Saying Goodbye

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Our angel left us suddenly and not so suddenly in September 2015. She came into my life in November 2013 unexpectedly after a prayer that an animal be put in my path that I could help. A snowstorm was getting ready to hit, and I was driving home late at night on a busy road in Cincinnati. I passed a patch of woods and what first appeared to be litter, turned out to be a sweet tuxedo cat… a sweetheart that would become our dear Gypsy. After failed attempts to find her owners, we tried to re-home her. When she went into heart failure, she became ours.

Thanks to Gypsy's wonderful cardiologist, Dr. Wright, at Medvet in Cincinnati, we knew it would be a hard journey that would end too soon.

 Gypsy would go through a lot of difficult times during her nearly two years with us. Her prognosis was a mere five months, so we were gifted a lot of time to get to know her.

Always constant, always sweet, Gypsy easily tolerated her multiple doses of medicines multiple times per day. She’d resist a little, meow a little, but as soon as it was over, she’d scamper over to her bowl waiting for her food reward… which we always gave her.

Quirks galore, Gypsy was wonderful. She won the hearts of those who loved cats – and even those who didn’t. From her crooked tail and exceptionally long claws plus a clipped ear, her beautiful black and white coat and bright green eyes made her a stand out. She never jumped without a mew, and depending how you were laying, she loved curling up on your back or on your hip.

Although very sick, Gypsy never showed it. She’d hop up with a mew on places she was allowed… and places she wasn’t allowed… like the dinner table. Toward the end, her perches varied from her cat condos to luggage and a fuzzy blanket.

As her medicines increased, we knew her little body couldn’t keep up with the dosage. Her kidneys weakened as a blood clot was found in her heart. Still. She showed no signs of sickness.

Time passed...

Last week, after several busy weeks with work, houseguests coming and going, and a vacation, we were looking forward to spending some quality time with our girl.

We wouldn’t get that chance.

After a day of running errands – pointless ones in hindsight, done just to stave off boredom – we came home, made some drinks and settled in to watch TV. The first choice was Captured on Camera. I broke down crying when a video showed a woman losing her dogs in a flash flood. Sobbed like a baby. Little did I know my baby’s heart was quickly failing in another part of the house. There I was crying for pets I didn’t know and couldn’t help, when I could’ve helped her.

My gut told me to check on Gypsy, so I headed back to where she was. First I went to the bathroom and was joined by another one of our cats, Chloe, who started playing on the floor and successfully distracted me from why I went there in the first place.

I returned to the living room without checking on Gypsy. It was an act that would turn out to be a fatal error for my girl.

An hour or two later I did go back to check on her. I was too late. There she was in the hallway. The life gone from her. She looked as alert as ever. Her eyes were bright, open and focused. Her ears perked.

Too late, I cradled her and cuddled her because that was how she was supposed to go. In my arms. It’s how I planned it. But no. I let life get in the way.

Living with a cat with severe hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (heart disease), I knew her life wouldn’t be long. I knew it would be sad. But I foolishly felt prepared. I foolishly thought I could control the seasoned hands of death.

Yet death came on its own terms. After spending boundless energy and thousands of dollars to keep her alive, in just two hours I failed her. Now I feel a crushing guilt compounded with the profound grief of losing a pet.

The house is emptier without her. So is my heart.

Managing Heart Disease: Money

Managing heart disease is a time consuming, emotional process, but also an incredibly rewarding one by just knowing you're helping keep your sweet feline friend in good health.

First and foremost, depending on the severity of your cat's heart disease, you're going to be doling out a pharmacy's worth of medicine daily. You'll go through cat litter like water... and water like -well- water. You'll also find new fascination in the amount of sodium in your cat's food and treats.

I say all of this to realistically prepare you for the road ahead. It's absolutely manageable, but you'll need to adjust your routine and possibly your personal finances.

MONEY... Money... money...
Financially this is not a disease for the faint of heart (no pun intended... strike that, pun intended). There are ways to fund your cat's care, but none to completely alleviate it unfortunately. Care Credit is a well-known and widely accepted way to help pay for substantial bills upfront. However, it works like credit cards do and isn't likely a long-term solution for ongoing care.

There are organizations like The Big Hearts Fund who help those who can't afford their pets' medical bills. There is an application process because they strive to help those who are already struggling financially.

Check with the Humane Society for more tips on how to pay for hefty vet bills. The ASPCA also offers some ideas for helping to get your pet's care covered.

I could go on a whole soapbox tirade about how wrong I think it is for an animal (and people for that matter) to live or die based on money, but I'll spare you that for this post.

The bottom line: Gypsy has gone into heart failure five times within one year. In that time (from vet care to medications to litter and food), we've easily spent upwards of $10,000. This is absolutely not spare money we have. We've made sacrifices to keep her alive but having her is worth it for us.

We know now that every time Gypsy goes into heart failure, her care will cost around $2,000.

Heart Failure? Now what...

Knowing what to expect when your cat is first diagnosed with heart disease is impossible. For us, we knew nothing about Gypsy's history. She came to us as a lost cat. We had been hoping to find her owners and ended up getting more than we bargained for.

