sjdavenport
Lairian
- Joined
- Apr 10, 2012
- Messages
- 29
- Points
- 49
Hi all. I am posting about my 8 year old girl, Juno. Last summer, she had a tooth with resorptive lesions that needed to be extracted, and because of her breed, we had an echo done prior to anesthesia. The result came back as extremely mild/early HCM, and a follow up echo was recommended in 9 months. She underwent her dental uneventfully. Then three weeks ago (before we had a chance to even think about getting her recheck echo scheduled), I went to feed her breakfast, and she was behaving strangely. She was limping on her left front leg, almost knuckling, and would sit with it held up and out in front of her. I saw her shake it multiple times, and try to lick it, but miss her target. She was breathing a bit fast, but I attributed that to discomfort at first. When I palpated her joints trying to figure out where she was painful, I noticed her left leg felt cooler than her right. That's when alarm bells started to go off in the back of my mind. At that point, I counted her respiratory rate and it was 50 breaths per minute. So I loaded her up and headed to our emergency clinic (45 minutes from my house). About halfway there, she went into full respiratory distress. Once there, they determined she had gone into heart failure and had a thromboembolism in her front left leg. She had an enlarged heart and pulmonary edema on xrays, and an elevated proBNP. She was started on furosemide, enalapril, and clopidogrel and stayed overnight in oxygen. She got to come home with me the next day (a Sunday) and I got her in to see a cardiologist on that Thursday. They did an echo, where they found end stage "burnout" HCM. She also has blood stasis in her atrium (predisposing her to more thromboemboli). They added pimobendan to her medications and recommended continuing all the others as well. I tried to get an estimated survival time from them, but they were reluctant to commit to a timeline. She has seemed to respond extremely well to her meds. Her lameness has completely resolved, and her resting respiratory rate has stayed 28-35bpm. She's 100% her normal self. I spend the first week and a half crying, but now I'm trying to enjoy every day we have left together. Feeding her lots of snacks and extra meals (she lives to eat), taking her outside to spend time in the sunshine (a previously rarely allowed treat), and enjoying endless cuddles. I'm not sure what I'm looking for here. Comfort from the experience of others, I suppose. I never expected to have what feels like so little time with Juno. Cats are not supposed to die at 8 years old. She is from a breeder who is very proactive against the disease in her breeding cats, but in the end, it didn't matter. And it progressed so quickly - from "extremely early" to "burnout" in less than 8 months. Honestly, my biggest anxiety is for her to experience a saddle thrombus while I'm at work. I'm haunted by the thought of her alone and in extreme pain until I get home.
Here is my wonderful girl. I took these photos this weekend - I've been trying to take more photos and videos of her.
Here is my wonderful girl. I took these photos this weekend - I've been trying to take more photos and videos of her.