It is with a heavy heart that I write this email. On Friday I lost my beloved Bagheera to hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM). For those of you who are unfamiliar with this, it is a disease in which the walls of the heart, particularly the left ventricle, become increasingly thickened, making it more difficult to function properly. It is a often not diagnosed until symptoms present themselves in the form of congestive heart failure, a saddle thrombus, or sudden death. Sometimes a murmur can be ausculted during an exam, which can aid in diagnosis.
Bagheera was diagnosed over 3 1/2 years ago, when he started acutely limping and Bob thought he'd hurt his leg. He brought Bagheera into Dove Lewis, where I was working at the time. His orthopedic exam turned out to be normal, but the crackles we heard when ausculting him indicated congestive heart failure-radiographs confirmed this. Bagheera spent the night at Dove on lasix and a nitroglycerin patch. An echocardiogram the next confirm that he had HCM. We were referred to cardiology NW for continued management. His prognosis at that time was 1-2 years.
Fast forward 3 1/2 years. Bagheera had been seeing the cardiologist every 6 months for an echo. For awhile, the only changes we made were increases in his dose of lasix. Then in December, I noticed an increase in respiratory effort. An echo performed by the cardiologist revealed a thrombus in his already very large left atrium. He had pleural effusion and 300ml was drained from his chest cavity. We increased his lasix, but 3 weeks later, Bagheera needed another chest tap. We also noticed on ultrasound, that the thrombus was increasing in size. He started going 2 weeks between chest taps, but seemed to bounce back after each one. After his last tap on 3/8, he didn't seem to bounce back as well. This past week, Bagheera didn't want to eat and seemed generally weaker. On Friday, his respiratory effort was markedly increased, less that 2 weeks after his last tap. He couldn't seem to get comfortable and had lost interest in the things he liked to do. I had to let him go. Bagheera passed peacefully in the presence of those who loved him. It broke my heart to lose him, but it was worse seeing him deteriorate this week.
I inherited Bagheera when he was just 6 months of age. One of my co-workers at the humane society broke up with her boyfriend and had nowhere to go, except back to Kansas, to live with her family. She asked me to keep Bagheera (whom she had adopted from the Humane Society) until she could come back and get him. He ended up becoming a permanent addition to my feline family.
Bagheera was the quintessential cool cat. Nothing fazed him-not car rides, vet visits or being pilled. He loved to ride in his carrier, and when we moved here from Ohio, he would always walk into his carrier after breakfast, waiting for us to pack up his brothers and sisters. He was a gentle soul, yet would be very protective when an stray cat or dog would show up outside the house. He got along well with his brothers and sisters, and was known to sometimes initiate a squabble :) Bagheera was good-natured about being pilled. I used to joke that he would walk up to me and say "pills please" and practically open his mouth. I truly believe that his good nature and calm disposition helped him live with HCM for as long as he did.
Bagheera was 1 in a million, but also a perfect example of just how unique and special our fur children are. Cherish your time with them-it is much too short and once they are gone, the void they leave can never be filled.
Ellen
