Barn cat has saddle thrombus

[Graymaresrule]

Technically he’s my daughter’s cat. I took him to the vet yesterday and he said there was no reasonable hope of recovery and I should put him down.

I didn’t at the time, 1 he didn’t look particularly distressed 2 I wanted to consult my daughter, not “Hey I just put Kiz down” and 3 I was being selfish and didn’t want to put him down on my birthday.

We have an appointment at 4 today.

I gave him 4 baby asprin over the last 24 hours and he is showing some signs of improvment,some movement and warmth in his hind end and the last pill was murder to get down his throat.

Has anyone had a cat recover from this? The vet will be closed till Wednesday

[Pancakes]

Any pain medication!?

Cats experience EXCRUCIATING pain from muscle death from decreased blood flow. It is inhumane to not provide good pain relief. Aspirin doesn’t count.

Chances are that if he threw that big of a clot, he’ll do it again, and it might go somewhere else next time (brain, major organ, iliac bifurcation again). His heart is badly diseased, which is why he threw that clot. He needs to have an echocardiogram to assess how bad it is. So he has a bad heart and now a saddle thrombus.

To give him a good chance, he needs to be on fluids to maintain blood flow to vital organs (kidneys, liver) and reduce the potentially toxic effects of muscle breakdown on the kidneys. That means hospitalization. He might need medication for his heart as well.

Studies have shown survival to discharge rates of only 27% to 35% with various treatment strategies. Median survival times of cats surviving to discharge range from 117 to 345 days. (keep in mind, this is WITH intensive treatment)

I would greatly reconsider your selfishness (as you admitted). Saddle thrombi, when they occlude both arteries to the legs (not just one-sided) have a very poor prognosis, as your vet told you.

[CrazyGuineaPigLady]

Don’t know what saddle thrombus is, but I’m pretty sure Aspirin is toxic for cats. Four of them sounds lethal!

Please contact another vet before next Wednesday.

[Graymaresrule]

@CrazyGuineaPigLady;5693290

Don’t know what saddle thrombus is, but I’m pretty sure Aspirin is toxic for cats. Four of them sounds lethal!

Please contact another vet before next Wednesday.

Did you miss the line wher I said we had an appointment at 4 today?

[Pancakes]

[QUOTE=CrazyGuineaPigLady;5693290]
Don’t know what saddle thrombus is, but I’m pretty sure Aspirin is toxic for cats. Four of them sounds lethal!

Please contact another vet before next Wednesday.[/QUOTE]

Low-dose aspirin is okay, but to me, 4 baby aspirin for one cat in 24 hours is a LOT. Did the vet tell you to give that much?

81 mg is a baby aspirin.
4x81 = 324 mg
I don’t know how much the cat weighs, but a 12 pound cat is about 6 kg.
324 mg/6 kg = 54 mg/kg

That is very high… even at a one-time dose, you are risking serious kidney, liver failure and toxic side effects (gastric or intestinal ulceration). For feline heart disease, the usual dose is adult regular aspirin or 1 baby aspirin (81 mg) per cat TWICE WEEKLY.

FWIW, Plavix is the best thing to give cats with heart disease to prevent clots from forming.

[CrazyGuineaPigLady]

[QUOTE=carolprudm;5693298]
Did you miss the line wher I said we had an appointment at 4 today?[/QUOTE]

I guess so.

[QUOTE=Pancakes;5693322]Low-dose aspirin is okay, but to me, 4 baby aspirin for one cat in 24 hours is a LOT. Did the vet tell you to give that much?

81 mg is a baby aspirin.
4x81 = 324 mg
I don’t know how much the cat weighs, but a 12 pound cat is about 6 kg.
324 mg/6 kg = 54 mg/kg

That is very high… even at a one-time dose, you are risking serious kidney, liver failure and toxic side effects (gastric or intestinal ulceration). For feline heart disease, the usual dose is adult regular aspirin or 1 baby aspirin (81 mg) per cat TWICE WEEKLY.

FWIW, Plavix is the best thing to give cats with heart disease to prevent clots from forming.[/QUOTE]

IIRC the best balance for relief without causing more damage is up to 1/2 Baby Aspirin no more than every 72 hours. It works out to be roughly the same as you said but in lower, slightly more frequent doses. Either way doesn’t come close to 4 tablets in the course of a week, though.

I, too, am wondering if the vet recommended hitting him with that much. Is today’s appointment meant to be the final one?

[Graymaresrule]

@CrazyGuineaPigLady;5693543

I, too, am wondering if the vet recommended hitting him with that much. Is today's appointment meant to be the final one? :(

Without dramatic improvement, yes.

[Alagirl]

Big hugs to you and kitteh

[TheJenners]

@carolprudm;5693298

Did you miss the line wher I said we had an appointment at 4 today?

Wow, actually, you said something about an appt at 4 and then something asking for ideas as the clinic is closed until Wednesday. Confusing…just sayin’.

[Graymaresrule]

@TheJenners;5694745

Wow, actually, you said something about an appt at 4 and then something asking for ideas as the clinic is closed until Wednesday. Confusing…just sayin’.

Sequence matters.

We have an appointment (present tense)…following that…the clinic WILL BE (Future tense) closed until Monday

[fivehorses]

My cat Larry had saddle thrombosis. He was fine at 3pm and howling at6pm.

I took him to the emergency vet and they said there was a slim chance for survival, but overnight would give better indicator.
I got a lot of grief from the vet techs(as in 'you are a cruel person to let your cat suffer), meanwhile called the vet in and said, so, can you keep him overnight painfree or are your vet techs right. Of course we can was the reply.

I also gave written permission to euthanize if he went downhill and I could not be reached(not hear the phone ring in my sleep). Well, next morning I went in to see larry and converse with the vet on call about him.

They said he was in bad shape and needed to be pts. They wheeled his cart in, and I had asked for a private moment with him, but when I saw him, I grabbed the vet and said pts now. Larry was in so much visual pain, had bitten his tongue off, etc…I have never been so disgusted in my life with anyone.

Saddle thrombosis as others have said, is very painful.
I hope you have better vets than I had.

[Graymaresrule]

It seems that he DOESN’t have a saddle thrombus. He’s not in pain, never was, and has regained some use of his back end.

He’s not out of the woods yet so we are monitoring him closely and taking it one day at a time

[Highflyer]

I had a young cat that went through this when I was a kid–she never seemed to be in any pain and did eventually (over several weeks) regain most use of her back end and went on to live for 3-4 good years as a house cat on daily baby aspirin before dying fairly quickly of what appeared to be another stroke/ heart problem at about 6 years old–I can’t remember what happened exactly but I know there was some kind of problem with the car and by the time my dad had borrowed one to take her to the vet’s she was gone, so it was less than half an hour. Interestingly she was the daughter of a very young stray who showed up pregnant, and mom also died suddenly of what was probably a heart attack at the age of 8 or 9.

[lovey1121]

Jingles to your kitty, Carol…

[summerhorse]

Any idea what it is? I sure hope he recovers.

Had a collie going through HW treatment who had one (saddle thrombus). It wasn’t total thank goodness and he didn’t seem in pain but he couldn’t get up or work very well, probably he felt more like his legs were numb/asleep than the pain a total blockage would cause. The vet gave him (bunch of drugs, forget now, it was around 1990) and he slowly recovered for a week and he was fine. But just after that Collie Rescue had one with the same thing and he didnt’ make it. So I guess it is just an individual thing.