I am getting caught up on the blog so current posts will have past dates at the top referring to information found on the same date at the Facebook page or information from a certain time that hasn't been posted yet to either Facebook or the blog.
Posted to Facebook January 29, 2015:
We have given Myrna extra Torsemide, lasix, and potassium today because her breathing rate is up again to 9-10/15. She's responding but not using her litter box as much, not going as often as she had I think because as her potassium level declines, the kidneys have trouble processing the med because they need potassium in order to work, so this means she goes less often. But it also means the med isn't working as well as it should, which leads to the increase of breathing rate. We need to give some water by mouth if we think she's not drinking enough. The kidneys also need water in order to process the med and kick out the fluid in the pleural cavity.
Posted to Facebook January 26, 2015:
On Sunday night, we had to give extra torsemide and extra lasix to Myrna because her breathing rate was up to 10/15 (normal for your cat should be 6/15 at rest, for Myrna it should be 8/15 at rest or 32 per minute.) It took two extra 2.5mg doses over five hours before the rate came down to an uneasy 9/15. She did well overnight, continued to drink a lot and use the box frequently, and of course, wake me to tell me about it. This a.m. she was fine and then the breathing became more labored even as it seemed to still be 9/15. So I gave 3mg lasix, 1.25 Torsemide and two hours later she was an easy 8/15. The cardiologist thinks her lung walls may be irritated due to the pleural effusion in the pleural cavity. All I know is that when I give meds and if she responds, there must be some congestion that is making breathing difficult. I think the cardio means that some congestion may not be easily tolerated if the pleural cavity is irritated and that she may not need more meds when she seems to have breathing difficulty. All I know is that I must work on what I see-high, labored breathing rate which calls for more meds (and I still give a touch of lasix with Torsemide just in case the fluid is in the lungs and not around them.) Then I wait to see if she responds. If she does not improve, then at some point she needs the cardio. So far, she's better still tonight. And with each additional Torsemide, I've been giving potassium supplement. We've increased her potassium-and I must still update the Med list-to about 1000mg of Tumil K (approx 485mg each), and two 595mg Sundown potassium, and Gerber baby sweet potatoes of 6ml daily. With a level of only 3.0 in the blood stream as of last week, she's in no danger of getting hyperkalemia.
Posted to Facebook January 22, 2015
Myrna had less than 2 oz of fluid removed today. The cardio said she may not have had to come in, that meds may have continued to work well enough. She was breathing better but since the cardio was off Friday, and since we had to fight yesterday to get her breathing rate low by giving extra meds, I wanted to make sure she was doing well. And I'm glad we did. Her potassium is low at 3.0 from two weeks ago around 3.2 so now we need to push more potassium, possibly begin Tumil-k (a potassium source for cats.) But now we have two examples to go by to compare against in the future when deciding when to take her to the cardio for needle aspiration of fluid: when she's not breathing well, is in pain and won't settle, not responding well to meds; and when she's not breathing well but responding to meds-eventually-but not in pain and not crying. BUN is good at 33 down from 39 on 1/5 and creatinine is good at 2.3 down from 2.8 on 1/5 but potassium is low at 3, down from 3.4 on 1/5. Myrna's heart size left atrium is 2.7 from 2.6 in December.
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