Martica and Fred
Active Member
So following up to my earlier post on Friday night about Fred's breathing problems after I gave him fluids, I took him to the vet today. He took an Xray and showed it to me and his entire right lung was 85% white opaque--meaning no clear black space, indicating some sort of mass. The left lung was 80% black, some opaqueness. The bottom edges were sharp rather than fuzzy, apparently indicating this is probably not fluid, more like a mass, probably cancer. He could not see the heart and he said that the white part was so opaque it was probably too white to be just fluid. He said it could either be:
1. lung cancer
2. fluid
3. twisted lung or something like that
He also detected an gallop rhythm in his heart rate (which the December vet in Pennsylvania had also noted). My vet said that their could be a heart issue, and that could be affecting the lungs, or it was the lungs that could be affecting the heart in this way.
So I guess this explains some of the things I"ve noticed, the recent breathing problems (3 times now, 1 bad on Friday night with the mouth open), and also I have noticed that in the past few months he would cough if I picked him up and (I thought) accidentally squeezed him too tight while doing so. It was a little bit of a cough, but I guess if he has some mass I would have compressed it and limited his lung capacity in some way even more.
Even though I seem to think that these breathing problems--and LIMPNESS--have always followed the fluids, my vet does not seem to thing it's the fluids. He can't really explain the limpness but theorized that it could be that Fred is getting deprived of oxygen from the vastly diminished lung capacity and that could somehow be making him limp. He wasn't really sure.
His kidney values have gotten worse in the past month, and most likely because I have been given a lot less fluids (because of the limpness). Here are his recent values:
BUN
Apr, Sept and NOv 2006: 36, 34, 35
Aug 2007- 45
Nov 2007- 52
Jan 2008--44
Dec 2008--56
June 2009-75 (this is when we went on fluids--at first 150ml/day)
Aug 2009-58 (After this I dropped the fluids to 50-100/day and started noticing limpness in Oct/Nov/Dec/Jan
Dec 09-78
Jan 2010-68 (he dropped but vet said it was probably because he was eating less over the last few days)
CREATININE
Apr, Sept and NOv 2006: 2.5/ 2.6/2.8
Aug 2007- 2.7
Nov 2007- 3.3
Jan 2008--3.4
Dec 2008--3.4
June 2009-4.2 (this is when we went on fluids--at first 150ml/day)
Aug 2009-3.4 (After this I dropped the fluids to 50-100/day and started noticing limpness in Oct/Nov/Dec/Jan
Dec 09- 4.2 (back to what he was in June after I started giving less fluids
Jan 2010-5.2 (so he's significantly increased)
BODY WEIGHT
Dec 08--13.2 lbs
Jun 09--11.7 lbs
Aug 09--11.3 lbs
Dec 09--10.6 lbs
Jan 10-- 10.7 lbs (I think, thereabouts--about the same as last month, but he is skinny--spine and hip bones showing)
PHOSPHORUS
Dec 08-5.0
Jun 09--6.0
Aug 09--5.0
Dec 09--7.5
Jan 10--8.2 (vet said we could start giving a Phos binder like epichitin or amphigel--any one better than the other?)
POTASSIUM
Jan 08--5.1
Dec 08--4.7
Jun 09--4.5
Aug 09--4.7
Dec 09--4.1
Jan 10---didn't see the figure for today, but vet said he doubted that low K would cause the limpness because Fred is always in the normal range, I have also been giving him a Renal Essential vitamin crushed up in his food for a month or two now so he's getting some extra as well.
Vet said something about giving him...mertasipine?....not sure, wrote it down but now forgot what he said to give it for...
Tomorrow we are doing an echocardiogram to check his heart and an ultrasound to check the lungs. Based on what he sees he will do a lung aspiration to draw out fluid and/or tissue to analyze in the lab. He said there is a very small risk of lung puncture/air in lung from this--should I worry?
