My Young Cat - Rapid Breathing And Not Eating

[furrykittenx]

Hi, I just stumbled upon this site because I was searching for my kitten's sickness.

I'm not sure if this reply is to the post, but I was wondering if anybody else knew if I could hurt my kitten by vaccinating her twice for FIV (I found her so I'm not sure if she's been vaccinated, and it's far from where I live to go to the vet)?

Thank you.

[MisterMan]

Thanks again for all the support. He was treated at the vet for 4 days where they washed his wound with betadine and some antibiotic creme and then wrapped plus anitbiotics. They shaved his foot too to keep the hair from causing an more problem.

I brought him home and continued with the cleaning, bandaging and antibiotics. he had one of those fancy plastic cone collars too but I found if i stuck tiger balm o the outisde of the bandage it kept him from chewing off the the bandage and he didn't have to have his fancy hat.

The wounds are SLOWLY getting smaller. The big one still bleeds a bit and the top ayer of skin is gone. The 2 smlaller wounds are almost gone.

however today he started sneezing! and I came home from work and he was still sneezing!! He is eating normal but has diarrhea and always seems to have had a problem with this.

Also his ears feel warm. but he is playing a lot with my other cat and seems ok.

He is not underweight but does drink a lot of water.

When he was very young he also got attacked by another cat.

I am fearing he has Feline Leukemia. I just looked up the symptoms.

Diarreha, drinking lots of water, slight fevor..9his ears are quite warm)

I just want him to get better...

[bina]

the only way to tell if an animal has a fever is by taking his temperature; do it the same way u do a baby (or at least in the past before those fancy ear thermometers)... use a regular digital thermometer, put some lube or saliva on it and put it in your cat's anus.... most cats will stay still if u have u holding him on the table or counter, flatten the cat out and second person puts in thermometr gently ... usually, even if the cat starts to squirm u can get a good idea of his temp if the numbers arent running up quickly... check in google for cat temp or someone here knows it in faranheit/centagrade....

ears warm nose moist cold or dry, etc for dogs and cats means absolutely nothing... lethargic or non eating often means fever....

diarreah, could be wrong type of food for your specific cat... there are cat foods for sensitive stomachs and/or allergic cats...could be something he caught at the vet's office...

water drinking could be from other problems: kidney, diabetes (a common cat problem which also causes problems in healing), etc --

one step at a time: take care of the paws, and if cat did blood work, go over it again to see any other problems that may have shown up...

bina

israel

[MisterMan]

HI Thanks Bina,

I have no thermometer..

Normaly I feed him canned Tuna but he eats a lot of dry food. (could be why he drinks a lot of water too?)

Now I am up cause he will not stop sneezing!! he seems ok, not lethargic except he is congested, sneezing..

he cant sleep cause he wont stop sneezing.

The antibiotics finished this morning. im wondering it if lowered his immune system?

How to stop the sneezing?

Air con? no air con? Normaly I only have a fan...

[bigmove]

HI Thanks Bina,

I have no thermometer..

Normaly I feed him canned Tuna but he eats a lot of dry food. (could be why he drinks a lot of water too?)

Now I am up cause he will not stop sneezing!! he seems ok, not lethargic except he is congested, sneezing..

he cant sleep cause he wont stop sneezing.

The antibiotics finished this morning. im wondering it if lowered his immune system?

How to stop the sneezing?

Air con? no air con? Normaly I only have a fan...

I have the same problem with my cat before. Not eating and sleeping. Just dringking but with the use of a syringe. Just can't bear the feeling of seeing a cat suffer from this kind of sickness. My cat died 3 months ago with FIV, did all my best to save him but in the end still failed. Just one suggestion if your cat is having problems sleeping,a bean bag might help. I was able to help my cat sleep with this as he seems to find it easier to breathe when he's above the floor or surface. Before when he lies on the floor or in our bed he just sleeps for a few minutes and becomes uneasy as if he is looking for the best position posibble. And it hurts me so much when I see him like this. So i thought of placing him in the bean bag from then on, he had rest pretty well during his last weeks. I terribly miss my cat as I know he went trhough a lot including a few days in hospital with oxygen and the injections he has gone through. Just the same as loosing a kid. My cat felix is my avatar so he will always be remembered.

