Murphy - Bloating Issue - Serious Questions !!!

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msmurphy2010

msmurphy2010

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Murphy's BG levels appear to be stabilized, low-mid 100s, but I've noticed over the last two days or so that she is really bloated, almost a swelling in her abdominal area, and I wonder if this from her IV fluids. Or, if she is just gaining weight from her new diet, Evo. Seems like it appears overnight. I hope she is not getting into CRF. I leave fresh water out all day long, she loves ice cubes, but she rarely drinks the water. Possibly from the wet food and fluids? I need some helping in understanding what might be going on with her? I think this might be a serious thing.

Lisa and Murphy
 
I have not followed your threads before. What are the sub-q fluids for? Sometimes too much fluids given can result in the body taking on more water than it needs and you end up with a rapid weight gain like you are describing. Have you been weighing Murphy? Do you know how much was gained in what amount of time?
 
lisa if it is in the area you subQ than it is likely that. fluid retention in that area. with a wet diet and good #'s could you tell me again why she is getting subQ?
if it is in a different area or all around bloating maybe she should be seen by vet?
is she peeing?
 
If it is shoulders or front legs....probably fluids.

If abdomen, possibly stool retention. Is she pooping ?

See vet ASAP if it doesn't clear in 12 hours from when you noticed it.
 
She's pooping, yes, and peeing as well. The only place I see the bloating/swelling is in her abdominal area. The sub q's are for her pancreatitis, which we decreased to every other day, but she still needs them. I don't see how she could gain weight because we strictly picked this diet (EVO) because of its low carb value and the fact that the wet food is so great. She was 18.3 pounds last April when my old vet missed the Dx, and at the end of August, she was 13.2, and last week at her curve, she was 13.7, but she almost looks like she's back to 18 # again. Just bloated as could be. She just won't touch the water dish though, and that concerns me, although the vet said it will happen with high protein wet diets.
 
If your kitty is getting a football belly I'd head to the vet. My Sadie(GA) had finally lost weight and got her FD under control, then all of sudden got a football belly, turned out to be a problem with her heart and fluid retention.

So, just to be safe, I'd have the vet check this.
 
Her breathing has been erratic, but vet said it's from her feline asthma plus the pancreatitis. I'm not sure what we mean by "football belly" though? This is scary. We dropped the fluids down from every day to every other day, so maybe we need to drop them more, but that's when we run into the pancreatitis issue. Can't figure out why she won't drink water from the dish though.
 
Sadie used to look like a NFL football if I looked at her from above as she was standing. Oval shape. I'm sorry, I'm not trying to scare you.
 
I wouldn't worry about her not drinking
Between the wet food and the fluids she probably is hydrated enough to not have to drink extra. Just to be sure though, you might want to bring her in today or tomorrow to have things checked out.
 
Perhaps the vet might consider doing a tap to withdraw some of the fluid for analysis.

Excess fluid in the abdomen can make breathing difficult and there are a number of causes for it that a vet must diagnose.

Mu friend had a cat with bloating like that. A tap indicated chylothorax - a fancy way of saying milky fluid in the abdomen. Exploratory surgery revealed that all but a few inches of her intestines were destroyed and she was euthanized

(the young vet student asked "do you want me to wake her up?" what on earth for? so she could be in pain from the surgery? geez!!!)
 
I agree with others - the vet, as soon as you can. Erratic breathing and the bloating suggest fluid retention which can mean stress on the heart. Fluid in the abdominal area can create problems for respiration. I personally would NOT give any more sub-q fluids until you know that the bloating is not due to fluid retention. Just my thoughts - I'm not a vet. Laura
 
Murphy is doing better tonight. We are decreasing the fluids, it does not appear that there is anything else going on at the time, thank goodness. Her abdomen was not hard, she didn't have a bunch of poopy built up in her intestines, and her respirations were fine. Her vet did say that maybe too much fluids, even though we decreased to every other day, so now, every second day "as needed." I was a mess at work today -- couldn't stop crying. The only thing I could think about was -- well, we all know.

I was so glad to see Murphy.
 
Not to scare you, but really make sure she gets to the vet.

My cat became a football belly-- but we thought he was just losing weight and the tummy was the last to go.... then one day he started breathing funny. We took him to the ER vet and they thought he had asthma (due to having brought in a Christmas tree and potentially pesticides or pollen having caused a problem with his breathing)---within the next two days he had passed away due to FIP. It was horrible. Although they vet thought it may have been cardiac related but the other vet felt it was FIP due to some of the blood work. He passed on the way back to the emergency vet and that Christmas I could never bring back in the Christmas tree that I had moved outside temporarily when I thought it had triggered an asthmatic response.

Now whenever I see a bloated belly, I panic because wet FIP you notice the belly becoming larger and larger due to ascities. One of my civvies looked a little bloated to me after his lion cut (as I said, I get paranoid) and I requested a full panel blood test to especially get his Albumin to Globulin ratio since they have found in kitties with FIP that if the A:G ratio is < .8 then there is a HIGH probability that the kitty has FIP when compared to other symptoms.
 
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