Chylothorax

Greeting everyone! We just went throught a very bad week. My middle "baby" Lucky was diagnoised with Chylothorax. Has anyone here ever come across this? I've looked it up and found some very good information on this subject, but have never heard of anyone ever having this.

Any input would be helpful. Lucky is MUCH better and improving daily. This wasn't the case a week ago.......I think I shed enough tears to last me a life time. I am just glad that he is better and ALIVE!!:)

P.S. I come to this forum often and read and check out the "Cat of the Day" just never posted before. You all seem like a nice group. Hope to get to know some of you!
Bunny

My cat Bassett has idiopathic chylothorax :) There are a couple of thread in Cat Health about Bassett and her condition. I would be happy to share any info with you. PM me any time and we'll chat :)

Here are some links to the threads I first posted about her:

http://petoftheday.com/talk/showthre...hlight=Bassett

http://petoftheday.com/talk/showthre...hlight=Bassett

http://petoftheday.com/talk/showthre...hlight=Bassett

http://petoftheday.com/talk/showthre...hlight=Bassett

http://petoftheday.com/talk/showthre...hlight=Bassett

They should be in the order of the progression of her disease :)

Poor Lucky! I'll be praying for a quick healing for him.

I never heard of Chylthorax until Nomilynn's Bassett had it.

Welcome to Pet Talk! :)

Welcome to Pet Talk Bunny. I'm sure you'll love it here. :) I'm so sorry to hear that your kitty was so sick. :( I had never heard of this condition before either until Nomilynn's cat Bassett was diagnosed with a form of it. I sure hope that your cat Lucky will live up to his name and will be able to live a long happy and healthy life. :)

So sorry to hear that your cat Lucky is not feeling well. I didn't hear of Chylothorax untill I read about Naomi's Bassett. I'm sending prayers in hope that Lucky will be better soon.

P.S. Welcome to PT!

Wow....Nomilynn! Lucky was almost exactly like Bassett! I too thought hairballs and waited on the Vet visit. When she walked into the room, saw his breathing, her face dropped and I knew something was desperatly wrong! She sent me immediatly to the ER Clinic and of course I cried the whole way there! My husband works an hour away from home, so by the time he got to the clinic I was a total mess. Our progonosis was grim.......they made us sign a CPR form as we left for the night and were only giving him a 50% chance. That alone sent me over the edge! I don't think I slept for the next few days.

It is one week later (and lots of $$$) but Lucky is doing MUCH better! :) They are also calling Lucky's Idiopathic......I'm still trying to figure out what happened!! He has always been a indoor kitty, so I have no idea what or how it happened.

Although I don't wish this on anyone, I am glad I found you! I know exactly what you went through. By the way, I thought your father did a wonderful thing for you. My father is not a animal person and told me to stop crying and act like an adult, "its only a cat!"-------:mad: Don't even get me started on that subject!!

I think me & my boys have found some new friends!! :D :)

Welcome to Pet Talk Catsnclay! I'm so glad to hear Lucky is doing so much better, and I'm glad you found Naomi for support.

Hopefully we'll get to hear a lot more about Lucky and any brothers/sisters he might have, and pictures are always appreciated. ;) :D

Catsnclay - is your kitty taking Rutin now? Bassett's taking the Rutin and it seems to be working. She hasn't had a chest drain in almost a month. How much fluid did they take from Lucky? Has he only had one draining?

Yes as a matter of fact he is taking Rutin......how are you giving it to Bassett?? Lucky is really smart and will not take it with baby food, and sometimes won't take it when I mix it in with his wet food. I really hate to pop the pill down his throat, he REALLY hates taking pills!! :eek:

He only had one chest drain and they took 1 1/2 cups of fluid. Lucky is 18 lbs, and pretty big, but that was still a lot of fluid! He is a medium hair, and they shaved part of his belly for the tap and a larger part when they did the ultrasound, so he has a really strange" belly hair-cut" right now!

Hehehe Bassett has patches on both sides of her tummy right now. They are slowly growing back, but there is a pretty significant "dent" in the fur!! :D I do have a couple of pictures with her new do, so I will scan them later on tonight :)

Bassett gets 1500mg (I think it's mg???) a day, and I put them down her throat. It's the only way she will take them, and because I know it's for her own good I don't feel too bad :D She also takes Forticor, a half tab a day, for hypertension and an antidepressant. She has a behavioural problem that's not related to the chylothorax :rolleyes: She's a little piddlepuss :D In total, she takes 5 pills a day :( I give them to her all at once so it's only a brief moment of yuck rather than several moments throughout the day :) Luckily, the Rutin doesn't have much taste.

It sounds like you have read the threads I posted, so you already know how much fluid came out of Bassett. She is 14.5lbs - another big kitty! :)

Right now, we are just waiting it out. If my vet recommends it, I'm willing to try the surgery option. However, for right now, we blessfully haven't needed it! :)

Do you have any pictures of Lucky! Who, I might add, is living up to his name!! :) We would all love to see him :)

WELCOME Catsnclay - glad you joined us.
Again I'm another one who'd never heard of Chylothorax until poor Naomi's Bassett went down with it.
I'm keeping fingers crossed for Lucky - at least the fur will grow back soon.
Oh and the one thing you NEVER hear here us 'Don't be upset it's only a...............' - that is just too cruel.

Lynne

I received this note last night from Catsnclay (Bunny):

This has been a tough week, for all of us. We brought Lucky back to the Vets on Monday because of his breathing and after 4 different try's they were unable to get any fluid from his chest. From the x-rays that were taken there was more fluid build up. They didn't do anything more, and sent him home. I noticed on Thursday morning that he wasn't getting out of bed, he had to be coaxed to come to breakfast, and then didn't eat any. He then
slept in his box all day long. I still didn't like the way he was
breathing so back he went. They took another x-ray and there was even more of a fluid build-up. This time though they made me go back to the Emergency Animal Clinic. Apparently when they tapped his chest on Monday, they just went in "blindly". The clinic goes in with the help of a ultrasound, as to get the correct spot.

At the clinic I was told that they were going to put a chest tube in, he was tapped too many times to just do it again. Naturally there are problems that could arise. Since he was pretty stressed to begin with there was always the possibility that he could suffer from cardiac arrest while they were putting the tube in. His blood pressure and breathing rate were very high. Then again I was reminded that just because the fluid would be
drained, doesn't mean the problem was solved. I was told to consider other alternatives...............(putting him down). With this chest tube he would be in the EAC at least until Saturday.

We got a call from Dr. Barker around 8:00 pm on Thursday......the tube went in well, no problems. They gave him a sedative since he was still stressing. He was able to get through to both of the chest cavities and they drained a pint & a half of fluid from him! The first time one and 1/2 a cup was drained. They have him in a oxygen tent for the night, hooked up to I.V's and will drain him every 4 hours. Now the hard part. If they continue to draw a lot of fluid from him regularly, that is not a good sign. If they do not get a lot of fluid, that of course is better. Only time will tell right now, I will be going to see him tomorrow. I just hope he has a
good night and he will be getting better. He has a birthday coming up next week (April 1). I sure would love to have him home and healthy for his birthday.

Thank you for the update. We will definitely be praying for good news from Lucky.

Logan

Oh how sad for dear Lucky - Prayers and Crossed Paws must be the order of the day - hope he pulls through - c'mon Lucky - be a strong boy for your Meowmie - {{{Hugs}}}} to you all.

Lynne

We at the lost cats hotel send our prayers and best wishes to Lucky , and hope that the Big fellow can gome home soon.