve told her it’s grief and it’s normal to feel like this. Just wish I could take it away. She was so brave for her when we went to see her yesterday she didn’t cry in front of her because she didn’t want to upset her 💔

So sorry for your loss.

The same happened with my cat and it turned out to be a tumour. She went from being ok, to a day later heavy breathing, to a day later needing to be let go. It was awful and such a shock.

You've done the kindest thing for her but that doesn't make it any easier to deal with the grief xx