case number 16 04/20/2008
 

A 12 year old, MC, DSH cat that was presented due to acute labored breathing.
The cat was underweight and 5% dehydrated. CBC was normal. BUN- 47, the rest of the chemistry panel was WNL.
 use the comments link to post your interpretations.
Click on the images below to view full size.
Answers will be available in a few days.

There is a diffuse interstitial pattern, and patchy alveolar infiltrates mainly in the left caudal lung lobe.
The cardiac silhouette is generally enlarged, especially for a dehydrated cat. On the VD view the heart  takes more than 50% of the width of the thorax. The pulmonary veins are prominent. There is left renomegaly while the right kidney is small and irregular. There is a lot of fecal material in the colon. The margins of the liver seem to be rounded.
This cat had heart failure due to dilated cardiomyopathy.
2 days later the cat developed aortic thromboembolism and was euthenised.
No further diagnostics were performed to evaluate the kidneys and liver.
Cats, unlike dogs have atypical distribution of pulmonary edema.

 


Comments

Nora Gilmoor

Mon, 21 Apr 2008 06:31:05

Abdomen:
The left kidney is enlarged while the right one is small and irregular.The left renomegaly is probably due to compensatory hyertrophy, but neoplasia, pyelonephritis etc. are also possible.
The liver margins are round.
There is a SQ mass on the R side.

Chest:
There is diffuse interstitial pattern with some alveolar infiltrates at the caudal left lung lobes.
The pulmonary arteries might be prominent.
Lung parasites, heartworm disease and pneumonia with pulmonary hypertension are possible

 

Dan Bennet, VMD

Mon, 21 Apr 2008 06:40:08

I agree with the above description of the abdominal findings, but I disagree about the chest. I think that there is cardiomegaly and pulmonary edema. The hepatomegaly is probably due to congestion.

 



Leave a Reply

Name (required)
Email (not published)
Website