10/29 Beenie 89 AMPS, 74 PMPS, 80 +2, 64 +4

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Beenie (GA)

Beenie (GA)

Member Since 2017
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Thanks for all the support yesterday.:bighug:

Been trying all morning to get a sooner appointment with a Cardiologist to have an echo cardiogram done. Looks like Nov 8th is the soonest. Beenie had no fluid in or around the lungs so IM vet said (via email correspondence) she may very well have heart disease AND asthma. She said its unlikely the cough is due to the heart if no fluids are present. Echo was recommended and we see her Tuesday. Right now Beenie is resting quietly but its so scary when she's coughing. She's not panting or open mouth breathing so I guess its ok to wait this all out. I'm just concerned about the breathing issues escalating so I'm anxious for a diagnosis and start of treatment. I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed with one disease after another being brought into the mix. Trying to take deep breaths and tackle one thing at a time.

Chin scritches to all the kitties
Radiologist report.JPG
 
I'm so sorry Michelle, it's very difficult and not knowing in the meantime makes it even harder. If HCM it can be treated but not cured. Glad to hear they didn't see any fluid. The echocardiogram is going to be the best diagnostic tool.

Sending mega breathing vines and prayers for Beanie and lots of :bighug::bighug::bighug::bighug: for you.
 
52 @ +5 :stop:
This is entirely too early in the cycle for these kinds of numbers. Gave 1tsp of MC gravy. Looks like I'm tied to the house today which is fine its rainy and dreary.
 
Doodles & Karen said:
I'm so sorry Michelle, it's very difficult and not knowing in the meantime makes it even harder. If HCM it can be treated but not cured. Glad to hear they didn't see any fluid. The echocardiogram is going to be the best diagnostic tool.

Sending mega breathing vines and prayers for Beanie and lots of :bighug::bighug::bighug::bighug: for you.
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Thank you! I'm really struggling with this. I just want her to breathe easy.
 
Usually an x-ray will show evidence of asthma. I don't know if you've looked this up on the internet. Usually, x-rays show evidence of air trapping -- the lungs look like there are tiny donuts inside. It doesn't sound like there's anything abnormal in Beenie's lungs from the report. Has allergy been ruled out?

I would ask your vet more about the possibility of asthma since there's no evidence from the radiologist's report.
 
Sending healing vines full of oxygen to Beenie on this rainy dreary day. And hugs to you.

Also hope she slows down a bit on the drop for you today. Surf safely, little one!
 
Sienne and Gabby (GA) said:
Usually an x-ray will show evidence of asthma
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This is where I struggled with Doodles and battled with the cardiologist and regular vet multiple times. They told me unless he was in a flare the x-ray wouldn't necessarily show the donuts. His recurring CHF would contribute but there wasn't always excess fluid especially on 60mg of Lasik a day. They kept saying cats with heart disease don't cough but Doodles was clearly coughing/choking. Of course he couldn't have steroids or the inhaler because his heart was so weak. :banghead::banghead: I also suspected environmental allergies especially here in the dessert.
 
Sienne and Gabby (GA) said:
Usually an x-ray will show evidence of asthma. I don't know if you've looked this up on the internet. Usually, x-rays show evidence of air trapping -- the lungs look like there are tiny donuts inside. It doesn't sound like there's anything abnormal in Beenie's lungs from the report. Has allergy been ruled out?

I would ask your vet more about the possibility of asthma since there's no evidence from the radiologist's report.
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I have a feeling the IM will take new radiographs on Tuesday. What was sent to the Radiologist yesterday were older xrays from my regular vet (10/5/2017, most recent). In the email from the IM she said she prefers radiographs that are "collimated" on one body area. If she's looking at the lungs she would take radiographs of just the thorax for better detail. However she said this assessment is still useful. The xray was of the entire body. Not sure why my regular vet doesn't have them automatically read by a radiologist. Had he done that we would have this information sooner. When I brought her in Oct 5th I specifically asked to have the heart looked at because it was a concern. He said everything looked normal. Obviously he was wrong.

