All bad news all the time...

[rjesak]

So we (I and the vet) thought Oscar had been doing really well. She's been listening to his lungs and things have sounded clear. While he was showing signs of pain, we got an X-ray (she calls it a cat-o-gram ) and his lung X-rays came back terribly! She sent them to the specialist and he said that his lungs are worse than they were before.

He wants to do a lung aspiration which is an unanesthetized procedure where they insert a needle into the pleura of the lung and withdraw what is called (according to the specialist) lung juice.

It's diagnostic and I'm frantic about it. Last time we took Oscar up, by the time we got there he was in such distress, they spent the first hour trying to get him calmed down enough to examine him. I don't see this going well.

I'm just about in tears - I just don't know what to do anymore.

[hazelrunpack]

Oh, rjesak , I'm so sorry Oscar continues to have problems. :sad: I've got no advice but wanted to send along the :grouphug and some

[chico2]

Oh no,poor Oscar,poor you
Are the vets saying anything about what his chances are to survive this??
Not something you want to think about I am sure:sad:
I hope the vets are honest with you,before Oscar has to suffer through more painful procedures.
However if his chances are good,it's a different story

[ancientgirl]

I'm so sorry Oscar is still not doing well. I can't imagine having to have something like that done with no anesthesia.

Oscar gets better.

[rjesak]

Thanks so much for your well wishes everyone. They mean a lot. I've scheduled a consult with the vet so I can find out what the point of all this is. The aspiration is purely diagnostic so I want to know what the vet thinks might be wrong first and if he thinks it might be treatable. I don't want to put Oscar through this just so I can put a name to what's wrong.

The worst thing is that, like a self-fulfilling prophecy, Oscar SOUNDS terrible now. He'd had us fooled because his breathing sounded so good but it usually sounds labored now. The inhalers help a little briefly and HE seems happy enough but it's hard to listen to.

Well, again, thanks for the support everyone. I'm so glad I found this website. I'll let you know what I hear from the vet tomorrow.

[sugarcatmom]

Yikes, you and Oscar are really having a rough go of it!! Definitely would be good to ask the vet, if this procedure even provides a diagnosis, how that would change the treatment plan. No sense putting him through that if everything remains the same. Or if the treatment is worse than the disease, etc.

Good luck. Let us know what transpires.

[krdahmer]

for you and Oscar, good luck at the vet.

[hazelrunpack]

for Oscar's vet visit, rjesak! Hang in there!

[Dee-O-Gee]

Sending and your way for tomorrow's vet visit. Please keep us posted.

[rainbow]

Sending lots of prayers and good wishes for you and Oscar.

[rjesak]

So the vet's office called this morning and said that Oscar's doctor had a family emergency and will be out for a week! Argh! I can talk to the specialist but I really dislike him so I'd like to have some more information to start with. I don't know if she'll be able to help me but I gave my aunt a rundown of the situation. She's a people doctor, not a vet, so it's not exactly the same, but she can still give me some information on the procedure and diagnoses that might come from it.

In the meantime, Oscar's not doing well at all. He's walking a little funny (I really don't know how else to describe it) and seems to be in a bad mood. There's a wail in his lungs every time he exhales so I'm giving him the inhaler a few times a day and it seems to help. He's not eating as much as he ought to even with the Cypro and he's still down at 8 pounds - he should be up at almost 10 for his size.

How dare my vet have a family emergency when I need her. Isn't there something in the contract about not having a personal life when you have patients to attend to?

I'm very worried about my baby boy. I keep being reminded of my friend's mother who had cancer. She was fighting it but all of a sudden all these new symptoms started popping up and the oncologist said that usually meant that the fight was over. I have no reason to think Oscar has cancer, but it kind of feels like that - we used to have the symptoms from asthma but now we have all these other indeterminite symptoms...

