cat (sailor) is barely a year old. started running fever, cloudy eyes, losing weight 2 weeks ago.Are the actual eye lenses cloudy or are the eyes full of a cloudy white goop in the inside corners? Cloudy eye lenses sounds like a Herpes Ulcer. White goop in the inside corners is an eye infection. Any other symptoms of an Upper Respiratory Infection?
Losing weight could be from not eating. If the cat is congested Chlorpheniramine might help. What about dehydration - did the vet mention anything about fluids? If the cat is having difficulty breathing and not being able to smell his food that could be causing the weight loss. Try a heavy smelling fish flavored food warmed in the microwave for a couple of seconds. Be sure it isn't HOT. The warmth enhances the odor. A humidifier works great to break up congestion also. Or 20 minutes in a closed bathroom with the hot water running. Make sure the cat continues to eat or it could trigger liver problems.
vet says she has no idea and might need to treat for anthrax????? has cat on clindamycin, baytril and eye drops. didn't vets quit giving baytril to cats?Anthrax? Give me a break. Two antibiotics - Baytril is a pretty strong antibiotic and Clindamycin is for anaerobic bacteria. It sounds as if the vet is treating for both aerobic and anaerobic bacteria, which is pretty much covering all the bases for any possible bacterial or protozoan infection. What kind of eyedrops - with or without steroids?
vet said sailor had 'double heartbeat'?? when i asked what that meant, Lorine said the vet told her it sounded like fluid 'in the heart'.This could be Cardiomyopathy, or chest congestion from a URI - hard to tell. The symptoms are too vague. If it's Cardiomyopathy and not too far advanced it can be treated with medication. Congestion from a URI could indicate potential pneumonia. We went through this with Sammy, one of our Herpes carriers, the first winter we brought him inside. He was so sick we almost lost him. He was on Baytril, daily Interferon, Chlorpheniramine and I had a humidifier going in his favorite room 24 hours a day. The vet took chest X-rays to watch for pneumonia.
A link with more info on Cardiomyopathy:
http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Pointe/9352/alphalinks2.html
The vet told Lorine to continue eyedrops and come back in 2 weeks! Lorine said she was not told about any bloodwork being done besides the combo test.Sorry I have more questions than answers, but I really think your friend needs to see another vet, preferably not one in the same clinic. If the cat is losing weight there's a possibility of Hepatic Lipidosis and you don't need that on top of everything else. I wouldn't wait two weeks for a second or third opinion, although the vet does seem to be treating the symptoms appropriately. I don't like the idea of not taking additional bloodwork or chest X-rays though. There are several feline specialists in Tennessee. Here's a link to the Association of Feline Practioner's member directory. If you do a search on the state, you'll find a whole page of listings and phone numbers:
http://www.aafponline.org/directory/directory.html
I think FIP involves fluid in the abdomen, not the chest cavity. I'm also thinking Herpes and possibly Cardiomyopathy, maybe an eye infection or eye ulcer depending on what is cloudy. If it's Herpes, there's not much more you can do but what the vet has already done, and to get the cat on Interferon and lysine immediately. You just have to be supportive and ride out the URI. However, if the eye *lenses* are cloudy and the vet is treating with an eyedrop that contains steroids you run the risk of triggering a serious Herpes eye ulcer if this is in fact a Herpes eye thing.
3 other cats in house show no symptoms. fip? herpes? those were my thoughts? any others?
The symptoms are too vague to really know how serious this is.
Please suggest your friend get another opinion, and tell her not to be
hesitant about asking the vet to be more specific in their answers, diagnostic
results and possible diagnosis. She has a right to know and shouldn't
be satisfied with vague answers and a maybe Anthrax comment thrown in for
good measure. A vet that is thinking anthrax is clearing fishing.
That doesn't inspire a great deal of confidence.
--thanks all!
notice my specific subject line!
tonya
catatonya <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
ok...James,I just recalled that it seems anytime I have an emergency the list doesn't seem to get it. I just recalled it's because i put h-e-l-p in the subject line!!!! sorry
can you please forward my message to the list when you get a chance?
meanwhile, i'll rewrite.
tonya, the computer nerd (in the real sense of the word!)
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