Allergy hasn't been discussed yet. I'm seeing the IM this coming Tuesday to try and figure it all out.
 
@Doodles & Karen: Humans with CHF don't always cough. In fact, humans who are either acutely volume overloaded don't necessarily cough. To make it more complex, there are some antihypertensive drugs (ACE inhibitors) that are commonly used with CHF where one of the side effects is coughing. I don't know if this is necessarily the same in cats, though. It's certainly possible that there's some other restrictive airway disease that's causing the coughing.
 
Do you think an obstruction in the sinus/head area could cause coughing? Reason I ask is one of the issues Beenie was having was drippy eyes and the discharge had color to it almost like an infection. Went through two rounds of Orbax and it didn't resolve. It now comes and goes in severity. The ER doc though perhaps the IM may want a CT scan of the head to rule out an blockages.
 
Sienne and Gabby (GA) said:
there are some antihypertensive drugs (ACE inhibitors) that are commonly used with CHF where one of the side effects is coughing
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Thanks Sienne, interesting that was never brought up and Doodles was also on Enalapril. Tarragon had HCM for a long time (5+years or so), no CHF, on an Ace inhibitor and also taking pred for Asthma. Sorry Michelle, for high-jacking....leaving it there and going to vacuum. I'll be sending continuous vines and prayers for both you and Beanie.
 
Doodles & Karen said:
Thanks Sienne, interesting that was never brought up and Doodles was also on Enalapril. Tarragon had HCM for a long time (5+years or so), no CHF, on an Ace inhibitor and also taking pred for Asthma. Sorry Michelle, for high-jacking....leaving it there and going to vacuum. I'll be sending continuous vines and prayers for both you and Beanie.
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Do not apologize;) I want to learn as much as possible. Thanks!!
 
I sorry Beenie hasn't been feeling well and had to go to ER. Hope fully they will figure out what he has. The heart being a bit larger is definitely part of being acro, as all organs from what I hear will grow. Make sure the cardiologist is aware of the Acro diagnosis and test his knowledge a bit, as we all know not many vets know a lot about Acromegaly. If you can ask for one that is familiar with it, even better. Beenie is doing so well with the reducies, quick but that is also how it was with Marvin when he started going down quick, back to back reducies.
 
Marvin's Mom - Nat said:
I sorry Beenie hasn't been feeling well and had to go to ER. Hope fully they will figure out what he has. The heart being a bit larger is definitely part of being acro, as all organs from what I hear will grow. Make sure the cardiologist is aware of the Acro diagnosis and test his knowledge a bit, as we all know not many vets know a lot about Acromegaly. If you can ask for one that is familiar with it, even better. Beenie is doing so well with the reducies, quick but that is also how it was with Marvin when he started going down quick, back to back reducies.
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Thanks Nat. I made all docs fully aware of the acro diagnosis. I gave them a copy of the MSU report. I will ask if the IM has experience with it when we meet on Tuesday. Yes the silver lining in all this is Beenie is slowly going down the dose ladder.:)
 
Waiting for appointments is so hard, I'm sorry about the struggles, sending lots of support and vines your way. Hope things settle down, I know how much worrying can take over all your daily thoughts :bighug:
 
carfurby said:
I hope you get some answers soon. Waiting is so hard. Sending prayers for you and Beenie. :bighug::bighug::bighug::bighug::bighug::bighug::bighug:
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Thanks Carla. She's been pretty good today thank god. My stomach has been in knots so other than a little coughing this morning its she's been quiet. We both needed that break:)
 
I'm stalling with not food for 20 minutes to she if she's rising or surfing. Today has been an odd one for Beenie. She's never dropped this early in the cycle.

