CHF diabetic or remission kitties

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Lillie

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Has anyone here had their diabetic or remission diabetic kitties go into congestive heart failure from an enlarged heart? I am currently dealing with Leo's heart problems now and it would be good to hear from anyone who has dealt with this. I will be trying to figure out how far to go with treatment. Specialist feels it's worth it to treat but he also has IBD and the diuretics have an effect on kidney values. His glucose level spiked at the hospital but that is pretty common for him when he's traumatized.
 
I don't know about CHF since I've been lucky and so far we haven't had it (I've dealt with HCM with Babu and DCM with my dog ) but I think that with all heart cardiopathies no one really knows how it will evolve, I've know of kitties that recover fairly well from CHF and lived a long time and others that don't, I think you need to treat the cat more than the list of illness, and as long as you see he feels ok and happy, well you deal with each symptom as it comes, yes he needs diuretics so you have to give it to him and try and take care of the kidneys as best as possible hoping the diuretic won't have much of an effect, etc. and if his BG doesn't come down on it's own you may need to start him on insulin again
 
Thanks for responding. This is so overwhelming. Not sure how we will deal with a possible IBD flare up now as the budesonide he was starting is what unmasked his heart problem. His specialist did say that if we cant balance the heart problem and the IBD and his kidney values- well then we have to consider his quality of life. So far he is recovering from the CHF but will need to see what the echo shows at the cardiologist tomorrow. You're right, I will need to treat him and how he feels rather than the list of illnesses.
 
My girl had chronic kidney disease with mild HCM when her vet started her on fluids. That led to a CHF episode, and at the same time got diagnosed with either SCL (small cell lymphoma or extreme IBD). We couldn't biopsy to diagnose because of her heart - she also had a heart block. I did start her on budesonide instead of pred, which her heart couldn't take. The budesonide seemed to be OK for her. She was also on Leukeran.

Turns out the CHF at that point reversed itself once fluids were stopped and heart meds started. She was not on lasix at that time. I was seeing an internal medicine vet at the time to manage all of her conditions, and also consulting with a cardiologist. Fast forward several months and her kidney values got worse, IM vet wanted me to add just a little bit of fluids every other day. However, that was a mistake. Led to the second CHF, and this time we did have to add lasix, but just a little bit.

Bottom line, the heart trumps kidneys. Not sure what type of specialist you are seeing, but I would recommend going to a cardiologist. Depending on what's wrong with the heart, there are medicines that can help. I would add as much water to your kitties food as Leo can tolerate. An IM vet can help balance multiple conditions and meds, but get the cardiologist to help.
 
Thank you for responding. Leo is being treated by IM at a hospital which is where I went for ER last Monday. They stabilized him on Lasix and oxygen cage after seeing the XRay which showed the fluid and enlarged heart. His appointment for an Echo is tomorrow with a cardiologist. They seem to be more concerned with his kidneys than anything else so I'm nervous. I do add water to all his wet food. It's such a balancing act with multiple problems like this. His fluid build up started when he was put on budesonide for his IBD and I know steroids can unmask heart disease so I'm sure this is what happened. Sounds like you went through pretty much what I'm going through now. It's so hard knowing when or if treatment should be stopped or even started for that matter. It makes me very sad.
 
Sounds like you've got a good plan for now. Best of luck with the echo and finding a treatment plan.:bighug:
 
My cat has multiple ailments too. He’s a diabetic in remission. Started off from ultrasound scan with a thickened layer in small intestine which we couldn’t do anythg about cos he also has kidney disease. IM thinks could possibly be small cell lymphoma which progresses fairly slowly so we put that aside. A week into sub-cut fluid and he had fluids in lungs -chf. Was given diuretics, fortekor and clopidogrel. We were trying to balance heart and kidney issue. His kidney creatinine value increased so we reduced diuretics and he’s off it totally now. I just monitor his breathing rate at rest. And we are back with daily sub-cut which we slowly increase. Crea value and has come down and he’s as active as before. Of cos, he is anaemic and constipated. He had shots of darbepoetin on and off and Miralax.
 
It sounds like one thing just leads eventually to other things. My Leo is also already on clopidogrel from a clot he had years ago. At the time they could not find any heart disease at all and didn't know why he threw a clot. So your kitty was able to go off the diuretic- that's wonderful. I noticed how constipated Leo got since he's been on the diuretic so I had to start the Miralax. Has your kitty stayed in remission from diabetes through all this? Leo's glucose shot up at the hospital and I'm hoping it's stress related.
 
Lillie said:
It sounds like one thing just leads eventually to other things. My Leo is also already on clopidogrel from a clot he had years ago. At the time they could not find any heart disease at all and didn't know why he threw a clot. So your kitty was able to go off the diuretic- that's wonderful. I noticed how constipated Leo got since he's been on the diuretic so I had to start the Miralax. Has your kitty stayed in remission from diabetes through all this? Leo's glucose shot up at the hospital and I'm hoping it's stress related.
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Yes, thank God so far he is. The vet gave me lactulose for his constipation but I’m not taking any chances since it has sugar derivative so I opted for Miralax. He was on diuretic for 3 months and it affected his kidney value so we tried easing him off it. So far it has been good but it has been countless visits to the vet. Something always crops up. Hope Leo glucose will come down when he’s home.
 
Countless vet visits are so stressful- on him and me but I have a feeling this will be a common thing now. Hard on the wallet too. Glad to hear he's doing better and able to go off the diuretics.
 
Wendy & Neko- How long were you able to keep your kitty once he was diagnosed with HCM? I hope you don't mind me asking as Leo was just diagnosed with cardiomyopathy with mildly enlarged heart. His CHF has resolved and blood pressure is good. Kidney values also good and he was put on an Ace Inhibitor with his diuretic. They told me usually 12-18 months prognosis but have seen up to two years. I have a feeling I may only have him another year maybe less.
 
Is important to consider that HCM (hypertrophic cardiomyopathy) and DMC (dilated cardiomyopathy) are different, with HCM his heart won't get enlarged much (or not noticeably) but the walls will grow thicker and will harden and with DCM the heart will get enlarged (this is a little bit oversimplified but more o less gives an idea of the difference), that being said I think in both cases nobody can really tell the prognosis and they can advance rapidly or not in HCM there have been cases reported having lived with over 13 years after diagnose but also cases that advances very quickly, you need a cardiologist to work with you, monitor him and help you with meds and treatments tring to affect the rest as little as possible

You could ask your vet about adding CQ10 (ubiquinol) as supplement besides his meds it has been some reports that it appears to help
 
We are working with a cardiologist and his IM. He's on Lasix, Plavix, and an ace inhibitor. I guess I will wait to see what quality of life he will have as if he just sits all day in a chair with no interest in anything it seems kind of cruel to keep him going. His breed may be predisposed to this condition like Main Coons are. I have a feeling he has had this for a long time but nothing had showed yet on echocardiograms. He never had a lot of energy and when he played it was only for short times and then had to sit down.
 
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