We've had a health scare with Isabella, our girl kitty. On July 18th, she was supposed to have her teeth cleaned at our local vet's office. Before anesthesia, they did blood work and examined her. We received a phone call from them because they detected an arrhythmia during the exam. We went over to talk to the vet (Dr. Roth was the vet in this case). She recommended an electrocardiogram and an X-ray to see if Isabella's heart was enlarged. We agreed, of course. The X-ray revealed nothing amiss, but Dr. R. said sometimes a cat's ventricular walls can enlarge inwardly, but the outside of the heart looks okay. The ECG showed ventricular premature complexes - not something we wanted to hear. Dr. R. then recommended we have her looked at by a veterinary cardiologist at the MedVet Clinic in Worthington, Ohio, a little bit north of Columbus. (For all you library people out there, Worthington is very near Dublin, the home of OCLC, mothership of many library functions.) The cardiologist could do an echocardiogram, which our vet clinic is not set up to do. So, we called and got an appt. with Dr. Thaibinh Nguyenba for July 26.
We went to Worthington today (about 1.75 hours away) and saw Dr. Nguyenba, who was great. He has a lovely "bedside manner," or whatever they call it for vets. Isabella's echocardiogram was perfect - no problems. The heart is fine, inside and outside. Not one ventricular premature complex showed up today. Naturally. So, just to be sure, Dr. N. recommended a 24-hour Holter monitor. I've had one of those myself, but it's another story with a cat. The electrodes are on her, but the whole package is then wrapped with the same kind of tape that's put on your arm after you give blood - only Isabella's tape is wider. She looks like she's wearing a little jet-pack, or maybe she's a tiny smuggler with "the goods" taped to her body. I've got a couple of pictures - not great (I'm having some difficulty with my camera's flash), but you get the idea.
Poor kitty must wear this until tomorrow at 1:00 p.m. She can eat, drink, walk, etc. - she just looks funny and probably has a lower self-esteem. We'll have to address the psychiatric issues later.
I'll keep everyone posted on the Holter results (we mail the monitor back). Dr. N. also recommended a thyroid test today, to check for hyperthyroidism. We'll know the results of that tomorrow. But, meanwhile, we're feeling relieved because her heart appears to be fine. :)
P.S. She never got her teeth cleaned!
3 comments:
I think Isabella looks quite fetching in her little vest. I'm go glad her heart is alright. Enough with the doctors. Everybody stay well for awhile.
Simone
Joan told me a bit about your daughter-in-fur's situation. I was about to email you this evening to find out how she was doing. Glad to hear the good news and see the pictures. Now I can just email you some of my news/gossip! :-)
Thanks, Joan and Cyndee. We just got the thyroid test results back, and it's good news on that front, too. She's within normal range. Now all we have to wait for is the results of the 24-hr. Holter monitor - I mailed it back yesterday evening and it might get there tomorrow. It'll take at least a week after that for results.
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