We just lost Bliss 2 days ago.  I apologize first for this long post,
but I think telling the story will help ease the pain.  Bliss was a
beautiful 7 year old Tortie - she was our first of 3 cats and she
immediately bonded with me.  My husband first noticed that Bliss was
having breathing problems 2 weeks ago, with her abdominal muscles
drawing in deeply with each breath.  One week later, we took her to the
vet because she was breathing faster.  This vet did not have an xray
facility, so he offered that we tried either medical management or
getting an xray elsewhere, but he suggested that the medical management
may save us money because we may not necessarily need an xray.  He gave
her Lasix (diuretic) injections and asked to bring her back the next
morning.  He thought her breathing had improved and gave  more Lasix.
We brought her back again, and he concluded that Bliss has pulmonary
edema (based on improvement on Lasix), but could not say whether it was
from heart failure or asthma.  He did not suggest any treatment other
than to bring her back when her breathing worsens.  Honestly, I was not
convinced that her breathing had improved.  A few days later, her
breathing continued to worsen, and with an unknown diagnosis (even if
was asthma), I wanted a piece of mind that there was nothing wrong with
her heart.  So, we went to a facility to get her an xray, which showed,
in my new vet's words, "the biggest pleural effsusion I have ever
seen," with little lungs left (rest being compressed by the fluid)
The fluid was drained and sent in for analysis, but the xray post
draining did not look that much better.  It showed a large thing
masking the heart (it was three times the size of a normal heart),
which could be either cancer such as lymphoma or fluid around the
heart.  My husband and I debated at length about whether we should
consider chemo if it turned out to be lymphoma since mediastinal
lymphoma is typically very responsive to chemo, but we also weighed
against Bliss' utter protest to visiting the vet (she had to be
mildly sedated or net was used by prior vets) as well as the cost of
chemo (we have only one income which mainly goes to our needed living
expenses without much left).

In just a few days after her first chest draining, she became less and
less of her self, ate less and eventually did not want to eat, became
weaker and eventually did not move much except to shift to a position
comfortable for breathing (but she did have that once ounce of energy
left to run away from the carrier when we had to bring her in for a 2nd
draining).  Her breathing was at its worst, occasionally opening mouth
to breath, seemed to use all her body to breath, had nasal flaring, and
making loud breathing sounds.  We drove quickly to the vet to alleviate
her respiratory distress, and learned from our vet the results of the
pleural fluid analysis:  Bliss has a carcinoma of the lung or
mesothelioma, both very untreatable.  In a way, this made the decision
to put her to sleep easier, but nevertheless, my husband and I sobbed
hard because all this started just 2 weeks ago  (we thought she had
asthma!).  We are still so heartbroken and I still shed tears today.
Being at home has been hard, not seeing her in her usual places, not
having her follow me around, not hearing her purring, not rubbing her
soft fur, not seeing her come when I snap my fingers...  I've been
feeling guilty about not getting the xray right away - instead we
subjected her needlessly to those Lasix injections and multiple vet
visits that were inconclusive.  If any of you have a cat with breathing
problem, I would recommend that you get an xray right away, because in
the end, we ended up spending more money (e.g. on the lasix injections
and those extra vet visits before the xray).

We have 2 other cats, both bonded well with each other and with my
husband, so I have been feeling esp sad, with a huge void in my heart.
I thought about adopting a new cat that will be as affectionate as
Bliss, but wonder if it would be an impulsive desire given that I am so
heartbroken...  There is also an issue of introducing a new cat to a
multicat household, although previously we did not have much diffculty,
but each time was a kitten, not a older cat.  I would like a cat a bit
older than 6 months or old enough that his/her personality is easy to
see.  For those of you who have adopted a cat older than 1 year, how
did your other cats react?  Also, Bliss was our first cat and bonded
with me immediately, and she did not care much for other cats.  Our
second cat, Pokey, then bonded with my husband.  Our third one, Tugly,
bonded with neither one of us, but seemed close to Pokey.  I've heard
a new kitty coming into a household that already has other cats does
not bond with humans as readily...  What are your experiences on this?
Thanks for reading my post...  I am feeling much better already.