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Thank you Terri:
I will definitely look into Pet
Tinic.
I can tell by Cotton's
restlessness and the look on his face most of today that he's still not
feeling all that well. He mostly seems to feel bad right after he
eats. I'm thinking he's still having some spasms in his intestines
and nausea. But he's asking regularly for the faucet to be turned on so he can
drink water, he's eating the fish and rice and I mixed in a little wet catfood
today, which he kept down. I started him on his Interferon, also. And
he's been to the litterbox with normal results, so I'm just going to keep
progressing slowly with his diet, and talk to the vet tomorrow about what we
should do from here and possibly a kidney ultrasound. It makes me
realize that when he does change foods, he's going to need to do it really
slowly.
I'm still rooting for my little
Cotton-ball. He has such an expressive face, I can tell even when he's a
shade off color. And I'm trying to teach my son Kellen to watch him closely
too, since they spend so much time together. That way he too
will know the signs of illness. And I know I probably
over-reacted a bit when I found Cotton sick, but it so breaks my
heart to see anyone in my care anything but happy.
Thanks for talking/listening to me
about him.
Sandy
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Sunday, November 20, 2005 8:09
PM
Subject: Re: Cotton crisis
Well, definitely keep us posted -- I don't write in much (mostly lurk
lately since I'm now FeLV free), but I can't bring myself to leave the
group.
If he seems to be holding his own, maybe try some Pet Tinic if you can
find it. Good antioxidant vitamins for the kitties! You could mix
it into some wet food for him. Great blood builder. There's
another vitamin like it, but I can't think of the name offhand.
=^..^= Terri, Siggie the Tomato Vampire, Guinevere, Sammi, Travis, and 6
furangels: RuthieGirl, Samantha, Arielle, Gareth, Alec & Salome'
=^..^=
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Sunday, November 20, 2005 12:57
AM
Subject: Re: Cotton crisis
Aw, thank you
Terri. I worry so much about my little Cotton- ball, because
he's still so young and still growing. He has been eating boiled
fish and rice today, and I can tell he is not feeling as well as he
could, but he seems to be on the mend. He's drinking lots of water on
his own, and tomorrow I may let him back on dry kibble.
Sandy
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Saturday, November 19, 2005
5:56 PM
Subject: Re: Cotton crisis
No thoughts, Sandy, but I am thrilled that he seems to be okay
now. Sending positive thoughts his way!
=^..^= Terri, Siggie the Tomato Vampire, Guinevere, Sammi, Travis,
and 6 furangels: RuthieGirl, Samantha, Arielle, Gareth, Alec & Salome'
=^..^=
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Saturday, November 19, 2005
4:36 PM
Subject: Cotton crisis
Cotton and I have survived our
first crisis together. He is fine now, but last night I thought I
might lose him. Friday morning he was his usual bouncy self, just
a little less hungry, like he's been since he started taking the
Metranidazole (for his bacteria laden stools). I came home from
work, and wondered why he didn't greet me as he usually does.
I found him in his favorite boy's room laying by the litterbox
with a puddle of watery diarrhea next to him. He was weak,
lethargic, straining/cramping, vomiting and shivering from pain. He
seemed to have the most pain in his back. When I picked him up,
the look on his face was a mixture of fear, pain and sadness and broke
my heart. I will never forget it.
My son and I rushed him to the Vet ER,
where he had xrays, bloodwork, etc. He didn't have any urine to
analyze, nothing but gel in his rectum. He was found to
have enlarged kidneys, left greater than right (enough to be
pushing on his stomach), an elevated white count, a very slightly high
calcium level, which concerned the vet, and a density of some sort
in his colon which the vet wasn't sure about, because it wasn't clear on
xray. She said she wasn't sure why he was vomiting and
straining to defacate, but she said it didn't really look like a foreign
body, and there was a lot of gas. Poor baby.
The night before he was seen carrying
around a dropped piece of lettuce that was probably unwashed and fallen
from the trashcan. He was batting it around and playing with
it, but I took away from him, fearing he might eat it. In his
vomit on Friday, I noticed that there was little bits of green, and
pieces of what I thought might have been worms, but were little pieces
of red string from a decorative sword tassle. I wish I had thought
to examine it more closely. Anyway...mentioned all this to the
vet, who said worse case scenario is that he might need an
exploratory laperotomy to investigate the colon, and perhaps while he is
under, to biopsy his kidneys. The vet did some further
labwork, and wasn't too concerned with the findings, and so she
agreed that outpt therapy was the best.
He got sub-q fluids, a dex (steroid)
shot, some Zantac, and something else I can't remember for
nausea. I came home and put a cold compress on his poor
little bottom, which was all red and swollen and put him to bed
with his favorite boy.
This morning, he was his usual
self! Loudly meowing to be allowed out, jumping, running,
being naughty, complaining when I picked him up to look at him. He
is bright and cheery, and hungry now! I'm still
reeling! Any advice on what happened, what might be the best
way to proceed to feed him? I am so glad he's better, and I know
you are not all vets, but so much of his severe symptoms kept coming
back to his FeLV+ status. I'm concerned that he might have
something going on with his kidneys, and may consider ultrasound of them
in the future.
Here are my theories, in order of
probability:
1. The lettuce might have been a
source of bacteria that might not have made a normal cat ill, but
because of his weakened immune system, Cotton got
sick.
2. The string caused him to
have his symptoms or contributed to his symptoms. (but that doesn't
exactly explain the
diarrhea)
3. Since he went to the vet last
week, he might have been exposed to a stomach virus. (He was all
over the exam room and was beginning to eye the tops of the
cabinets.)
4. ?
Does anyone have any thoughts? You
all know how new I am to all of this, and if there is something I can do
to prevent such occurances in the future, I will do whatever it
takes. Sandy
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