Hello,
I recently took in a stray cat that had been hanging around my neighborhood for
some time. He's such a nice boy and I had been feeding him for a few months
before I took him in. What made me take him in was he became very sick with an
upper respiratory infection and I had just felt so bad because the mucous that
was coming from his nose was green, not too mention he was having a hard time
breathing. I took him to my Vet who said he was a very sick kitty, he was close
to pneumonia treated him with antibiotics and sent us home. I was to follow up
with vaccinations and a neuter. He did finish his course of antibiotics, and
days after I went on a family vacation for 10 days. My pet sitter stopped by
daily to feed my animals, and walk the dogs. I received a call from the pet
sitter stating she was sorry but the cat (Spazzy) had ran past her when she was
taking the dogs out. I told her not to worry just try calling him and he should
come back. Well that went
on for days and no Spazzy. When I finally got home from vacation I was worried
about him because he had been gone for about a week, I looked around the
neighborhood but couldn't find him. Well about a month and a half had passed
one morning while I was heading out the door to work, he was sitting at my back
door. I was happy to see him, but was concerned because it seemed his upper
respiratory infection was back. I brought him in the house, feed and watered
him and off to work I went. I called my Vet who was booked for the weekend and
couldn't see him until Monday. I was too concerned to wait so I figured it
would be best to see a different Vet. Well Mr. Houdini as I like to call him
(Spazzy) had gotten out. I was heartbroken and worried because he was sick . I
again searched the neighborhood for him but had no luck at finding him. About a
week had passed and I spotted him while I was walking my dogs. I was able to
grab him, brought him back home and
called the Vet. I took him in the following morning but seen a different Vet
at the practice. Dr. McGinn had said he was sick but she wanted to check for
Feline Leukemia because where he was treated not that long ago chances are he
probably did have it. Not too mention he also had ulcers in his mouth which she
stated is common for cats with feline L. Well those 10 minutes were very long
just waiting, I hoped and prayed it was negative but it turned out he was
positive. He was seen 10/13/08 was treated with Amoxi drops, twice a day until
gone. Initially he seemed to be getting better, but a week and a half after I
noticed he was sneezing but this time no mucous was visible just blood. I
called the Vet's office once they opened, I had explained what was going on and
was told Dr. McGinn would call me back by the end of the day. She did return my
call and said she's changing his antibiotic to something stronger. She put him
on Clavimox drops twice a day
until gone. She also stated there are new meds for cats with feline L. but she
would need to research it more before she would start using it at her practice.
Have any of you heard of or maybe your cat is currently using this new
medication? I guess it helps build the immune system. He started the Clavimox
drop Saturday 10/26/08 and he seems to be doing better now, no drainage from
his eyes, no sneezing blood, but still sounds very stuffy. Have any of you
experienced these types of symptoms with your cats? He's gaining weight and
thriving but from my understanding they can take a turn for the worse at any
given time. Also once he's better she wants him to get his vaccines, however
with a compromised immune system will the vaccine's harm him? Dr. McGinn seems
to be a very caring Vet, but she doesn't seem to know too much about Feline L.
I have done some research on the Internet and found that the Elisa test can
sometimes produce a false positive,
and it can tell what stage the feline L is at. I guess the preliminary stage
(1) is where the cat has come in contact with it, but it's immune system is
trying to fight off the disease. The secondary stage (2) is yes the cat does
have it, it's gone past the cat's immune system fighting the disease and has
moved into the cats bone marrow. Well Dr. McGinn stated the only way to find
that out is by doing a bone marrow biopsy. The different websites I've viewed
never stated that just that the Elisa test was able to determine what stage the
cat was at. Have any of you ever heard of such a thing? At this point I don't
know if I should keep trying to treat the sickness every time they appear, or
if I should end all suffering for Spazzy and have him euthanized. I don't want
him to suffer, and I feel by my keeping him around is being selfish because I
love him. Is there anything I can do to help boost his immune system? The Vet
recommended feeding him Iam's
which he is now on. But is there something more I can do for him?
I'm sorry this is such a long email but I thought it was best to start from the
beginning so everyone could see the whole picture.
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