Just diagnosed with congestive heart failure

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Cassis

Cassis

Member Since 2016
Cassis has been in the hospital since Sunday night with aspiration pneumonia. Yesterday's ultrasound showed cardiomyopathy and congestive heart failure, probably due to fluid overload secondary to treatment of his pancreatitis. This on top of his CKD and DM will be a challenge to manage when he is well enough to come home. Any experience and advice would be greatly appreciated.
 
I have had similar situation and it is a tight walk for sure...
The only thing my vet really pushed was to not give fluids in the front 1/2 of her body .... as they will settle in the chest/heart area.
He also said smaller amounts of fluids and to make sure the previous SQ had been absorbed before giving more.
I am sure some others will have more wisdom for you... sending good vibes and hugs:bighug:
 
Sorry to hear Cassie is having so many issues and all at once. I do hope everything works out okay for her. Frodo was diagnosed with HCM and congestive heart in November, getting the meds in him can really be a challenge. They have upped his Lasix 3 times now, he is currently on 50mg a day, which is a lot. Our saving grace is right now his kidney values, well actually all his blood work looks really good.

I am sure Cassie's CKD really complicates giving meds for the heart problem, especially since Lasix is very important with the disease as well as blood thinners.

I wish you the best in managing her. :bighug:
 
Maggie had all three, but this was awhile ago, so I hope treatments have gotten more effective. It was very hard to balance the treatments. The fluids for her kidneys made her hypertrophic cardiomyopathy worse, and the heart meds made the kidney disease worse. When she felt bad because of either condition her BG went up. It won't necessarily mean the diabetes is worse, it's just the stress and pain or discomfort from the other diseases cause the BG to fluctuate. I wish you and Cassis well with it all.

BTW, Cassis is gorgeous! I'm a sucker for mezzers and he looks like a darling,
 
First step is to have the heart evaluated by a board certified cardiologist. Squeaker had RCM and a 2/6 murmur; he did experience CHF once but with the treatment of a cardiologist he lived for over 28 months. Balancing treatment for heart/CRF is tricky but it takes work. Here is the link for the heart group: https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/feline-heart/info

Second, this page has a wealth of information on CKD: http://felinecrf.org/. Here is the link for the kidney group: https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/Feline-CRF-Support/info

Fluids can be given to a heart kitty, the caveat is to give smaller amounts at specific intervals. When Squeaker first began needing 100 mL when he had a pancreatitis flare I gave him 50 mL at 12 hour intervals. Another time he was on 150 mL, so I gave 50 mL at six hour intervals.

A tip from this point forward, get a copy every time you have labs done. You will need them as there are a number of values you will need to monitor as the CRF progresses. Not just the kidney values, but potassium, phosphorus, RBC, HCT and others. This link will give you a fair idea as to why it is crucial to get copies of labs: http://felinecrf.org/diagnosis.htm
 
jayla-n-Drevon said:
I have had similar situation and it is a tight walk for sure...
The only thing my vet really pushed was to not give fluids in the front 1/2 of her body .... as they will settle in the chest/heart area.
He also said smaller amounts of fluids and to make sure the previous SQ had been absorbed before giving more.
I am sure some others will have more wisdom for you... sending good vibes and hugs:bighug:
Click to expand...
Hi Jayla - just seeing this I'm a little puzzled by the vets advice not to give fluids in the front part of the body - as I understand it, the sq fluids get absorbed into the cardiovascular system and therefore would circulate throughout the body - the "sac" might settle in the chest, but it's still sq at that point. So sorry all of your kitties are having this problem
 
Carol & Murphy said:
Hi Jayla - just seeing this I'm a little puzzled by the vets advice not to give fluids in the front part of the body - as I understand it, the sq fluids get absorbed into the cardiovascular system and therefore would circulate throughout the body - the "sac" might settle in the chest, but it's still sq at that point. So sorry all of your kitties are having this problem
Click to expand...
Hi Carol,
From what I remember (this was years back) he didn't want the fluids sac lingering around her heart ... she had fluid drained a few times before we caught the heart problem as it seemed to appear quickly. I ended up doing small amounts ( 50 ish) anywhere behind the shoulders. I just did it more often if needed or until absorbed.
I think ultimatley he felt because her heart was not pumping enough it just added more pressure/stress to her already frail system/heart.
She was the first kitty I had with a heart issue -- Trinity was a absolute angelcat_wings>o
 
Cassis saw an Internal Medicine specialist today. Fluid has cleared from his lungs, but chest X-ray demonstrates progression of his pneumonia despite apparent improvement in his symptoms. Hopefully, this is not the result of his syringe feedings, which seem to be helping the overall situation, especially in relieving the stress of trying to coax him to eat. He seems to tolerate them well. Unfortunately, he vomited the new antibiotic, so we were fortunate to get an injectable form off label. Hopefully, there will be no complications from this, and he can clear this pneumonia.
 
I'm so glad to hear his symptoms are improving - does he try to eat on his own at all? Sorry to hear about the fluid - do they think it could be aspiration pneumonia from the syringe? How long do you anticipate the syringe feeding? Lots of healing wishes for Cassis-
 
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