Willow & BC, redux

We went off to Tacoma for Thanksgiving with the Babe's family (about which I'll write more later). We checked Willow into the vet so that they could keep an eye on her. I didn't want her suddenly taking a bad turn while we were gone and having to have Susan take care of her or worse. The rest of the cats stayed home.

We got back very late Sunday night. It was a little odd not having Willow around the house, but all the rest of the cats were happy to see me. But BC sounded like hell: he was gasping for breath and his purr was clearly labored (lots of gasping) and very ragged. He looked bad, too; I think he wasn't getting a lot of sleep because he was having so much trouble breathing.

BC has had bronchial asthma since birth and periodically has flare-ups, but this was a little odd: the normal treatment for bronchial asthma is that I take him in and get him a steroid shot, which calms things down for 6 months or so. Problem was, I'd done this on Wednesday; I shouldn't have to do this again. Something was wrong. I had them look at him today when I went to pick up Willow.

Something is wrong. X-rays show that BC's chest is full of fluid and his lungs are compressed. Worse, he's got an enlarged heart, either from the fluid and the gasping or because his kidneys are shutting down and the heart's really having to push hard. Either way, it's Not Good. The vet (who was very sympathetic) said that we should send out for blood work for more information, stat, and that I ought to leave him there overnight for treatment with Lasix and ACE inhibitors to help clear the fluid. If this works, we may be able to keep treating him with these and keep him alive indefinitely, assuming his kidneys haven't gone south already. Just out of curiosity, I said, what would be his prognosis if we didn't treat him at all, not that I had any intention of not treating him? The vet said that he might well not make it through the night.

Oh, dear. :(

I left BC overnight with the vet. She's going to see if she can't treat the symptoms and get his chest emptied out and reduce the strain on his heart, but I don't think it's going to be good news no matter what.

Damnit, damnit, damnit. :( :( :(

Willow's still perky and affectionate (and is apparently very popular with the veterinary staff because she's such a little princess), but the tumor on her rib cage is about as big as her rib cage, so we're running out of time rapidly.

I really had hoped that I'd have BC around for a while after Willow was gone, but now I don't know if either of them are going to be here in a week.

Bleah.

Willow & BC, redux