Well, I think I just never saw him drink b/c I had him only from last sat.
night until monday in my bedroom with my other cats (I have two large rooms
connected- so they have tons of space. All but Possum sleep in the condo-
which is set up by the front window- at night). But we did keep him in a
separate crate in the room until the vet visit last monday, and that vet said
to isolate him, so poor kitty and his crate went to the basement. I felt
horrible, but we are just currently running out of rooms. So, he was stuck
down there all alone and since he wasn't with me in my room, I wasn't able to
see what he does. He spent most of his time down there crying crying crying
(broke my heart) and knocking over his coop cup of water and food in his
desperate attempts to reach thru the crate. It was horrible, I know, but our
basement doesn't have a real door- it's a folding levelor blind-like door and
every cat, save for the teeny barn kittens, have made short shrift of it!
Anyway, per Dr. Maier's advice- after she told me her analysis of the blood
tests (she doesn't think it's FIP (she said severe dehydration will cause high
protein and high globulin in the blood- also, he didn't test pos. for any
corona virus, so I don't see how the conventional vet can say FIP???). She
thinks it's just very very very bad malnourishment/dehydration, infection from
chronic URIs setting in, stress, etc). So, I moved him into my room on Sat.,
per her okay and recc that it would be better for him. Since he and Possum are
both special needs, slow (which incidentally makes them really good kitties b/c
they don't have the energy to "be bad"!), both recovering from what is
hopefully only malnourishment, etc., they both stay out in the room/sleep with
me on the bed at night (they are both such good little boys)! So I finally saw
him drink water and it's all at once, wonderful and hilarious! He drinks
voraciously (as voraciously as he eats his wet food- well, he's into the
crunchies too, but the wet food eating it funnier b/c he smacks him lips and
gobbles and just makes all these snarfling noises while eating- and gets it all
over his nose- like he never tasted anything so good!). So the water drinking
is similar-- very loud, very intense, and when he looks up, he has it all over
his chin and nose! So, I am no longer concerned about water drinking. I add a
lot of water to his wet food too and he doesn't seem to mind. He's not
dehydrated anymore either. He still looks like an old man cat to me tho- which
is sad because he's only 6 months. Sigh. He looks like what my 19 yo Rambo
looked like his last year of life. He really bounced back after just coming to
my house, getting fluids and the shot of penicillin, but he seems to have
leveled off now. We'll see...I really hope it's not dry FIP. I just can't go
through that. Tackling this malnourishment and weakened state has been hard
enough...
caroline
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]: [EMAIL PROTECTED]: Re: OT: sick 6 mo kitten
follow-upDate: Mon, 31 Dec 2007 17:38:57 -0600
Try dripping water or a water fountain. Ebony loved to drink from the faucet.
I like the fountain better because the water can be filtered.
If you have men who will
exclude any of God's creatures
from the shelter of compassion and pity, you will have men who
will deal likewise with their fellow man.
St. Francis
----- Original Message -----
From: Caroline Kaufmann
To: felvtalk@felineleukemia.org
Sent: Thursday, December 27, 2007 8:54 PM
Subject: RE: OT: sick 6 mo kitten follow-up
I have never seen him drink water, so I am not sure. But he's been urinating a
lot- of course that could be from the fluids. He was dehydrated on Monday, but
he bounced back so much after the shot of Penicillin and one bought of subcu
fluids- it was really remarkable. And of course, the vet isn't able to "see"
that. Since I have never seen him drink water, I have been adding water and
KMR to his wet food- just to make sure to get some extra in. He eats almost
all of his food up, so he's certainly getting moisture that way.caroline
Date: Thu, 27 Dec 2007 20:47:47 -0600From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]: [EMAIL
PROTECTED]: Re: OT: sick 6 mo kitten follow-up
That is great news, that everything is negative.
Is he drinking normally? Is he dehydrated? If he is not dehydrated....I would
not see any need for fluids (but I'm not a vet, this is not to be construed as
veterinary advice, yadda yadda)
Kelley
On Dec 27, 2007 8:39 PM, Caroline Kaufmann <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
Okay, the results are not all in, but I finally talked to the Vet about the
blood tests from the sick kitten I took in- which he suspect FIP in. The cat
was NEGATIVE for Felv (so that's the second time he's tested neg.- first at
approx. 2 mths old, now at 6 mths). He NEGATIVE for FIV (which he had not yet
been tested for ever). The vet also says that so far, it looks like it's not
FIP and he talked about how there is no conclusive test, etc., so for now, he
has to go by the presence of antibodies- which he says are usually higher if
the cat has "dry" FIP and then even higher if it's "wet" FIP. He says the
antibodies are just not high enough to for it to be FIP- either the dry or wet
form. So he remains concerned tho that it's a an infectious ( i.e.,
contagious) disease. What he is waiting on now is the toxoplasmosis test b/c
now he is suspecting that. He said the results of that test will be in
tomorrow. He also said the blood is showing high globulin levels and high
white blood cells- both of which indicate some kind of an infection, but he
just doesn't know what kind yet. I do have a phone consultation appointment
tomorrow at 5:00 with the holistic vet (Marylyn-- Dr. Maier) who treated Monkee
at the end of his life and whom Monkee loved- at a time when he was utterly
miserable and fed up with vets! We are consulting on this kitten and then also
to discuss general care of fosters and things I can do holistically to help
them rehab faster. I may end up taking Yoda to her anyway b/c of the diarrhea
that I can't get traditional vets to address. Hopefully, I will have the blood
tests results on my sick kitten emailed to me before then, so I can forward
them to her for her review and "second" opinion. I feel better because I am
finally getting some freaking vets lined up so that I can finally take care of
these fosters without always feeling like I'm supposed to do so without ever
having veterinary access unless a cat is pretty much dying in my arms. Monkee
died in my arms despite all the things we did to save him and there is NO WAY
I'm going to allow another cat to die in my arms- especially these fosters who
seem to have totally treatable (possibly preventable) things going on with
them! Urg. So we continue to forge ahead. Poor kitty feels so much better and
I'm worried about continuing to give him fluids. Dr. Maier said in an email
that if he is doing that much better and has had 3 treatments of subcu fluids,
it's probably not necessary to do them today. But when I talked to the
conventional vet that saw the cat on Monday, he said to continue them b/c
"extra fluids are extra fluids," "it can't really hurt him" (I beg to differ-
it's very traumatic b/c it's just me and him in a contest of wills and strength
and it's pretty horrible- he gets that huge needle out everytime and I have to
re-stick him-- which is hell for me and him), and "without really seeing the
cat, he can't tell me to discontinue fluids." Well, my mom and I have
discussed it and I'm doing them tonight. It's too much on him and me. He's
feeling too "good" now so that he really fights the fluid giving. I always
recall that Dr. Maier- in all her holistic wisdom- said (when I first took
Monkee to her), that "you don't want the treatment to be worse than the
disease." I think that solves my dilemma for now. Caroline
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