Bonnie's vet visit

I used the technique that I knew would work for today, getting her
in my bedroom, shut the door and remove the mattress and box
spring from my bed so she couldn't hide. Quick and painless. She
had the worst "Oh ****!" look on her face when I pulled off the
box spring and exposed her, though. But she didn't seem overly
stressed.

I asked the vet to do full bloodwork because Bonnie is hard to
handle so I can't always tell if something is wrong, and regular
bloodwork would provide a good baseline. I also asked for a chest
x-ray because she seasonally gets a snotty nose and has a cough
occasionally, and wanted to make sure it was clear. Vet said her
heart and lungs sound fine.

Bonnie's x-ray shows cloudiness but hard to tell whether from her
heart or her lungs. A normal cat chest x-ray shows the lungs as
dark, with clear delineation between heart silhouette and the
lungs, with the heart lighter in color.

Here is a normal chest x-ray of a cat; the black parts are the
lungs, with the white bulb-shaped thing near the left side being
the heart. Note how you can clearly see where one ends and the
other starts:

http://www.lodgevet.co.uk/Images/cat...0chest%20b.JPG

Bonnie's heart did not have an outline, it was not clear whether
the cloudiness was her heart or maybe something on her lungs, so
no way of knowing from this where there could be a problem. I'm a
bit worried because you *could* clearly see her stomach with food
in it, and intestines with feces that was making its way through,
so why couldn't we see an outline of her heart?

The vet said the reason could simply be that fat is making an
outline of her heart impossible; she is overweight as I wrote in a
followup to my other Bonnie thread. Or she could have a mass, or
the light color was from her lungs indicating asthma. Her
coughing could even be due to her fat pressing her heart against
her lungs. She doesn't do it all the time, and again it is very
seasonal, but I know that allergies can turn into asthma, so I
wanted the x-ray done.

The vet is calling in a referral to a vet cardiologist for an
ultrasound. Poor girl. I'm going to have to catch her again. I
don't know what I'm going to do if she requires regular
medicating. She won't eat canned food, so no hiding meds in there,
and I can't handle her, so I can't give her a pill or even the
Aerokat if necessary. Well, I'm not going to stress yet, and wait
until further clarification.

--
Cheryl

"Cheryl" wrote in message
...
I used the technique that I knew would work for today, getting her
in my bedroom, shut the door and remove the mattress and box
spring from my bed so she couldn't hide. Quick and painless. She
had the worst "Oh ****!" look on her face when I pulled off the
box spring and exposed her, though. But she didn't seem overly
stressed.

I asked the vet to do full bloodwork because Bonnie is hard to
handle so I can't always tell if something is wrong, and regular
bloodwork would provide a good baseline. I also asked for a chest
x-ray because she seasonally gets a snotty nose and has a cough
occasionally, and wanted to make sure it was clear. Vet said her
heart and lungs sound fine.

Bonnie's x-ray shows cloudiness but hard to tell whether from her
heart or her lungs. A normal cat chest x-ray shows the lungs as
dark, with clear delineation between heart silhouette and the
lungs, with the heart lighter in color.

Here is a normal chest x-ray of a cat; the black parts are the
lungs, with the white bulb-shaped thing near the left side being
the heart. Note how you can clearly see where one ends and the
other starts:

http://www.lodgevet.co.uk/Images/cat...0chest%20b.JPG

Bonnie's heart did not have an outline, it was not clear whether
the cloudiness was her heart or maybe something on her lungs, so
no way of knowing from this where there could be a problem. I'm a
bit worried because you *could* clearly see her stomach with food
in it, and intestines with feces that was making its way through,
so why couldn't we see an outline of her heart?

The vet said the reason could simply be that fat is making an
outline of her heart impossible; she is overweight as I wrote in a
followup to my other Bonnie thread. Or she could have a mass, or
the light color was from her lungs indicating asthma. Her
coughing could even be due to her fat pressing her heart against
her lungs. She doesn't do it all the time, and again it is very
seasonal, but I know that allergies can turn into asthma, so I
wanted the x-ray done.

The vet is calling in a referral to a vet cardiologist for an
ultrasound. Poor girl. I'm going to have to catch her again. I
don't know what I'm going to do if she requires regular
medicating. She won't eat canned food, so no hiding meds in there,
and I can't handle her, so I can't give her a pill or even the
Aerokat if necessary. Well, I'm not going to stress yet, and wait
until further clarification.

--
Cheryl



I know how distressing this must be for you (even though you said you are
not going to "stress yet"). Not knowing is sometimes the hardest part, but
at least you have a vet who is pro-active and is calling in a referral to a
vet cardiologist. I hope you are able to get some answers -- and hope the
solution is one you can handle. You are doing your best!

MaryL

Suddenly, without warning, Cheryl exclaimed (9/8/2007 6:18 AM):
I used the technique that I knew would work for today, getting her
in my bedroom, shut the door and remove the mattress and box
spring from my bed so she couldn't hide. Quick and painless. She
had the worst "Oh ****!" look on her face when I pulled off the
box spring and exposed her, though. But she didn't seem overly
stressed.

I asked the vet to do full bloodwork because Bonnie is hard to
handle so I can't always tell if something is wrong, and regular
bloodwork would provide a good baseline. I also asked for a chest
x-ray because she seasonally gets a snotty nose and has a cough
occasionally, and wanted to make sure it was clear. Vet said her
heart and lungs sound fine.

Bonnie's x-ray shows cloudiness but hard to tell whether from her
heart or her lungs. A normal cat chest x-ray shows the lungs as
dark, with clear delineation between heart silhouette and the
lungs, with the heart lighter in color.



If cats have it, could be just pericardial fat (fat around the heart),
which in humans has nothing to do with being overweight. I have some,
apparently in my x-ray it looks like pnemonia (it's a cloudy bit around
the bottom of my heart which looks to be in the bottom of a lung); I had
to get a CT scan to be sure what it was.

Just a thought, I have no idea if this is true of cats too.

jmc