goodluck

BM

[bina]

t our vet clinic we had some special spray from france that the vet brings over made from all kinds of plants: sort of like a camphor eucalyptus menthol geranium mist: we put a cat in a cat cage, put in small room (small closet type bathroom) close windows etc and spray in air near box; wait a few minutes and then open and air out area.... it is ok for children also (rather like those vix drops or natural congestion relief therapy with steam)... we used that often on cats that have nasal drip, congestion and sneezing attacks... u have to do it a few times a day....

we found that cats had sneezing attacks and nasal drip more frequently in our arid desert summer winds season, with humidity returning, they reduce. not sure if thailand could be called dry/arid )... but maybe something else is setting it off, maybe your cat is indoors more than usual due to injured paw so air/fan is bugging him???

bean bag chair: great idea also for dogs with pulmonary problems cause u can prop the animal up using the bean bag support, and then the animal doesnt slide off or roll over out of position... great for rehab /broken bones in animals too... too bad i didnt think of that first.....) (good for physiotherapy in children too)

bina

israel

[MisterMan]

Oh no it just gets worst!

I took him to the vet cause he obviously had an upper respiratory infection.

Since my friends cat just got diagnosed with leukemia i had him tested too. he came out positive. I am not surprised, he had the foot infection that got worst before better and is still no healed, he drinks ALOT OF water and now this. Seems like the classic symptoms.

The doctor said he has the kitty flu and gave him Clavamox, half a tab in the am and in the pm. Plus anti inflammatory for his foot as one sore has still not healed. Ill attach a photo soon.

I am weary to over medicate him and never give him the anti inflammatory. His paw is a normal size now, completely drained with healthy pink tissue now growing (that is what the vet said about the wound). he does not seem in pain.

So now i have to separate the 2 cats. (keeping them in the house is not a problem).

not just cause of the flu but because I have just realzed my cat was only vaccinated for distemper! I guess I never realized he was missing the shots. I got him for an animal welfare place and thought they would have vaccinated him.

All he has had is the distemper/rhino/calic . Not FIP either.

So now how to manage the Leukemia? how long can he really live? if this flu goes away what can I excpect?

My friend has just started interfeuron for her cat for leukemia. it has just become avaialble in Thailand.

Any feedback and all feedback is appreciated.

Yes I feel horribly horribly bad for not getting him vaccinated sooner! When I first got him he did get attacked by a stray cat. (I could not have him in the house at the time as I was living in someone elses house) I thougth the strays also would not come around as there were 2 dogs. But recently he got bit by that other cat and if it was transmited then then i could have prevented this.

I feel overwhelmed right now.and very sad.

[MisterMan]

PS does anyone have any trick for giving tablets to a cat?

more then 2 weeks of liquids and tablets and my normally well tempered cat is getting a bit violent when it comes time for dosing!

[bina]

mister... i just wrote a long step by step addition to what mango to go wrote for giving pills; but it got zapped so....

in short, it may be easier for u to learn to inject a sub cutaneous shot, once a day, u just catch the cat (dont catch him just to inject or give pills or u will never be able to do either... catch him a few times a day for petting and giving tasty yummy cat treats that he really likes.... ) and slide the needle under his skin, using your palm u inject and the cat usually moves forward so no damage by the needle... cats usually need about 5 cc of most antibiotics (plus minus weight and drug, but usually dont need more, may need less)... its easier in the long run than pilling/or liquid antibiotics.... and sometimes if need to give more then one drug, some can be mixed as a cocktail injected all at once.... ask your vet... i've managed to teach many people to inject their pets sq (under the skin) for long term medicine use... its safe and easy and less painful than in a muscle, and hard to do damage to your pet (cats have lots of room between their skin and their muscle tissue)...

bina

israel

[eek]

Want to wish you all the best MisterMan.

A note about the canned Tuna..usually canned Tuna contains quite a bit of salt, which could make your cat thirsty. I also know that my cats stomachs couldnt tolerate much tuna well, and always resulted in nasty diarrhea, so I only ever gave them a tiny amount as a treat.

