Anyone Have a Kitty on Lasix?

Status
Not open for further replies.
M

MimiBaxter407

New Member
My cat was just diagnosed with CHF 2 weeks ago and has been responding well to Lasix. He has perked up and started eating again, breathing improved a little -- etc.

My question is about dosing. He started at 12.5 twice a day, and I just picked up my refill from the pharmacy and now the vet lowered it to 10mg twice per day. He weighs over 16 pounds, so he is not a little kitty!

This doesn't seem like enough to me?

Any thoughts? I hate to tell the vet how to do her job, but wanted to get some feedback here before calling her to make any suggestions.
 
Sending many cyber hugs. CHF is no fun. Merlyn had cardiomyopathy with severe left atrial enlargement on diagnosis and had fluid buildup in the lungs (pulmonary edema). Theres no way to drain it when it is in the lungs thats why lasix is important.

I cant remember how much Merlyn was on at first, but he was on it first and when he was better the vet took him off it to see how he would do but he had fluid buildup without it, so then we did half of a 12.5mg tablet in the morning and 1/4 in the evening. he was also on 50mls sub q fluids for his kidneys.. fluids are not recommended for heart kitties but we developed a balance of lasix and fluids that would keep him hydrated enough.

12.5 2x a day seems like a lot to me but every cat is different. Maybe your vet lowered it to see if he needed that amount. Lasix is hard on the kidneys because it dehydrates. Its possible the vet is trying to find the lowest successful dose to help your kitty. I am not sure lasix is related to weight, but more like how much lasix is needed to keep the fluids from building up.
 
question: did the 12.5mg come from the vet clinic and the 10mg come from a store pharmacy?

i ask because if i get my Fuji's from the vet clinic, they only have it in 12.5mg pills or liquid form but i can't remember the dose on the liquid she had. if i get it called in to walmart, it comes in 20mg pills i cut in half and he gets 10mg in the morning and another 10mg in the evening.

otherwise walmart has it in 40mg and 80mg pills

i honestly can't tell you though if 5mg will make a difference. i know going from 20mg/day to 12.5mg/day for a few days with Fuji made him develop a little cough. we went back to 20mg and no more cough
 
My Mitten was on 10 mg three times a day. The dose is higher than the maintenance dose specified in Plumb's but I worked up to it with my vet. I used the 20 mg tablets from Target.
 
Yep--The 20 mg is from Target. I am cutting in half and giving 1/2 tab twice per day.

The first bottle came from the vet and it was 12.5mg tabs twice per day.

We'll see...

He just started on Enalapril today too. So far so good. Taking it day by day. He's a tough little sugarcat, so I am hoping for the best.

Thanks for the input everyone! I guess we'll go with the 10mg twice a day and see how it goes. xoxo
 
my Fuji is on enalapril too, along with atenolol and baby aspirin. he's a little different than most heart kitties i've seen here in that he was born with a bad heart. he's only a year and a half old now and is holding his own still.

stuff to watch for would be like i mentioned, a cough (sounds similar to a hairball cough if you ask me), labored breathing, open mouth breathing, stuff like that. if you see any of that, i'd call the vet asap.
 
Well I am not a cat, but I do take lasix. 20mg/day is not enough for me, but 40/day is too much. And I am sure that I weigh a lot lot more than one though.
\Dana
 
Hi

The 12.5mg size is only sold to veterinarians so you can't get it from a human pharmacy.

If your cat does well on the 10mg size, great. I will just give you a little heads up that I have seen a lot of vets who want to wean cats off of Lasix and this is almost always a mistake. Once a cat is in CHF, with a few exceptions, s/he is considered to always be in CHF and will always need Lasix. I would be very cautious about doing a quick taper-down.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top