Cat Chat Feline Forum

Hi everyone. My Siamese cat Cleo obstructed years ago. Since then he is on Royal Canin SO Urinary RX canned and dry food. Hasn’t had an issue for over 5 years. A month ago I noticed that he was having difficulty breathing. An x ray was taken. He had fluid around his lungs and. His heart instead of being an 8 was a 10 in size. Enlarged. The vet doesn’t think he has cancer as well.He spent the night at the ER in a o2 tent. Next day he went back to the vet. The x ray showed the next day no fluid . Cleo was breathing normal. He put him on Benazepril and lasix. The vet gave us choices to get an ultrasound and see a cardiologist . We are not sure how old Cleo is as we found him in 2007. The vet explained that the end result will be the same in the treatment. He will eventually die. The problem I am having is that he is supposed to be on SO RX food which has sodium in it so he’ll drink a lot of water. My vet said to feed him what he’ll eat. I water the food down,have added chicken in his food,switched to different canned foods.Some days he’ll be interested. Other days he’s not. I make sure I warm the food up and will put it by him every few hours. Btw he is on mirtazapine daily.I put it on the inside of his ear. This is supposed to get him to eat. Any suggestions on food choices or advice would be appreciated. He’s not as active as he was. Breathing is fine . I guess I’m freaking out

Welcome to the forum, sorry it's not in happier times for Cleo. You must be in a daze with this news and obviously you want to do them best for him and keep him as happy and comfortable as you can for as long as you can.

Loss of appetite and slowing down are part of heart disease so it may be increasingly difficult to tempt him to eat much. Bearing in mind if you found him as an adult that makes him at least 14 years old, with an enlarged heart, the phrase "feed him whatever he will eat" from a vet is usually either convalescence from critical illness or a gentle way to say palliative care. At this stage struvite crystals are probably not priority. What are Cleo's favourite treats? You have already mentioned chicken. I have found for some reason that mixing foods has never worked for mine but making every meal different has been more successful to keep interest up, in lots of small meals as you are already, hand fed if that helps but without insisting too much. I usually make a little extra of whatever meat I am having for my cats at this stage, they smell it cooking or when I am preparing it and this starts to get them interested and gives me a better chance of getting them to eat something.

I like to call this a cat's 8th life, time to make the time we have left as good as we possibly can while managing a condition as best we can for comfort without any more vet interference than needed, and start to consider their 9th life. None of us wants to hear this, ever, but if we can handle it it can be an incredibly beautiful time when we can become closer to our furry companions than ever. If we can quiet our fears, it is a time precious beyond words. Accepting his better days and quieter days and being by his side without anxiety will give him the best quality of life.