He basically told me that he thinks that Fred is dying. I said, well he was purring this morning a lot and is alert and walking--and blood sugar has been great for past 10 days. He said that the blood sugar is not really the main problem, it's the worsening kidneys--and he said when Creatinine is at 5.0 cats start to feel really bad and eat less, and also the breathing issue, especially the 'attacks' can be very stressful and traumatizing, and he said at some point if these continue I need to think of his quality of life, especially with the breathing.
As far as what we find out tomorrow, he said that if it's a heart issue, which he thinks is not likely, there could be a drug to use. He said if it was cancer, given Fred's age, other diseases, overall state, he would not want to put him on chemotherapy, He said the median extended lifespan from chemo is just 6 months for cats of all ages--and considering his age--19 and 5 months--it would not be worth putting him through this. He said if it was lymphoma, perhaps giving him a shot of l-arginanase or something could possibly shrink a tumor and give hiim a little better quality of life for a while. If it's this twisted lung thing, not sure what he said about that, but that sounds less likely.
So he was basically telling me that either I not do the echo and ultrasound and just take care of him at homoe and try to keep him comfortable...or we could try to determine exactly what is in the lungs and possibly do something.
So I'm pretty sad about this. I've had Fred since he was 4 months old. I can't imagine being without him.
I asked the vet what to do if he has another breathing attack--he basically said nothing, just reassure him and keep him calm.
I'm afraid to give him fluids, although he def. is dehydrated (I am watering his Wellness and also giving him water--bringing these all up to him), So far in the last 14 hours he's eaten about 3/4 of can of Wellness, which is more than past few days I guess. His bs is low, right now at +14--didn't give shot yet--he's 185. Last night at +12 he was 50 and so I didn't give him shot till +20 when he was 454, vet thinks he may have hypoed, although I don't think so, jsut got low, he wasn't eating much--his numbers have been 100s/200s/300s in past 10 days. Vet thinks I should give him lower dose while he's eating less.
I would appreciate anyone's thoughts about any of this.
Also, what should I do if he has another breathing attack?
Also, vet thinks I should give him fluids--even 50ml--but I gave him 30 ml last night and he had the slight breathing and limpness. I'm afraid to, but I know he needs some. (And he doesn't resist them, he likes them, purrs and I have a heating pad on him and we use a 26 gauge needle so fluid goes in slowly). Not sure what to do...give him 10-15ml?
Fred is now sleeping.
1. lung cancer
2. fluid
3. twisted lung or something like that
He also detected an gallop rhythm in his heart rate (which the December vet in Pennsylvania had also noted). My vet said that their could be a heart issue, and that could be affecting the lungs, or it was the lungs that could be affecting the heart in this way.
So I guess this explains some of the things I"ve noticed, the recent breathing problems (3 times now, 1 bad on Friday night with the mouth open), and also I have noticed that in the past few months he would cough if I picked him up and (I thought) accidentally squeezed him too tight while doing so. It was a little bit of a cough, but I guess if he has some mass I would have compressed it and limited his lung capacity in some way even more.
Even though I seem to think that these breathing problems--and LIMPNESS--have always followed the fluids, my vet does not seem to thing it's the fluids. He can't really explain the limpness but theorized that it could be that Fred is getting deprived of oxygen from the vastly diminished lung capacity and that could somehow be making him limp. He wasn't really sure.
