Hi Krystal,
I saw this thread yesterday and I have been struggling with whether or not to post. I donât want to butt in, but I am worried about you. I keep thinking about you and this thread, so here goesâŚ
Krystal, did your vet give you an idea of the prognosis for Rebel, as in how much time she has? It sounds like from your description of the visit that perhaps she/he did not.
Now I am just sitting here thousands of miles away and havenât seen Rebel, so I canât say for sure what is going on. Itâs possible she doesnât have heart disease which caused a clot at all. But from your description, that is what it sounds like, and it sounds like thatâs what your vet thinks, too. [I][B]If indeed[/B][/I] she has heart disease which caused her to throw a clot to a hindleg, that is very serious.
Cats with heart disease often do not show any outward signs until they are very sick. Even on a physical exam, they may or may not have an abnormal heart sound or rhythm that can be detected. Usually the reason a clot is formed in the heart is that one or more of the chambers is enlarged, and the blood, instead of shooting straight through, swirls around in there and hangs out longer than it should. Once a clot is formed, it may sit in the heart for a long time before being shot out to, usually, a leg. Many cats have a clot that completely occludes both femoral arteries, and they become paralyzed in the hindlegs. Usually those cats are so severely affected (painful, and often have congestive heart failure as well)that euthanasia is chosen when that happens. Less often, only one leg is affected, like with Rebel. With time, collateral circulation can take over, and the symptoms of the damage done by the clot can improve or even go away.
But the underlying heart disease is still there. Aspirin is an excellent therapy to try and decrease the likelihood of another clot. But I doubt from your post that a firm diagnosis of the [I]type[/I] of heart disease has been made (ie is the heart dilated, thickened, etc). The best test to do would be a cardiac ultrasound (aka an echocardiogram), to see the thickness of the heart walls, if any chambers are dilated, if a big old clot is sitting in the heart now (that would be bad), if any of the valves are leaking, etc. This test is usually done by a specialist, and could cost around $300 to $500. It would give you more information like prognosis (time) and possibly an indication of other medications that could prolong Rebelâs life. (But which medications depend on what is really wrong with the heart, so you canât just choose them randomly without having the echo results). Other tests that could be helpful would be a set of chest xrays to see if the heart is overall enlarged (although in a lot of cats with heart disease it isnât) or if there is fluid building up in the lungs (congestive heart failure). An ECG (aka EKG) could tell you if there is an abnormal heart rhythm that could be treated with medications. The xrays would be $150-200 and the ECG $100 or so (well here they would be, stuff may be cheaper in Canada). But if you could only do one thing, I would do the ultrasound.
It is possible that your vet already recommended the cardiac ultrasound, or maybe if you told them finances were an issue, she/he didnât even bring up the test for that reason. But I didnât write just to tell you about that test.
The main reason I wrote is that once a cat has heart disease severe enough to form a clot, their life expectancy is short, under 1 year and most likely under 6 months. Most of them will either have another clot, go into congestive heart failure (trouble breathing), or even die suddenly. I have seen an occasional cat live longer than that, but the majority do not. Based on what you said in your update post, I am not sure that you are aware of that. And reading everyoneâs replies that said âYay, Rebel has something treatable,â really made me uncomfortable. I mean, yes, you are treating her with the aspirin, but I think there is a misconception about how likely that is to be successful in the long term. And as terrible as that information is, I think you should know, so you can cherish every moment that you and Rebel have left together.
Now, none of what I have said applies if the reason for her lameness [I]isnât[/I] heart disease.
I hope you are not angry about me putting in my 2c. I thought long and hard about whether to say anything at all. I even thought about how I would feel if one of my clients was given info by someone else on the internet. But I know that for my clients, I try to make sure that they have all the information available. I think they should know if a pet has a poor prognosis, so they can be prepared, even if the news is hard to hear. I wish you and Rebel luck.
