I hate to tell you this, but I just had to put my cat down two weeks ago because of pleural effusions (fluid around the lungs). He had lung cancer. I had the fluid drained about five times in the course of three weeks. The fluid build up got too rapid and I couldn't put him through any more lung taps. I tried everything, but in the end the breathing was so labored I had to let him go.
You need to find out what you're dealing with. In an older cat, my bet is on cancer (especially if no history of felv). FIP is a possibility, but with just as dismall a progrosis. This is the differential I faced - wet FIP, lymphoma, lung adenocarcinoma, chylothorax (this is from a ruptured duct that drains fluid from the abdomen into the lymphatic system - it courses through the chest cavity and if ruptured drains fluid into the lung cavity - the fluid is a milky white kind of color. It can be treated fairly well with rutin.), and finally infection (pneumonia with abscess and empyema). A sample of the lung fluid is often very helpful in differentiating the disease process. You need a chemical analysis of the fluid as well as a pathologist looking at it for malignant cells. Lasix helps but it takes time to remove the fluid. I tried it and noticed that I dehydrated my cat but the fluid in the lungs remained. The only thing that worked was physically tapping and draining the fluid - they would mildly sedate him with a morphine type med and he was looped out for the rest of the day. The rate at which the fluid reaccumulates will tell you about his prognostic status. A little hint, lung cancers in cats often have metastases to the paws - look at your cats paws for any indication of a tumor or bleeding or anything abnormal. (my cat had the met and I stupidly treated it with a salve without getting a diagnosis i may have been able to treat it sooner if I would have looked at that). FIP is bad, but I know of one individual who beat it with IV vitamin c. I don't know of any chat groups on pleural effusions but hope this helps. Jenny On Sat, Mar 3, 2012 at 4:23 PM, dppl dppl <[email protected]> wrote: > *I have been posting here about a positive kitten I found but now need* > *help with my 13 year old cat. In summary, can anyone direct me to* > *a website discussion group on topic realted to fluid in lungs to help* > *me Details **are:**I took her to the vet today b/c she* > *had a discharge from her eye & wasn't eating too much. Since I* > *had just had two other cats treated for upper respiratory infection* > *I thought she had it now. The vet said no fever, heart sounded ok* > * and since bloodwork**was done 11 months ago I agreed to bloodwork.* > *She suggested chest x ray but didn't indicate reason other than* > *part of complete workup. When they went to draw blood she stopped* > *and said my cat was turning blue. So she said instead first do an x ray.* > *x ray showed fluid in lungs with only small portion clear. She said * > *could be cancer, fip, heart problems but needed more diagnostics.* > *She does not have ultrasound so after a try to get sample with* > *needle stopped to not distress cat. She suggested euthanizing cat* > *right there.Since I had not noticed panting or heavy breathing, other* > *than what i thought was cold related last day(no panting) just* > *congestion, I could not bring myself to put her to sleep. Cat had* > *recovered and was not blue.So she* > *gave her a shot of lasix & antiobiotics. When I got my cat home* > *she ate, drink and has urinated twice in last 3 hours. She doesn't seem * > *in distress no panting but vet said she is breathing from stomach.I need* > *guidance about symptoms and treatment/diagnosis course i should now* > *take. And whether lasix alone will remove fluid.* > * * > > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > Felvtalk mailing list > [email protected] > http://felineleukemia.org/mailman/listinfo/felvtalk_felineleukemia.org > >
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