Sandy,
From what I understood about vaccines, if Cricket was vaccinated even
just once with a booster, than she should have been protected. Sorry to
be a pest, but are you absolutely sure that her kitten vaccines included
felv? Most of the vets I've used don't vaccinate for felv unless
expressly asked to. Your news about Cricket kind of shoots my theory to
hell, if she was indeed vaccinated, (esp more than once), for felv and
she had tested neg as a kitten, and she was an adult when she was
exposed to felv... She could be the exception to the rule, but it isn't
good news for mixing in general, or of course, for poor Cricket.
Eww! I wanted to squirt that bad boy Cotton when I read about how he
terrorized little Cricket. I'm ashamed to say he may have gotten flying
lessons if he had been in my presence during that litterbox ambush! Is
there any way you could set up a schedule that Cotton is isolated at the
same time every day, while Cricket has free roam? You could give Cotton
something special, like a small bowl of tuna when he's locked up. When
he sees that he gets let out again, you know, after it becomes routine,
he may stop the howling. When Cricket figures out that Cotton is locked
up when she's free, maybe she'll start to feel more secure again. That
way Cricket will have time to enjoy the house and not feel like she has
to be looking over her shoulder, or feel like she's being punished in
seclusion because that little bully has come to live with you.
My Kimba Cat had the same terrified reaction to one of our new arrivals,
Spencer. Spence never attacked Kimba, but Kimba hid out for days after
I let Spence out of isolation for a test run at acclimation to gp. When
Kimba ventured out I noticed he had bright red blood on the fur under
his tail. It seemed to be mixed with urine so I panicked and we spent 5
hours at the ER clinic. I felt so bad about my assumptions about why he
was hiding and that I hadn't checked for health reasons for it. The
problem turned out to be a nasty bite at the base of his tail that was
just starting to access. I don't know if it was all the quality alone
time we had at the vet, (they had us in an exam room most of the time
waiting our turn, and even though Kimba was scared, he was purring on my
lap and really enjoying the attention), or the fact that I promised him
he wouldn't have to contend with Spencer until he was ready, but he's
back to feeling more confident and not hiding anymore. When I give
Spencer trial runs now, I lock Kimba in the garage. God I hate
discord! I still don't know who inflicted the wound on Kimba Cat. I
suspect it was one of our Husky/Chow "fosters", Maggie. Twice I caught
Maggie chasing cats out of the bedroom in the middle of the night, (the
second and last time, so far, she got such a scolding that I certainly
hope she won't do it again). The bite wounds on Kimba's tail are on
either side and seem too big for a cat, they seem more likely to have
been caused by snapping dog teeth. I'm hoping it wasn't inflicted on
purpose.
Nina
Dudes wrote:
Hi Nina:
The vet didn't say what grade murmur, but when I take her back to him,
I will ask.
Cricket was tested as a kitten and was negative. She received
boosters every 3 years, since I am not a big advocate of just
vaccinating for the heck of it for everything once a year, since my
cats are 100% indoors. So she had her initial kitten shots, then a
booster at age 3. All 3 cats were exposed to Cotton at the beginning,
since we didn't know Cotton was sick. We got Cotton at the end of
August last year, his housemate who also was living with us then died
in late September, and we had all the cats tested by ELISA by October
or so. Cotton's was positive and confirmed by IFA. Cricket's was
weakly positive, but we thought it might be from exposure. Miss and
Myca were negative and they were boostered.
Cotton got sick shortly after that, in I think November, and since I
was saving for his possible ultrasound, we couldn't afford another
test until January. Because Cricket tested positive, we got her
checked first, and went with the IFA, which came back positive, much
to my disappointment. Cotton has been well, but I strongly suspect
that he is still actively shedding the virus, since he has passed it
to two cats. Cricket unfortunately started many fights with him,
stole his food before we knew he was FeLV+, but she didn't really put
many wounds on him.
Cotton bites and scratches and fights for real, while most of
Cricket's attacks are bluff and posturing and noise: Cricket does
lots of screaming, lots of paws flying, but very little biting on her
part. Poor Cricket has bald spots on her back, neck and ears where
Cotton beat her up. When he got to her, fur would fly. A lot of her
fur. Once he ambushed her in the litterbox within 10 seconds of
escaping someone's arms, he made a beeline for her and tore her up. I
had to bathe her to get all the litter and urine and blood out of her
wounds. He's a real little devil. He even bites us with no warning
or reason and then runs off.
We thought Cricket lost weight, but the vet said she didn't. But
we've noticed she has become more and more depressed and panicked if
she cannot be in our bedroom to hide, but now that Cotton is neutered,
he seems less interested in her. She is still very upset by him. All
she has to do is smell him on someone and her tail bushes up. We
haven't had a bad fight in about 2 months. Cricket is due to go back
in for her heart murmur check in 2 weeks. Her appetite is good, but
she has days where she won't come out and days when she seems happy
and less anxious.
I have tried everything, even a cat door to my bedroom, which Cotton
figured out in about 15 seconds how to open. He is very wiley and
strong for such a small cat, and can open even heavy french doors, he
knocks over glasses and has broken more stuff than I care to share.
He has to stay with us much of the time so we can watch him.
Sometimes he is just too wild and we have to shut him in the bedroom
for a timeout. I don't think he ever sleeps during the day unless
he's alone. When we confine him, he yowls loudly. He's always up in
someone's business. He's like a hyperactive child. Cotton finally
had to be neutered despite the risk to his health, which has helped.
But now we don't take any chances, as he did so much injury to
Cricket, we keep them apart as much as possible.
Sandy
