Moe has appeared in a few other blog posts of mine -
here and
here - and now he needs any good vibes, prayers and thoughts that you can spare.
Moe started out as a foster kitten, and was then adopted by a friend of mine. When Moe decided to start violently attacking his former best friend (Larry, the cat), he came to live with me for a while. My friend and I tried to reintroduce him to Larry, in the hopes that they would eventually get along, but we were unsuccessful after several attempts and we failed.
(side note: I am NOT a person who likes when people just give up pets, but this was a weird circumstance. I've never seen cats fight the way Larry and Moe were fighting, and with a 10 month old baby in the house who often ended up underneath their fights, this just wasn't working out.)
So Moe has come back to live in the V household permanently. I suppose I have the option of bringing him back to the vet that I first fostered him for, but that would require him living in a cage in the vet's waiting room, hoping that someone will adopt a full grown cat. Plus, he's been back and forth between my house and my friend's house several times, and he already seems confused about what's going on, so I wasn't about to relocate him again.
A few days ago, Moe had a horrible coughing fit. Since I've only heard one of my cats cough once before, and it was just one single cough, I started googling "feline cough". His fit was enough to have me worried because on top of the fact that he was coughing, he also seemed like he couldn't breathe. An hour or so of googling led me to the conclusion that a coughing cat is bad...really bad. Every single thing I read about it, said that the cat would need medical attention ASAP. So the next day we went off to the vet. I had started to suspect asthma, based on my readings and some videos I watched of cats having asthma attacks, and the vet confirmed my suspicions. However, asthma isn't the only cause of coughing in cats. There are several other things that could cause it...the worst one being heart disease.
If you remember back in May, I wrote a blog about my cat
Meepers. Meepers had died from what we suspect was undiagnosed heart disease. When he died, I did a lot of research on heart disease in cats, and its a very, very scary thing. It often goes undiagnosed, and when its finally noticed, its often too late. So of course, since heart disease could be the cause of Moe's coughing, I was worried.
The vet listened to his heart and thankfully didn't hear anything wrong with it. A murmur or an irregular beat could be indicative of a heart problem. Unfortunately though, NOT hearing one of these things doesn't necessarily mean that his heart is ok. She also took some x-rays, and sent them off to a radiologist for analysis. Her suspicion was asthma, but the radiologist was the one who would really be able to read the x-rays.
Yesterday, I got some possible bad news, and I'm now a nervous wreck. The vet called me back and told me that the radiologist definitely confirmed asthma from the x-rays. This obviously isn't good, but its treatable. However, the vet also noticed that his heart was slightly enlarged. And having an enlarged heart is just not good obviously. Now Moe has to go back in for some more tests.
Its very possible that the asthma has caused the enlarged heart, but a more probable diagnosis is that he has some form of heart disease AND asthma. Apparently, the two often go hand in hand.
So now I'm playing the waiting game. When this holiday weekend is over, I have to schedule more tests for him and talk with the vet about getting him on an asthma regimen. And I'm hoping, praying and wishing that he doesn't have heart disease.
Heart disease is the #1 cause of sudden death in cats and that's what terrifies me the most. Meepers acted perfectly normal, and then an hour later he collapsed and died. I'm terrified that I'll have to experience that again with Moe. There's medicine to treat heart disease in cats, but its really something that seems to be hit or miss. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't.
The absolute best case scenario here is that his enlarged heart has been caused by the asthma, and once the asthma is under control, then his heart will be fine. So if anyone can spare some thoughts, prayers, or good vibes, please send them my way. I don't think I can handle losing another cat to heart disease, this soon after losing Meepers to the same thing. :-(
Moe started out as a foster kitten, and was then adopted by a friend of mine. When Moe decided to start violently attacking his former best friend (Larry, the cat), he came to live with me for a while. My friend and I tried to reintroduce him to Larry, in the hopes that they would eventually get along, but we were unsuccessful after several attempts and we failed. (side note: I am NOT a person who likes when people just give up pets, but this was a weird circumstance. I've never seen cats fight the way Larry and Moe were fighting, and with a 10 month old baby in the house who often ended up underneath their fights, this just wasn't working out.)
So Moe has come back to live in the V household permanently. I suppose I have the option of bringing him back to the vet that I first fostered him for, but that would require him living in a cage in the vet's waiting room, hoping that someone will adopt a full grown cat. Plus, he's been back and forth between my house and my friend's house several times, and he already seems confused about what's going on, so I wasn't about to relocate him again.
A few days ago, Moe had a horrible coughing fit. Since I've only heard one of my cats cough once before, and it was just one single cough, I started googling "feline cough". His fit was enough to have me worried because on top of the fact that he was coughing, he also seemed like he couldn't breathe. An hour or so of googling led me to the conclusion that a coughing cat is bad...really bad. Every single thing I read about it, said that the cat would need medical attention ASAP. So the next day we went off to the vet. I had started to suspect asthma, based on my readings and some videos I watched of cats having asthma attacks, and the vet confirmed my suspicions. However, asthma isn't the only cause of coughing in cats. There are several other things that could cause it...the worst one being heart disease.
If you remember back in May, I wrote a blog about my cat Meepers. Meepers had died from what we suspect was undiagnosed heart disease. When he died, I did a lot of research on heart disease in cats, and its a very, very scary thing. It often goes undiagnosed, and when its finally noticed, its often too late. So of course, since heart disease could be the cause of Moe's coughing, I was worried.
The vet listened to his heart and thankfully didn't hear anything wrong with it. A murmur or an irregular beat could be indicative of a heart problem. Unfortunately though, NOT hearing one of these things doesn't necessarily mean that his heart is ok. She also took some x-rays, and sent them off to a radiologist for analysis. Her suspicion was asthma, but the radiologist was the one who would really be able to read the x-rays.
Yesterday, I got some possible bad news, and I'm now a nervous wreck. The vet called me back and told me that the radiologist definitely confirmed asthma from the x-rays. This obviously isn't good, but its treatable. However, the vet also noticed that his heart was slightly enlarged. And having an enlarged heart is just not good obviously. Now Moe has to go back in for some more tests.
Its very possible that the asthma has caused the enlarged heart, but a more probable diagnosis is that he has some form of heart disease AND asthma. Apparently, the two often go hand in hand.
So now I'm playing the waiting game. When this holiday weekend is over, I have to schedule more tests for him and talk with the vet about getting him on an asthma regimen. And I'm hoping, praying and wishing that he doesn't have heart disease.
Heart disease is the #1 cause of sudden death in cats and that's what terrifies me the most. Meepers acted perfectly normal, and then an hour later he collapsed and died. I'm terrified that I'll have to experience that again with Moe. There's medicine to treat heart disease in cats, but its really something that seems to be hit or miss. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't.
The absolute best case scenario here is that his enlarged heart has been caused by the asthma, and once the asthma is under control, then his heart will be fine. So if anyone can spare some thoughts, prayers, or good vibes, please send them my way. I don't think I can handle losing another cat to heart disease, this soon after losing Meepers to the same thing. :-(
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1 comment:
Tell Moe that I (and Tiger!) send him get well soon wishes!
It's amazing how fast we get attached to our furry friends!
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