We thought Gypsy was a young, healthy cat. When she went into heart failure, talk about being blindsided! In our ignorance, we thought she was having a reaction to some heart worm  medication we'd given her. Next thing we know we're talking about her "options." First on the list was euthanasia.

I told Thomas "no way." I couldn't kill her. We had rushed her to the 24/7 animal hospital (because of course it happened on a Saturday afternoon) and had just finished talking to the ER vet. He told us it could take thousands of dollars to keep her alive and even then nothing was guaranteed. In our stubbornness, we decided that we had to try for keeping her with us.

Trying meant leaving her in an oxygen crate with an IV of Lasix/furosemide throughout the weekend. The medical staff would continue to monitor her by taking blood and x-rays. That weekend cost us nearly $2,000, but she made it.

It was then that Thomas and I made a pact. As long as we could maintain a healthy quality of life for Gypsy, we'd do whatever we could to keep her alive.

This is where a well-placed shout out to the folks of Medvet. They've been helping Gypsy fully take advantage of all of her nine lives and giving her some of the best medical care we could ask for.

A photo posted by Andrea Kilgore (@kaerdna1) on Jan 1, 2014 at 8:49pm PST

If Heart Disease is Evil, Heart Failure is the Devil

There's no mistaking heart failure once you've seen it . Simply put - it's the worst.

Gypsy has gone into heart failure on five separate occasions. Her symptoms have included wheezing/loud breathing, coughing, rapid breathing and throwing up clear liquid. She goes completely limp and won't move. Generally, she hides under furniture.

Our vet places the highest importance on her breathing levels. When at rest, her respiratory rate should be under 40 breaths per minute. Anything higher and it's time to start monitoring. If the breath count doesn't go down within an hour or continues to increase, it's time to call your vet. Gypsy's rates have gone as high as 108 while in heart failure.

We've learned that cats experience heart failure in many different ways. Gypsy gives no warning. It comes on fast and strong. With other cats, it's a slower progression. The last time it happened we had just run a quick errand. She had been with us right before we left and was fine. We left for about an hour and came back to find her in full heart failure.

I've searched YouTube videos and other people's experiences online and have found out that many people mistake heart failure symptoms as the cat being sick but not seriously. Vets are expensive so it makes sense that people might be hesitant to find out what's happening. 

If your cat is experiencing any of these symptoms, get to an vet immediately. Call your vet to ensure they can handle this type of emergency. If they cannot, go to the nearest 24-hour animal hospital or ask your vet to refer a place for you to take your pet.

• Difficult or rapid breathing 
• Blue or gray gums or tongue 
• Loss of appetite 
• Weakness or lethargy (tiredness) 
• Collapse Hind limb paralysis

Gypsy's cardiologist has told us that at most a cat has about 24 hours from the time of going into heart failure till death.

If you're still not sure, here is a video that shows a cat in severe heart failure. It is disturbing and heartbreaking. Be forewarned.

I've never videoed Gypsy in heart failure and likely never will. I'm a complete wreck when it happens and only have getting her to the animal hospital on my mind. A reminder of what she's like in that condition is way too painful anyway.

The Start

If you've found this blog, it's likely that you have a pet diagnosed with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. Your furry family member has heart disease and may have recently gone into congestive heart failure.

You're not alone.

Nearly one year ago, we went through the same experience. Our seemingly healthy cat Gypsy went into heart failure. It was the beginning of a journey that would prove to be eye opening, educational and extremely difficult.

We've been moving along on the advice of Gypsy's cardiologist (yes, a cat cardiologist) and what we can find out online and from other people. Information is limited. There are many articles detailing the disease itself, symptoms and prognosis, and they're great resources in the early stages. We haven't found much offering advice for the day-to-day management of the disease though.

That's why we decided to start Save Gypsy. Our hope is to help others out there who have decided to try to manage their pets' heart disease. The blog will be specific to our experience, which is with a cat. This shouldn't be taken as medical guidance or prognosis or anything of the sort. We're simply sharing what has happened along our journey in hopes that something we've learned along the way may help someone else.

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Gypsy's Story

In November 2013, my boyfriend Thomas and I took in what we thought was a lost cat. We gave her shelter/food in the face of serious winter weather. She showed now signs of being a feral cat, so we thought she may have owners out there searching for her. We put up flyers and sent out emails but to no avail. With no plans to keep her (our house was already full of rescue animals including three dogs and two cats), we began attempts to re-home her. 

Then the unimaginable happened. Our sweet, energetic, bright-eyed, TEMPORARY boarder went into congestive heart failure. 

We rushed her to the nearest animal hospital, and they gave her a very bleak prognosis - five months for a cat in her condition. After a very expensive weekend at the vet, we decided to make her ours because we knew it'd be unlikely we could find someone who would have the time or money to take care of her. 

We named her Gypsy because she was a traveler without a home, which we were now determined to give her. Gypsy has gone into heart failure a total of five times since we found her. She successfully pulls through every time within 24 hours and bounces right back to her sweet, loving self.