My cat has a grave prognosis-Chylothorax (LONG)

Catnipped wrote:

I know we've had our differences in the past, but sincere best wishes and
positive energy are heading your way for Abbey from me and my four (who will
get extra loving and scritches today in honor of Abbey).

Thank you, CN.

"Candace" wrote :

Thanks, Phil. Yes, we got some Rutin today. I had read about it and
the vet said it wouldn't hurt. They're big horse pills but we'll cut
them down and try to find a smaller pill meanwhile. We're also going
to do Vitamin E to help the scarring.


I wonder if the Rutin and the other things you need to give her
could be ground into a favorite food for the 18 days you will be
alone? Rutin and the other citrus bioflavonoids are present in
the white stuff inside an orange peel, so it should not taste bad.
(I ground my cat's Tapazole for about a week and put it in her
cat food but it tastes so bad she detected it and would not eat
it all.)

I'm worried about you trying to pill her by yourself for nearly
three weeks.

Mary wrote:

I hope the rutin Phil mentioned will do some good. I wonder if
our Resident Gargoyle Megan "I demand an Apology"
has any suggestions. Poor baby Abbey--to have come through so much
to have this to contend with. My heart goes out to Candace.

Thank you, Mary. Yes, I have the Rutin for Abbey. Megan had a cat
with chylothorax, too, Omar. He is now deceased. I read her posts
from then. Omar had an underlying condition causing his chylothorax, I
believe, and his chylo was controlled with lasix, if I remember
correctly, but he did ultimately die of his other condition. I think
it was HCM but I can't recall right now.

If there is a treatable underlying condition, the chylo can go away
once the other condition is taken care of. In Abbey's case, there is
no apparent cause so we can only hope it resolves spontaneously.
Trauma is a big cause but Abbey has only been an indoor cat since we
got her and I certainly can't imagine that she could have sustained
that bad of an injury around the house that I wouldn't have noticed.
She and Scottie run and chase each other sometimes and I suppose she
could have tumbled off something but I doubt it could do that damage.

She is a little baby, she still sort of has that kitten look to her.

Candace

"Mary" wrote in message
...

"Catnipped" wrote in message
...
"Candace" wrote in message
oups.com...

snip
I guess at some point, TBD, when/if it happens again, when I take her
in, I will have to choose euthanasia instead of the draining. If you
feel so inclined, she is accepting prayers, good thoughts, and
positive
energy here in Phoenix, if you want to send some her way.

Candace

Candace, I'm very sorry to hear that Abbey is so gravely ill.
Personally,
I
don't think you should be flamed for not having unlimited funds to keep
her
alive, not to mention the fact that it may only be prolonging her pain.

Nobody does that here. Everyone understands, tacitly, that each and
every one of us has our financial limits.

That's good.

Not the same thing as someone
beginning a thread entitled something like "What is Your Limit," which
I found disgusting. Also not the same as flaming people for just NOT
TAKING their animals to the vet when they are sick. Nobody has
limitless resources.

Yep.

I
know we've had our differences in the past, but sincere best wishes and
positive energy are heading your way for Abbey from me and my four (who
will
get extra loving and scritches today in honor of Abbey).


I hope the rutin Phil mentioned will do some good. I wonder if
our Resident Gargoyle Megan "I demand an Apology"
has any suggestions. Poor baby Abbey--to have come through so much
to have this to contend with. My heart goes out to Candace.

Mine too. Despite our differences here on the group, *everyone* (excluding
trolls - you know who you are) deeply love and care about our cats. Knowing
how it feels to experience the pain of losing a beloved pet transcends silly
past arguments and flame wars and makes anyone with a heart feel bad for the
person who may be losing their furry little one.

Hugs,

CatNipped

"Candace" wrote in message
oups.com...
I haven't felt like posting on here primarily because I don't want
anyone telling me I'm not doing enough for my cat or making me second
guess my decisions. But, it's a long weekend and I guess I feel like
mentioning it now. FWIW, I'm in AZ, we have no vet schools here and
I'm not flying her to some other state's vet school.

My cat Abbey, who is only 4 (we found her abandoned in the desert on
6/17/01 and she was only about 5 weeks old) has chylothorax, which is a
fairly rare condition in cats where there is a small hole in the
thoracic wall where lymphatic fluids from the digestive system (chyle)
seep into the pleural cavity so there is a large fluid buildup.

snip

Candace, I am so sorry! I will be sending positive thoughts to you and
Abbey. I understand about having to decide when to stop. I went through
the same thing with Dash. She kept crashing, and I could take her to the
vet's for fluids/IV (I was doing sub-q at home, but with her diarrhea, it
wasn't helping like an IV would). She would perk up after the vet stay, but
crash again in a week or two. I'm sure I could have done that for quite a
while longer, but I didn't think Dash would want to live like that.
You do what you feel is best for Abbey. Again, I'm very sorry about this.

