So I took him over to the doc and they checked him out. They drew some blood and took some X-rays and it was scary news. There was fluid around his lungs, his heart was enlarged, and they thought they saw some unusual darker spots on the X-ray. They couldn't be sure though.
And I felt guilty for not doing something sooner about the weight loss. Cats are sneaky though. It's hard to tell they are in distress. No excuse for not being more attentive, but he just didn't behave like he was sick.
The vet referred us over to an ER hospital facility where they could do some more extensive tests. So we went over there with him. The triage tech came out, took one look at him, and took him right back to put him on oxygen.
I was one scared daddy at that point. And I felt even more guilty.
He was there all weekend. We just picked him up today. They drained the fluid from around his lungs. They are sending it out to test for cancerous cells as a precaution, but they think the problem is his thyroid. So he's been on meds for that, plus a diuretic to help with the fluid build up. They kept him these extra days to get the dosage right on the medication. As the meds started to wear off, he was in some distress well before the next dosage.
They think they have the right doses now, but they kept him yesterday to make sure.
I sure missed that little spook. I'm not ready to part with him yet. No matter what I did over the last few days...no matter how Pam and I tried to talk ourselves into it...we just couldn't prepare ourselves in any way to make the call.
I'm so relieved we didn't have to.
Here's the medical diagnosis from the paperwork they gave me: Pleural effusion most likely secondary to cardiomyopathy, which may be secondary to hyperthyroidism, tachycardia, or intrinsic heart disease but unknown at this time. Right sided congestive heart failure - pleural effusion; hyperthyroidism; sinus tachycardia; mild systolic dysfunction, r/o secondary CHF due to hyperthyroidism and tachycardia. Echocardiogram reveals a mostly volume overloaded heart with the right sided chambers larger than the left side. It is possible that the hyperthyroidism and sustained tachycardia are the etiology of these changes rather than primary heart disease. This can only be determined by managing both components chronically and rechecking an echocardiogram in 3 months. It is possible that the patient can come off of heart meds in the future.
Emphasis mine on that last part, which is the best news. He has to take Methimazole, Atenolol, and Furosemide/Lasix. The first two are for the heart condition and the last one is the diuretic to keep any fluid from building up again.
The second best news is that I'm not public enemy #1, which I was sure I would be for putting him through all that. While I was putting his water down, he rubbed on my legs. Then he showed me his belly. I gave him some rubs, and he bunny kicked my hand. Then just a few minutes ago, I got my head butt.
