Save Belmont from Chylothorax

How it started

On Sunday, May 21st, we came home from a weekend away and found our sweet tuxedo boy Belmont breathing erratically.

He was heaving and huffing and struggling to get air, and we decided to admit him to emergency care. I rushed him to the vet hospital at midnight and waited 2 hours to have him seen.

At The Hospital

The wait at the hospital was grueling. I was there for 2 hours from 1 to 3 AM waiting on word of his condition. When the doctor came back they recommended X-rays. I immediately accepted. I wanted to know what was wrong.

The Problem

When the doctor came back with his X-ray images, she pointed out a huge problem: One of Belmont's lungs was surrounded by fluid, and it was basically being squeezed. He was breathing on just one lung.

They immediately recommended drainage and analysis of the fluid (thoracentesis). I accepted. I wanted my boy to be okay.

The Diagnosis

The fluid that was extracted from Belmont's lung was chyle; lymph fluid. This means that Belmont was draining lymph fluid into his thoracic cavity, putting pressure on his lung and squeezing it, making it difficult & painful for him to breathe.

With the fluid removed, his lung was thanfkully able to re-inflate. He was back to breathing normally, for the most part.

What is Chylothorax?

Chylothorax is a condition where lymph fluid (chyle) is drained into the chest cavity, imparing lung function. Chylothorax is a life-threatening condition that is not fully understood. Treatment options are invasive, expensive, & dangerous.

What are our next steps?

Belmont was returned home to us on Monday, May 22nd, having apparently recovered from the initial draining operation. He is stable and active for now.

Our next steps are to monitor his breathing for 2 weeks and supplement his diet with rutin, a natural supplement that has shown (in a small number of cases) to greatly improve survivability chances in cats.

After that, we are taking him to an internal medicine doctor for a consultation, and potential surgery.

The prognosis of Chylothorax is mostly unknown. The disease is rare and not well understood in cats. Very few documented examples of successful treatment exist. It's all up to chance whether Belmont survives.

... But we're going to do everything we can, up to and including asking for your help.

What happens if he needs surgery?

Chylothorax surgery is dangerous and highly invasive. It involves shutting off his lymph ducts around his thoracic cavity to avoid further leakage, and even involves heart surgery whereby they remove some or all of the sac that contains the heart, in order to relieve pressure on the heart caused by Chylothorax. The odds of success depend heavily on the size of the animal and the skill of the doctor performing a rare and difficult surgery.

Transparency

Your donation will be used to pay for Belmont's care, and if it comes to it, his potentially life-saving surgery. These are our goals:

First goal of $1500 - Recoup the costs of Belmont's first emergency vet visit & lung fluid draining.

Second goal of $12,000 - To pay for the cost of an internal medicine consultation, CT scan, and potentially even highly invasive surgery. We want to give Belmont the best chance he has at living as long of a life as possible.

Record of campaign withdrawals - Where are my donations being used?

Belmont is the sweetest and friendliest boy you could ever meet, and he doesn't deserve this disease or the suffering that comes with it.

Not only for us, but for his best friend & adopted brother George, please consider donating to #SaveBelmont!

Thank you.