UPDATE - Sat 3/2
Chica is having a good day today. Don't really know what this means but she ate a little, drank her water and even strolled through the hosue to come into the living room. I had a box on its side with a cat food box inside the box and she loves to sit here. I took it away since she was not using it anymore. She went right over to where the box was so I went and got it. She got inside like she always does. She walked back to the litterbox and then went inside her hidy spot. She is resting and breathing much better. I have a cat carrier on the floor in my bedroom with a heat pad inside and the door is off. This is her safe place and she has been here since she came home form the vets. As long as she is comfy and breathing well I am going to let her be. She is alert and happy to be with us still.
Our beloved Chica was having a very hard time breathing today so I took her to the vet I took Snowball. They did an x-ray. She has fluid around her lungs and in her abdomen. They aspirated the fluids from her lung area and she came thru that fine. She is still at the vet and I will go back to take her home tonight. I was not ready to put her down and we may be able to give her a diuretic to help this fluid from building up for a while.
Doesn't look good but they can look at the fluid in her and tell where it came from. If it is congestive heart failure it doesn't look promising but I wanted her home. I was not ready to let her go.
She had to be in oxygen - they were very gentle with her and whenever she got too stressed and her breathing was worse they put her in oxygen. The oxygen tank was a small clear plastic tub with a hole cut for the oxygen tube and a cover on top. I went in to see her before they sedated her for the needle and she was alert and knew me. She popped right up with her head above the top and came over to me. This is so hard - I know you all know how I feel.
She may only have a few days or weeks left. At least this way she is more comfortable for as long as she has. Please keep us in your purrs in the days to come.
UPDATE - Late evening on 2/28
Chica is home now and resting comfortably. She is frail and weak and unfortunately has had both her sides shaved to do the ultrasound and the needle aspiration. Her fluids is either the heart or from a cancer so time is short. She cannot take Lasix due to her kidney failure so I will try dandelion tea as a diuretic. We will take this one day at a time and see how she feels. If she is at all uncomfortable we will send her to the Bridge with our love.