I was really looking forward to asking the vet about his meds. He's on so many of them and if they're not helping, I'd rather give him a break and not force them on him. The cypro he needs or he won't eat, but it doesn't appear that the Terbutaline and Accolate are doing much. Any thoughts? Also, I was thinking about it - a lot of the "indeterminate" symptoms started when he went back on the fluoxetine. Has anyone seen any symptoms like this from that drug?

[diandpat]

OMG Poor you...what a nightmare :sad: I have absolutely no advice to offer you but am sending prayers and good vibes your way. It totally sucks when one of the furkids is sick and we can't get answers.

Hope Oscar is comfortable and is on the mend soon. your aunt has some worthwhile answers for you least

[ancientgirl]

to you and Oscar. Is there another vet you may be able to take him to, a back-up vet? It stinks his vet is gone for a week and now he's got to be like this until she gets back.

I hope he starts to feel better soon.

[rjesak]

She does have a backup vet. I just really wanted someone who would be able to evaluate him based on how he's been. He's been seeing Dr. Katherine since he was a baby so she'd be more able to see how he's different. I'm going to wait for some information from my aunt, then I'll take him into, either the backup vet, or the specialist depending on what I've decided so far.

If I do take him to the specialist, I'm going to have to get a sedative or something. He was so freaked out the last time that, by the time we got there (the specialist is an hour away), Oscar was in such bad shape they had to put him in an Oxygen cage, give him a shot of Terbutaline, and a shot of Dexamethazone in order to get him breathing - they were afriad he was going to have a heart attack during the examination. I was a basket case - maybe I need a sedative too!

[ancientgirl]

Originally Posted by rjesak

She does have a backup vet. I just really wanted someone who would be able to evaluate him based on how he's been. He's been seeing Dr. Katherine since he was a baby so she'd be more able to see how he's different. I'm going to wait for some information from my aunt, then I'll take him into, either the backup vet, or the specialist depending on what I've decided so far.

If I do take him to the specialist, I'm going to have to get a sedative or something. He was so freaked out the last time that, by the time we got there (the specialist is an hour away), Oscar was in such bad shape they had to put him in an Oxygen cage, give him a shot of Terbutaline, and a shot of Dexamethazone in order to get him breathing - they were afriad he was going to have a heart attack during the examination. I was a basket case - maybe I need a sedative too!

I have the same situation. My vet has been seeing my gang since they were kittens, at least 4 of them that is.

Is it possible for you to ask your vet for some Xanax? I have to give Vlad and Oksana like half of a low dose before I take them in. Vlad's shreeks are worse than a banshee, and Oksana just goes nuts biting and peeing. I don't like to do it, but it does help keep them at least a little calm.

[rainbow]

<sigh> poor you and poor Oscar. I hope everything works out and Oscar will be okay.

[catlover2]

if I have to ask this question and hope you won't be offended. Do you smoke? If you do, I don't know if you're aware it could be causing asthma, or even worse, lung cancer, in your cat. More and more I read of pets being afflicted because of their owners' smoking. As a former smoker I know smoking is a very difficult affliction to give up, but not impossible.

I know you have some very difficult decisions to make, and I sincerely wish you peace of mind in making the best decision for Oscar.

http://www.pictures-of-cats.org/Pass...ects-Pets.html

[rjesak]

catlover, I'm not offended. I wish it were that easy though. Not that giving up smoking is easy but then at least I could DO something! I don't smoke, however. In fact, since this problem surfaced last year, I've even given up use of my lovely wood-burning stove!

ancientgirl, I think I'd have to. I don't see us making it up there - I was literally frantic by the time we got up there and they took one look at Oscar, took him straight back to the Oxygen cage, and left us in the waiting room for an hour while they tried to convince him to breathe. He panics, then I panic, and I'm not sure either of us could survive the trip without some Xanax! My vet won't even keep him there in a cage without sedation because he gets so stressed she's afraid he'll have a heart attack.

If I don't hear back from my aunt today, I'll call the backup vet. I don't like her as much - she's nice enough, I just always feel like she's in a hurry and kind of considers my endless questions a nuisance - but desperate times lead to desperate measures.