This is a 15 year old male neutered cat, he had 200 ml fluid tapped off his chest last week elsewhere, and 300 tapped off today. Can anyone give me any guidance based on these clips and rads? Specifically I am wondering is this cat is a candidate for Pimo. Unfortunately the owner is declining a full echo so we only have my images to go by….
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radiographs= pre-tap lateral, post-tap lateral and VD
Hi!
Seems that mainly the right heart is affected by dilation and impaird systolic function. And there might be some arrhythmia present. I don’t think that tricuspid dysplasia is the cause since the cat is quite old. Other differentials would be arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyoathy or acute pulmonary hyertension. Pimobendan is not licensed for cats but might still be of benefit unless there is not obstructive lesion present (right or left outflow tract). If this is not known, I would decide on the basis of a heart murmur. If there is no (constant) heart murmur, you could dare give the cat Pimobendan. I would add Furosemide (e.g. 2 mg/kg bid to start with) and change the dose based on effect to the minimum effective dose. And I would add an ACEI here.
I hope this helps
Peter
Yes, this helps a lot, thank you! There is no murmur.
Pam