Post Punk Kitchen Forum

And I'm gonna lose my shiitake, basically.

After losing Effie to FIP last year when she was just 9 months old I pretty much have a total panic reaction every time anything is wrong with my cats. But of course forking EVERYTHING has been wrong with my cats. Olive is seeing an internal medicine specialist soon because she's had chronic diarrhea since October. Agnes had a mysterious infection and then the beginning stages of fatty liver disease a little while ago. She recently had a seizure or concussion that was pretty terrifying. And she had a heart murmur detected a while ago and I finally got her a heart ultrasound and she has heart disease. They think it's in early stages.

Anyone have experiences with this? I'm doing research now and it's pretty overwhelming.

fork.

I'm sorry that I don't know what else to say.

I don't have experience, but I'll be thinking about you. Let us know if you need anything at all.

((((((((SRock & kittens))))))))

Here's Agnes very unhappy at her cardiologist appointment just because she's so cute that I want to post her pictures all the time.



Thanks for the support guys. Ugggghhh.

I'm sorry you're going through all of this with your companions. She is beautiful, I love her black nose!

I'm sorry your poor cat is going through this. My doggie Tai has had a lot of health problems and found out about a new very major one last week. :(
Hugs to you and your cat!

Agnes has such a stylish beret! I'd forgotten what a pretty girl she is.

I love Agnes's little kitty nose. I am so sorry you are going through this. Huge hugs to you and the kitties.

So sorry, Strawberryrock. Lady Marmalade has chronic tooth resorptions and there is something wrong with her back legs/spine that no one can help me with. It's incredibly expensive and frustrating. It's not the same, and I didn't lose an Effie, but I feel your pain a little bit.

I am so sorry S.Rock. I know you're still reeling from losing Effie, and it must be so hard to be dealing with more medical issues (and the related financial pressures that they bring).

I wonder if feline hypertrophic cardiomyopathy like canine HCM? You asked for experiences, so I hope its okay that I share what we learned about dogs. We had a scare that Cuddles might have it, and our vet said that it was something that could be monitored and managed medically, so it wasn't a death sentence. Basically, you would get an Echocardiograph (ultrasound of the heart) to detect the thickening of the heart muscle and would get that done every year to monitor the state of the dog's heart. If the dog started to go into congestive heart failure then it is treated with ACE inhibitors and diuretics. I am just wondering what the treatment options would be for Agnes. We were told that the echocardiographs were the expensive part along with seeing a vet cardiologist, but that it wasn't prohibitive.

Sending you lots of good thoughts. I hope beautiful Agnes heals up and that you get good news soon <3

The echocardiograph (or gram? I don't know) is what we did today and they want to do another one in six months. (So basically I'll be spending over $1000 a year on that I guess, which is no small deal when I make about 20k.) It's not necessarily a death sentence but it's still possible that it could kill her very young. I haven't done that much research yet, I read a little bit and decided to take a break. I think we're starting her on a medication soon, though she's super feisty and apparently the jury's out on how effective it is so it's possible that it just won't be worth it to pill her every day for the rest of her life.

The echocardiograph is the ultrasound examination. The echocardiograph (EKG) monitors the electrical impulses in the heart. Supposedly an EKG isn't enough to diagnose HCM. We saved some money because our regular vet's office had a U/S guy who would do the exams and read the results, so we didn't have to go to the cardiologist, who was insanely expensive for the testing and interpretation.

So interesting that there is a daily pill she could take now. We were told it was just the ACE inhibitors and diuretics to decrease blood volume and pressure to help make the the heart's work easier, once congestive heart failure has set in. We were told that until congestive heartfailure sets in you can manage your pet's cardiac load with diet (low sodium) and exercise (restrict heavy exercise) to reduce blood pressure and stress on the heart. Our vet told us that she knew several people who had it and had been managing it for years that way - with only an annual ultrasound. That gave us a lot of hope at the time.

Sending many good thoughts.

Thinking good thoughts for Agnes.

Oh fork. I am so sorry, srock. Thinking good thoughts for you and Agnes.

I'm blowing you and Agnes kisses and get well wishes!!!! <3 <3 <3

Strawberryrock, I'm so so so sorry you and Agnes are going through this.

All my love to you, Agnes, and Olive. <3 <3 <3

i dont know anything about cats but i just wanted to say im so sorry you and Agnes are going through this.
i had 3 guinea pigs in a row with weird health problems and you start to think you're doing something wrong unknowingly.

hugs to you and all the kitties!!!

Thanks everyone. I haven't even really sat down to do research yet. I just get overwhelmed. I can't stop crying about Effie right now and I just want to get to a point where I don't do that all the time, if I lost another cat young I can't even begin to imagine how I would function anymore. So bla bla bla feelings.

When I found out Quita had kidney disease I was so overwhelmed trying to research things, and I was stressing out to the point of nearly fainting. So I completely empathize with what you're going through.

I wish I knew something about the condition to help you, but I'm not familiar. I'm so sorry you guys are going through this.

Big forking hugs Srock. You're in my thoughts.

I'm so sorry Agnes is sick and that you've had to go through so much with your kitties! Sending good thoughts for you and Agnes and Olive.

That sucks. I know companion animals get health problems, but you've been dealt way more than your fair share recently. I'm so sorry, strawberryrock. I have no advice, just more hugs.

Another round of hugs from me and my kitties. We're all rooting for Agnes. :-)