Heart Failure or fur ball?

[modethirteen]

My 18 year old baby was recently rushed to the emergency animal hospital because he was having a hard time breathing. He was breathing with his mouth open and was not eating. After one week at the hospital, the vets have found that he has a possible cancerous mass in his lung, but were not sure if that was the cause of his breathing difficulties. they finally scoped his throat and found it was enflamed. So they gave him steroids to decrease the inflamation. It seemed to have worked and he began to breath easier and eat again. During all the tests, they found that his heart muscle was thickening. I was able to take him home because he improved, but I have noticed that he is coughing as though he has a fur ball stuck. He is still not fully recovered and feel that he may be too weak to expell the fur ball. But the vets think it may be a sign of his heart disease. Does any one have any experience with "congestive heart failure" and its symptoms? If my poor cat does in fact have this, what treatment is advised? Your help would be immensely appreciated!

[special]

If the vet thinks the coughing is part of his heart disease, has your cat been put on any medication to relive the symptoms?

If you think it is a hair ball, have you given him some hairball remedy such as laxatone or petromalt, to help him pass it the other way? He really may be too weak to bring it up, and will need help passing it.

I do not know anything about cardiovascular diseases in cats, but am interested, and sure others will be too, so please feel free to share as much info about your cat as you can. I hope someone with more experience will reply.

[modethirteen]

He is currently on Lasix, its a diuretic. I will post a more detailed description of what he is going through and what the doctors have told me later today.

[tiffers]

Coughing is not a major sign of heart failure in cats, like it is in dogs. However, the breathlessness, lethargy and a loss of appetite are the generally first problems noticed.

Also, they had to knock him out to scope his throat. Nine times out of ten, the trachea tube causes a lot of irritation in the throat which usually causes coughing. How long ago did they put him under?

[modethirteen]

He is beginning to eat like normal. He is moving around the house a bit more like before. They did the throat scope last Tuesday, so its been about a week. I think its decreasing a bit as the days go by. He is currently on the following meds: 1) Lasix 2) potassium supplement 3) antibiotic 4) vetsulin for his diabetes. I will buy some fur ball remedies to atleast be able to rule that out. thanks for everyones help!

[xpalaboyx]

Glad to hear that your pet is doing ok now... Hope he recover faster...

[tiffers]

The coughing may be due to the trach-tube, but you never know. Continue with all your medications, of course...and if there's been no change or a significant one, take your pet back. Hoping the best for you!