My cats staple diet was dried food, and yes, they drank quite a lot of water with that. Less water when they had canned.

As for giving tablets, I tried crushing them up and putting them into food, but my cats were super sleuths and wouldnt touch the food with a barge pole! An alternative to binas suggestion, if you want to give the tablet and not an injection, heres what i personally used to do. I found the only way to do it, was the way that made them hate me for a little while. I would get a towel ready, a bowl of water, some soft butter, and the tablet(s) which have been pre-coated in butter (easier to go down the cats throat). I would get my cat and with her body and wrap the towel around her body (to keep paws and claws at bay). Then, facing away from me, would lock her into place (gently but firmly) between my knelt legs. (You may already know, but if you grab a cat by the scruff of the neck he/she will go stiff and not move. Use this only for a short time if you need to, but never to lift a cat, only when they are on the ground.) Tilting my cats head back i would quickly place my fingers at the back of the mouth, which makes the jaw drop open, then I would drop the tablet into her mouth, aiming for her throat. Then let her close her mouth and would gently rub her throat to encourage her to swallow. If she was being clever and stubborn and not swallowing, i would use the bowl of water to gather water droplets in my hand to drop down into her mouth (using the same fast opening of her mouth action as before). If she spat out the tablet, id have to do the process again. :S Thankfully it was usually successful first time. This may sound like hel_l, but was actually over pretty fast, if you get the steps right. The cat is usually in a state of shock at the whole thing. Its also humane, honestly! A vet taught me how to do it.

Oh..if you have someone to help you, then its a little easier, especially if your cat is a squirmer. Getting someone to hold the paws to the ground helps. Remember though, to try do it super fast. So its less stressful for both of you.

p.s: if this doesnt read clear enough, let me know, and ill take the time to sort the steps out more clearly.

Edited September 18, 2008 by eek

[MisterMan]

Thank you! I will be weary of the tuna now. yes he loves his kibble. I just upgraded from whiskas to Science Diet. Strangely his diarrhea seems to have stopped in 1 day. Before he had green runny stool and I suspected the colour was from dies in the food. Now just a few days on Science Diet he has normal looking stool.

I gave him his pill and lots of those tips helped. He has a thing for VItamin E! When I open a capsule to put on a scar he wants to lick it. Perhaps a deficiency ? I dont know.

So I put the tablet in there. Kept him on all fours and gave him some treats after. No bites or scratches for me..

Thanks for all the info!!! much appreciated.

[eek]

Great! and glad that you didnt have many problems from the pill-taking!

As for the vitamin E, it might be the oil he is liking.

Best of luck for his recovery.

[bina]

่ีjust check the dosage of vitamin e since its an oil based vitamin u can overdose so check what is for cats...

[eek]

Oh wow, i didnt think of that bina. This thread has been very informative for me also. Just hope all turns out well, and soon.

[MisterMan]

HI all, well I finally have some photos..

My cat is recovering very well from the cat flu and all the sores he had. He only had one.

He is only suffering from boredom now that he has be confined to quarantine in my bedroom and balcony. (better then a cage at the vet )

My other normally healthy cat has now come down with the cat flu too. I gave him the same antibiotics and he is getting better..

I have attached a photo of the wound .. there were 3 of them and much bigger when the infection spread. This was the first reason I thought that he was LEVF positive as they did not heal.

For now I have been using hydrogen peroxide instead of Betadine as I think it driers the wound faster.

For now he is eating, drinking and playing as seen in the 2nd photo. Again thanks so much for the information and all the post.

once he is better I will have to deal with the FELV....

[eek]

Glad to hear he is on the mend. Good news.

[bina]

betadine is only for when there is active infection for the first day or so; after that, it is not to be used as it prevents sores from healing (it prevents the new cells from developing)... saline solution is a good one to use, or whatever antibiotic creams that are needed.

bina

israel

[jitagon]

Your cat has Feline Leukaemia. Same as Feline Aids, although not transferable to humans. The symptoms come and go very rapidly. But is sadly incurable.

Next time any of you get a cat/kitten have it immunised. It's only 200thb. But the stupid Thai vets won't tell you. Because - it's 200 thai baht.