Yvette's Inner Geek Blog

I have lots of photos and notes to share from WonderCon, but it’s going to have to wait another day or two.

One of my cats, Isis, has been breathing somewhat heavily since we picked her up from the vet where she was being boarded while we were out of town. No other symptoms, but it got increasingly worrisome. I decided to google it, which of course you should never do because you will always fear the worst, and sure enough, that’s what I found. I took her to pet urgent care after midnight last night, fearing the worst but hoping that I would just pay the exam fee and come home with some ridicule for being a worrywart. Unfortunately, that was not the case.

She has fluid in her pleural space, which is more or less the cavity between her organs and her skin. (I was a biology major once, but have since filled that useful knowledge with less useful information.) The fluid is compressing her lungs so that they will not fully inflate, causing her to breathe more rapidly to get the oxygen she needs. The vet gave her a cortisone shot and a shot of anitbiotics, just in case they would help, but also took a fluid sample to send off to a pathologist.

The prognosis is not good. There’s no fluid in her lungs, so it’s not a simple respiratory infection. She’s been up to date on her vaccinations and is an indoor cat, so I doubt it’s feline leukemia. It might be FIP, cancer, or a heart problem. None of which mean she has a lot of time left.

I got home after 3am and took her to the regular vet as instructed at 9am. They sent the fluid sample off to the lab and we should have results Monday or possibly tomorrow morning. After all the digestive issues she’s suffered over the last couple of years (which may or may not have anything to do with what’s causing the fluid build-up now), it’s horrible to see her suffering more. Well, “suffering” is subjective. She’s taking shallow, rapid breaths and still eating some. I don’t know if she’s in pain. I don’t know how much longer she has. I don’t know. It’s been a long day. I’m probably going back to the vet tomorrow morning if there’s still no change to talk about options for relieving the pressure from the fluid.