I'm torn on a BCS. I really can't take a night of steering. Only because I feel so mentally exhausted and I need to sleep. 6 minutes to re-test so we'll see. If I go the BCS route I will start new dose of 7.5 U tomorrow. I'm leaning towards it.
 
Oh Michelle....I don't know how I missed this earlier! How frustrating to not be able to see the Dr that Beenie needs to see! Sending lots of easy-breathing vines to Beenie and lots of hugs to you! :bighug::bighug::bighug::bighug::bighug:
 
Go BCS, you both need a break. :bighug::bighug::bighug::bighug:

FWIW, my civie Buster(GA), not on any other meds, coughed before his diagnosis of HCM. Neko never coughed with HCM or CHF. And she was on an ace inhibitor. ECID.
 
Sending breath easy vines to Beenie. Tuesday can't come soon enough.
Congrats on the reducie ... 7.5 units ... awesome! :D

Get some rest tonight. :bighug:
 
Thank you for the support:bighug:

Its looking like Beenie has other ideas for tonighto_O. I was hoping for a little more of a rise at +2....nope. Wish me luck:blackeye:. Getting a +4 in 25 minutes
 
Ok this is the same as the AM cycle. Dropping way early. 64 +4.

This is going to be a long night. What do I do in the morning??
 
When you do a BCS, the depot of the larger dose can still run the show in the first half of the cycle. It "should" start to wear off and lead to higher numbers by AM. But we are dealing with cats after all. Hard to predict now what to do in the AM.
 
Wendy&Neko said:
When you do a BCS, the depot of the larger dose can still run the show in the first half of the cycle. It "should" start to wear off and lead to higher numbers by AM. But we are dealing with cats after all. Hard to predict now what to do in the AM.
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I'm not used to drops so early on so I guess I got spooked. You're right the larger depot is at play, hopefully we go up and surf at least towards the end of the cycle. If I can't stay awake 24 hrs I could (only if absolutely necessary) abort the cycle and carb her up? If I could just get 3 hrs in a row of sleep I'll make it.
 
Beenie said:
Thanks guys! I literally have to not pet her or sweet talk her because if she purrs she starts to cough. Its so sad:(
At least she's resting and not too bad with wheezing and coughing today. She's getting a good amount of pokies today because someone is just asking for another reducie:D
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That's terrible! :( Get better fast, Beenie! I hope she's in the clear soon and you can give her extra pets and love. :cat:
 
Just catching up...poor Beenie. I hope you got some sleep and that they can figure out a treatment plan. Hang in there little Beenie (and you too!). :bighug:
 
Continuing to send healing vines, and keeping little Beenie in our thoughts! We are hoping you get some answers from the IM!! :bighug::bighug:

Sienne and Gabby (GA) said:
@Doodles & Karen - I wonder if vets realize it's a side effect in humans? It's possible that it's not something that's taught since it's not all that common in humans and there's no guarantee that it's considered relevant for our kitties.
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We just had this come up at our clinic last week actually! The cardiologist we refer to said that ACE inhibitors do not cause the same coughing side effect in dogs or cats as they do in people. We had a client read that online and stop giving the meds, and the poor little dog had a major set back because of it...:(
 
Beenie said:
Last condo

Thanks for all the support yesterday.:bighug:

Been trying all morning to get a sooner appointment with a Cardiologist to have an echo cardiogram done. Looks like Nov 8th is the soonest. Beenie had no fluid in or around the lungs so IM vet said (via email correspondence) she may very well have heart disease AND asthma. She said its unlikely the cough is due to the heart if no fluids are present. Echo was recommended and we see her Tuesday. Right now Beenie is resting quietly but its so scary when she's coughing. She's not panting or open mouth breathing so I guess its ok to wait this all out. I'm just concerned about the breathing issues escalating so I'm anxious for a diagnosis and start of treatment. I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed with one disease after another being brought into the mix. Trying to take deep breaths and tackle one thing at a time.

Chin scritches to all the kitties
View attachment 32017
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