His kidney values have gotten worse in the past month, and most likely because I have been given a lot less fluids (because of the limpness). Here are his recent values:
BUN
Apr, Sept and NOv 2006: 36, 34, 35
Aug 2007- 45
Nov 2007- 52
Jan 2008--44
Dec 2008--56
June 2009-75 (this is when we went on fluids--at first 150ml/day)
Aug 2009-58 (After this I dropped the fluids to 50-100/day and started noticing limpness in Oct/Nov/Dec/Jan
Dec 09-78
Jan 2010-68 (he dropped but vet said it was probably because he was eating less over the last few days)
CREATININE
Apr, Sept and NOv 2006: 2.5/ 2.6/2.8
Aug 2007- 2.7
Nov 2007- 3.3
Jan 2008--3.4
Dec 2008--3.4
June 2009-4.2 (this is when we went on fluids--at first 150ml/day)
Aug 2009-3.4 (After this I dropped the fluids to 50-100/day and started noticing limpness in Oct/Nov/Dec/Jan
Dec 09- 4.2 (back to what he was in June after I started giving less fluids
Jan 2010-5.2 (so he's significantly increased)
BODY WEIGHT
Dec 08--13.2 lbs
Jun 09--11.7 lbs
Aug 09--11.3 lbs
Dec 09--10.6 lbs
Jan 10-- 10.7 lbs (I think, thereabouts--about the same as last month, but he is skinny--spine and hip bones showing)
PHOSPHORUS
Dec 08-5.0
Jun 09--6.0
Aug 09--5.0
Dec 09--7.5
Jan 10--8.2 (vet said we could start giving a Phos binder like epichitin or amphigel--any one better than the other?)
POTASSIUM
Jan 08--5.1
Dec 08--4.7
Jun 09--4.5
Aug 09--4.7
Dec 09--4.1
Jan 10---didn't see the figure for today, but vet said he doubted that low K would cause the limpness because Fred is always in the normal range, I have also been giving him a Renal Essential vitamin crushed up in his food for a month or two now so he's getting some extra as well.
Vet said something about giving him...mertasipine?....not sure, wrote it down but now forgot what he said to give it for...
Tomorrow we are doing an echocardiogram to check his heart and an ultrasound to check the lungs. Based on what he sees he will do a lung aspiration to draw out fluid and/or tissue to analyze in the lab. He said there is a very small risk of lung puncture/air in lung from this--should I worry?
He basically told me that he thinks that Fred is dying. I said, well he was purring this morning a lot and is alert and walking--and blood sugar has been great for past 10 days. He said that the blood sugar is not really the main problem, it's the worsening kidneys--and he said when Creatinine is at 5.0 cats start to feel really bad and eat less, and also the breathing issue, especially the 'attacks' can be very stressful and traumatizing, and he said at some point if these continue I need to think of his quality of life, especially with the breathing.
As far as what we find out tomorrow, he said that if it's a heart issue, which he thinks is not likely, there could be a drug to use. He said if it was cancer, given Fred's age, other diseases, overall state, he would not want to put him on chemotherapy, He said the median extended lifespan from chemo is just 6 months for cats of all ages--and considering his age--19 and 5 months--it would not be worth putting him through this. He said if it was lymphoma, perhaps giving him a shot of l-arginanase or something could possibly shrink a tumor and give hiim a little better quality of life for a while. If it's this twisted lung thing, not sure what he said about that, but that sounds less likely.
So he was basically telling me that either I not do the echo and ultrasound and just take care of him at homoe and try to keep him comfortable...or we could try to determine exactly what is in the lungs and possibly do something.
So I'm pretty sad about this. I've had Fred since he was 4 months old. I can't imagine being without him.
I asked the vet what to do if he has another breathing attack--he basically said nothing, just reassure him and keep him calm.
I'm afraid to give him fluids, although he def. is dehydrated (I am watering his Wellness and also giving him water--bringing these all up to him), So far in the last 14 hours he's eaten about 3/4 of can of Wellness, which is more than past few days I guess. His bs is low, right now at +14--didn't give shot yet--he's 185. Last night at +12 he was 50 and so I didn't give him shot till +20 when he was 454, vet thinks he may have hypoed, although I don't think so, jsut got low, he wasn't eating much--his numbers have been 100s/200s/300s in past 10 days. Vet thinks I should give him lower dose while he's eating less.
I would appreciate anyone's thoughts about any of this.
Also, what should I do if he has another breathing attack?
Also, vet thinks I should give him fluids--even 50ml--but I gave him 30 ml last night and he had the slight breathing and limpness. I'm afraid to, but I know he needs some. (And he doesn't resist them, he likes them, purrs and I have a heating pad on him and we use a 26 gauge needle so fluid goes in slowly). Not sure what to do...give him 10-15ml?
Fred is now sleeping.
:sad:
