[Dailydrool] Strange Symptoms-Need opinions

[Jamie]

Hi All!!

I haven't posted here often, but I need help desperately.  My Maggie is 11 years old. Last Wednesday I left at about 4:30pm and she was fine. I came home at 9:30 and she looked horrible. She was hanging her head, and her tummy was very hard and poofy.  It looked like the might have vomited, but it could have been my cat....So I took her to the emergency vet.  They couldn't figure out what was wrong with her, but in assessing her symptoms they were fairly certain it wasn't bloat. They did X-rays to make sure and a blood test.  The X-rays showed nothing really outstanding, except a partial enlarged heart, only on the left side.  The next day I took her to my regular vet. By this time she was acting a little more energetic, but still not herself.  The vet said we should wait on the blood work, but he looked at the X-rays and didnt see anything that stood out. 

The blood work all came back normal. She's older, so her breathing is a little louder than when she was younger. To me, it sounds even louder than normal, but that could just be me panicking.  The vet said he didn't think her breathing was abnormal.  The vet gave her an anti nausea medicine, which seemed to help. I gave some to her Thursday, and then none Friday (per the Vets instructions).  He checked her back, how she walked, everything.

Saturday she seemed to be doing better.  She was eating and not vomiting.  Saturday night though, she got sick like 3 times and started drooling.   I gave her the medicine again, and she went to sleep.  She went outside to go to the bathroom and drank water.  This morning she woke up perkier, but again, not herself.  She did seem hungry, so I gave her a small handful of food.  She drank water and went outside.  Her breathing sounds weird to me.

The vet mentioned that its possible she might have the early stages of congested heart failure, but with the only symptom being the enlarged heart it wasn't something that should be addressed. The Vet said that sometimes pain (from her stomach) could have an effect on her heart being enlarged.

She has been urinating and having bowel movements.  Is this just old age setting in?  I dont know what else to do for her? I don't want her to suffer, but I dont want to do anything drastic either. If she does have heart failure, im not sure how im going to afford this.  I hope that doesnt sound badly. I love her more than anything in the world.....any opinions?
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