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Old July 13th 06, 01:53 PM posted to rec.pets.cats.health+behav
dgk
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Posts: 2,268
Default Any success treating a cat with a "straddle" blood clot?

On 10 Jul 2006 10:21:37 -0700, wrote:

My cat while hospitalized for congestive heart failure threw a blood
clot that cut circulation and paralyzed his hind legs.

Has anyone here had a cat with a similar problem that they were able to
treat and help recover from?

Thanks.


I was sick and missed this. One of my cats had this. I found him
unable to walk; somehow during the night he had dragged himself down
the steps and was hiding in a box.

I took him to the specialty vet and they figured that he had about a
50% chance of making it, so I told them to start treating him. But
they did an ultrasound of his heart and found that there were more
clots ready to come out and that they thought that it was pointless to
continue treatment, so we euthanized him.

It can be treated but the cause is the underlying heart condition. If
that can be treated, then it's possibly worth doing. That is,
depending on several factors including your financial situation. I
hate to mention that, since it sounds crass, but spending $2000 to
keep a cat alive for a few months, likely in a debilitated condition,
isn't necessarily a good move.

I think it cost me $1500 just for the two days that they woirked on
LuckyBoy. I spent well over $4000 on Nico (lymphoma) and he lived six
months. I think that both were a mistake and I'll give great thought
before doing what are really heroic measures the next time.

Part of the problem is that we just don't know how much they are
suffering. And being scared and in a hospital counts as suffering.
They don't know why they're there, only that you aren't there and that
they are in a strange place. When I went to get Nico after four days
in the hospital he clung to me with his claws, and ripped his paws
trying to get out of the carrier in the car ride home. I finally let
him sit in my lap while driving on the Long Island Expressway. He was
leaking liquid pop into my crotch.

No one gets out of here alive. The only question is when, how, and the
quality of life while alive. Since our cats can't tell us how much
they're suffering, we just have to do the best that we can. Good luck
and let us know how it goes.