Caroline,
Wonderful news about your household! You sure have your plate full right now with these little babies. I have no idea if there is a test for feline herpes, but my old vet suspected that Bandit has it. He gets a runny eye and the sneezes about twice a year. It runs its course and goes away. Angel never got it from him in the past 5 years. One of our foster cats had an eye problem in April. The vet suspected herpes again. During that time, our youngest, Smokey, also came down with it but in a milder form. It seems as though she caught it from the foster cat since she had no symptoms before. Ive asked the vets office for treatments, and theyve always told me to let it run its course. That was the old vets office. Now that Im at a new place that is much more cat-friendly, Im sure theyll give me something for the next outbreak. But, all-in-all, I only know what my vet has said in the past: Bandit probably has herpes, but it should only affect him a couple times a year (which it does). He doesnt seem to come down with it in times of high stress or anything like that. Seems like it happens more in the winter months. Hes never passed it on, but I think that another cat has. Id be interested to know what other people give their kitties since my old vet never suggested anything (in fact, suggested I dont do anything). Good luck with the poop, Carolinehope you have a lot of air fresheners! :-) Melissa _____ From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Caroline Kaufmann Sent: Friday, September 07, 2007 11:56 AM To: felvtalk@felineleukemia.org Subject: OT: update on sick kittens, questions about URIs, etc Well, I still have 4 kittens in crates at my (tiny) house, and then my one year old Foster cat Izzee. One of the kittens, a grey and white male, was supposed to leave last night to go "on display" at the store, but d*mned if he didn't come down the sneezing, running nose, water eyes! Urgh. I wish I could have isolated him when he first came to my, but by then, he'd already been mingled with the other kittens already suffering URIs and already completely exposed. Plus he'd been at this volunteer's house running loose with all the other kittens and adult cats with chronic URIs so there was probably nothing I could do....still, I feel bad. So now I have 4 kittens all on Amoxy and getting a triple antibiotic in their eyes (which I am almost out of so I ordered some tubes of artificial tear rinse and Terramycin online). My little Yoda (the first on I got last Sat.) is so much better, but yesterday he seemed to have a set back. He's really snotty. And it gets worse when I let him out to play with Izzee because he gets out of breath, so I limit his time. Everyone is eating like complete pigs; drinking water and are all pooing and peeing a TON- I can barely keep up! I like to take the poo out immediately because the little rascals lay in it if I don't...but it's hard to keep up! Ears: currently I am using a mixture of organic vegetable oil and organic distilled white vinegar (per Tad's general suggestion). I didn't have measurements so I mixed it into an empty pill bottle and I did 2/3 vegetable oil and less than a 1/3 vinegar (rough estimate). It seems to work good at loosening the wax and getting it to come up to the outer ear, where I can work on getting it out later. Only thing is their poor little fur around their head/ears gets greasy! I do wipe them with wet wipes afterwards- I am also still working on getting rid of the "smell" they had on them from that volunteer's house. I did find the ear solution my vet had me use on Monkee's excessively waxy (way down in the canal) ears-- Malacetic Otic- online, so I ordered a bottle. But I will stick to the oil/vinegar concoction for now while their ears are so bad. I found out more about them: apparently they are all "orphans" from our Metro Animal Control that were going to be euthanized, but Metro called the volunteer for this group and she went and got them; took them to her house and mingled them with her already out of control, arguably sickly adult population. So, they just have so many strikes against them: losing their mothers too young (when they should still be nursing and getting those antibodies); and they also went to Metro-- which is bad for any cat, much less a kitten. That, in and of itself, could have killed them just because of the disease exposure. Now for the questions: how long can they suffer from these URIs? Is there at point at which, even tho they are eating, etc., but they are still sneezing and snotty, that they need to see a vet? Is it possible some need a different antibiotic? How will I know when it's time to see the Vet? As of tomorrow night, Yoda will have been on Amoxy for 7 days... How can you tell which virus is causing the URI symptoms? I read that feline herpes can cause it and I am thinking they may have this? What can I do to help them? I have been trying to load them up with Colostrum, but wasn't sure how much kittens this size (2.4 lbs and up) can get? I have also been giving L-Lysine since I fear feline herpes, but didn't know a dosage for that either? And finally, my foster cat Izzee has had her vaccinations (she was an owner surrender to Metro so I have her records); also she spent time in Metro, mixed with the general pop (even tho she wasn't supposed to be); she was treated with the nasal spray to protect her before she went in. But I am still kind of worried about her with these sickly kittens...? Especially since I am suspecting feline herpes? Should I be concerned? The only one she has mingled with is Yoda because I got him 1st and thought (ha!) he'd be the only one; now they are used to each other and like to play together- it's really improved Izzee's behavior; the other ones stay in their crates unless I bring them out to treat, cuddle, or I put them on the front porch (without Izzee) for play time. I don't mix them with Izzee. She doesn't seem interested in any of them other than Yoda and in fact, she has hissed at the larger, extremely wild B/W male. I'm just new to this and need some advice! Thanks, Caroline _____ Kick <http://g.msn.com/8HMAENUS/2740??PS=47575> back and relax with hot games and cool activities at the Messenger Café.