Take care.

-Kelly

"Candace" wrote in message
ups.com...
Mary wrote:

I hope the rutin Phil mentioned will do some good. I wonder if
our Resident Gargoyle Megan "I demand an Apology"
has any suggestions. Poor baby Abbey--to have come through so much
to have this to contend with. My heart goes out to Candace.

Thank you, Mary. Yes, I have the Rutin for Abbey. Megan had a cat
with chylothorax, too, Omar. He is now deceased. I read her posts
from then.

That was a great idea. Megan leaves no stone unturned and surely
took very good care of Omar.

Omar had an underlying condition causing his chylothorax, I
believe, and his chylo was controlled with lasix, if I remember
correctly, but he did ultimately die of his other condition. I think
it was HCM but I can't recall right now.
If there is a treatable underlying condition, the chylo can go away
once the other condition is taken care of. In Abbey's case, there is
no apparent cause so we can only hope it resolves spontaneously.

My fervent hope is that your baby Abbey is young enough that her
very youth will give her strength to fight this. Let's hope that an
underlying condition--not too bad--emerges that can be treated.


Trauma is a big cause but Abbey has only been an indoor cat since we
got her and I certainly can't imagine that she could have sustained
that bad of an injury around the house that I wouldn't have noticed.
She and Scottie run and chase each other sometimes and I suppose she
could have tumbled off something but I doubt it could do that damage.

She is a little baby, she still sort of has that kitten look to her.


This would just kill me, Candace. Please pardon me for being
a ****head to you today. (It's so stupid, it's just force of habit
at this point.)

Keep your chin up and know that everyone here will be looking
around and asking around to see if we can find any information
at all that could help you and Abbey.

"Hopitus" wrote in message
...
Bless you and your long-time friends, Phil. I've never heard of this cat's
condition but you've given them a ray of hope.

Thanks Hopitus.

Chylo is caused by leakage or extravasation of chyle from a thoracic duct
or one its tiny branches- that's why surgical correction is so difficult.
Chylo is a real sneaky disease that's usually not detectable with routine
yearly exams- until its well established and the cat shows difficulty
breathing and weight loss.

I was sweating bullets during the entire Rutin therapy because the longer we
waited to see if the Rutin was working the greater the risk of the cat
developing irreversible fibrosing pleuritis from the constant exposure of
chyle. I was sure glad it all worked out- I never would have forgiven myself
if I made the wrong call.

How've ya been???

Phil

"Mary" wrote in message
...

"Phil P." wrote in message
...
Candace,

Speak to your vet about Rutin (available from the Solgar Vitamin Co.,
Lynbrook, NY- and probably your local pharmacy) at about 50 to 100
mg/kg
orally every 8 hr. I can't say with absolute certainty that Rutin
cured
our chylo cats by itself or if the chylo resolved spontaneously- but
after
a
few months of low-fat diets and thoracentesis as necessary to relieve
dyspnea and limit fibrosing pleuritis, both cats pulled through.


It this the rutin that is, along with hesperidin, part of C-complex?


Yup. Its an OTC.

P.

Mary wrote:

That was a great idea. Megan leaves no stone unturned and surely
took very good care of Omar.

Yes, no matter what anyone may think of Megan for other reasons (I like
her personally), I think everyone would agree she is a wonderful cat
advocate and not just for her own cats.

This would just kill me, Candace. Please pardon me for being
a ****head to you today. (It's so stupid, it's just force of habit
at this point.)

Okay, you made me laugh. I enjoy "bantering" and outright flaming
myself, at times. It can be entertaining.

Keep your chin up and know that everyone here will be looking
around and asking around to see if we can find any information
at all that could help you and Abbey.

Thank you to you and everyone else who responded: Karen, Kelly, Elle,
Phil, CN, Hopitus, all of you. I'm sure positive energy can help.

Candace

"Mary" wrote in message
...

"Candace" wrote :

Thanks, Phil. Yes, we got some Rutin today. I had read about it and
the vet said it wouldn't hurt. They're big horse pills but we'll cut
them down and try to find a smaller pill meanwhile. We're also going
to do Vitamin E to help the scarring.


I wonder if the Rutin and the other things you need to give her
could be ground into a favorite food for the 18 days you will be
alone? Rutin and the other citrus bioflavonoids are present in
the white stuff inside an orange peel,


Cats *hate* oranges and orange peels. People put orange peels in flower
pots to keep the cats away.

P.