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Hello Tonya! And thanks for the
welcome!
With Cotton's fish and rice, I chose that
because I thought it might be bland enough, and I know he loves fish and
I didn't have any chicken broth at the time. So I saved the fish
water that it was boiled in, and poured it over the rice to make a slurry,
which he ate great.
Of course all of the other cats had to have a
taste. ;)
After he was feeling a little better, I added the
juices from wet cat food, and bigger chunks of fish and wet cat food, and
progressed slowly from there.
If he were to not like fish, I would have probably
done chicken broth. Thanks for the idea, I will keep it in mind for the
future.
Sandy
--- Original Message -----
Sent: Saturday, November 26, 2005 1:09
PM
Subject: Re: Cotton crisis
Hi Sandy, I don't think I've ever talked with you on
the list before, but let me say welcome! I'm an old timer here who mixes
my cats and have not had a problem with it in ten years. Not to say I
never will, but I never have. I wanted to ask you about the fish with
rice. Maybe your vet recommended it, but we always used chicken broth to
cook rice in for sick kitties at the shelter. Good thoughts coming your
way for little Cotton. I love that name! tonya Dudes
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:

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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