Advice Needed From Calicivirus Cat Owners

Neryo

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Hi all!

This is my second post here, I wanted to post again to see if anyone has any experience with my current situation and can share their stories.

Quickly to recap- I have had a 7 month old Abyssinian kitten (Loki) for about 3 months. We just adopted a 3 month old kitten (Shiva) from our local shelter about a week ago and the vet suspects she has Calicivirus due to a temporary limp in the shelter vets notes about a month ago, a mouth ulcer, a low grade fever, and congestion. We're on the last few days now of administering her with an antibiotic for any secondary infections. She mostly looks healthy, plays, eats, cuddles, etc. The last few days however she's developed constant sneezing... I don't know if that means she's at the tail end of it or if it's getting worse. If the virus started with the limp and mouth ulcer that the shelter reported then she has had this darn thing for six weeks now which is way over the average time for this virus. Her next vet appointment is on Thursday.

Loki has had all of his FVRCP vaccinations. I know that this doesn't prevent the virus, but that it can help with symptoms. A few days ago he stopped eating a decent amount, but not enough to make me panic. It lasted about two days with no other symptoms and thanks to a wonderful poster here suggesting tuna juice he is back to eating his completely healthy and normal amount. I wasn't sure if this was the stress of a new cat in the house or the Calici, but I've read online that Calici can cause a loss of appetite with no other symptoms in some cases. So for all I know he already had the stupid virus.

We introduced the two of them via sight in my glass shower the other day so that they couldn't have any physical contact. It went extremely well so I have no doubt they'll get along when I can finally introduce them. However I've been reading horror stories online that some cats can become permanent carriers of Calici and how horrible the virus can be sometimes. Now I'm concerned that I'm endangering my resident cat by having her. My husband and I love her so much and will NOT get rid of her, but I also don't want to endanger Loki. Ugh. This all just sucks.

I'd love it if anyone with similar experience could share their stories and how their cats are doing now and if there were any complications after introducing them.

You're all wonderful for reading my story, and I hope you're all having a great weekend so far. :)
 

mrsgreenjeens

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I have found several threads on the virus, one of which I am attaching below:

Question Over Calicivirus.

Have you asked your Vet about your concerns? I'd start there is you don't get any specific answers here. From what little I know about it, I think it's airborn, so Loki has probably been exposed. But if he's a healthy adult cat, he may not get it, or as you said, he may have gotten a mild case of it and already gotten over it. It's just hard to say :dunno:

:vibes::vibes::vibes:that both of them are soon healthy and get along fabulously
 
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Neryo

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Thank you for the link and the well wishes...

I'm so concerned about the little one now, we just fed her dinner and noticed some discharge around her eyes and her nose. It's so incredibly frustrating that we've been doing everything right and it feels like she may be getting worse. The vet told me that if I noticed discharge that I should bring her back in, but if course tomorrow is Sunday and the vet is closed. Ugh! I'll have the emergency center programmed into my phone just in case, I pray that I don't have to use it.
 

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Hi! I'm sorry your little one has the virus but is it possible he has the herpes virus (Feline Viral Rhinotracheitis- FVR) instead of calicivirus? The symptoms are basically the same, except the virus attacks the eyes and nose, too. Calicivirus is usually more concentrated with mouth ulcers and not the eyes/nose.

My Moses contracted calicivirus back in 2009 when my brother came to live with me and brought his elderly, ailing cat. (I had no idea he had a cat!) She was a carrier of the virus and it quickly passed to him. Moses got very sick due to his compromised immune system and I didn't have any money at the time because I was paying to take care of my brother, rent, bills, food, etc...It was a very stressful time!

Moses started by trying to eat his food, howling and then darting around the house like a crazy cat. It was so weird. Turned out he was developing ulcers in his mouth that hurt him when he tried to eat. Then I noticed he was drooling heavily and when I wiped him there was blood in the drool. Scared me. (He had stopped eating at this point.)

A visit to the vet did nothing. The vet said his teeth were bad, was causing the ulcers, and wanted to take all of his teeth out. No thanks! I took him home and then started looking through my cat wellness books. That's where I learned he had calicivirus, as the symptoms were exactly what he was dealing with. He didn't have the eye and nose discharge but his mouth had a few ulcers that were bleeding, his tongue had yellow coating and his breath was immensely bad. He also stopped eating and hid behind my curtains.

I gave him water through a syringe, force fed him and then administered homeopathy on him. Gave 30c of Mercurius Solubilis, 3 pellets, 3 times a day. I knew he was turning a corner when he jumped on my bed at night and slept with me. I could feel him shivering, but it was a goo sign that he actually felt a little better. Then he started to drink water on his own. It took about 9 days for him to beat it. But he beat it and all without having a single tooth extracted.

Does this sound like what your kitten is going through? If not, then it's possible he may have FVR instead. You could try giving your kitten L-Lysine but I'd ask your vet first. Most viruses are about supportive care and preventing any secondary infections like pneumonia with antibiotics (which it seems your kitten was provided)

I'm not sure I gave you any helpful advice but I wanted to tell you what I did. Moses ended up living the rest of his life without getting any other viruses and passed two years ago at the age of 17. With all of his teeth, too.
 

josiegirl

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The book that helped me treat Moses was "Natural Health for Dogs and Cats" by Dr. Richard Pitcairn. I also ended up trading emails with him at the time and he helped me tremendously.
 
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Neryo

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josiegirl josiegirl thank you so much for sharing your story with me. It does put me at ease that they can coexist and both live happy healthy lives eventually. I'm so sorry for the passing of your fur baby. ☹

The little one seems very ill today, I've had to wipe away yellow discharge from her eyes multiple times. Shes still eating and drinking so I'm not going to panic but I'm definitely taking off work tomorrow to bring her to the vet for an emergency visit. I'm beginning to think as you said that this isn't the calici anymore but something else she contracted. Theres np way shes had the calici for 6 weeks. Whether its FVR or some nasty bacterial infection, I'm unsure. We just put her through 7 days of antibiotics though and she seems to have only gotten worse.

I have a weird thought though that she might have actually gotten the FVR from Loki. A few months ago he had a case of conjunctivitis in one eye. Maybe it was FVR? Or it was just latent from the shelter idk. I'm so out of my depth here.

It's so upsetting when they're ill, Im hoping the vet can shed some light on this before it gets worse. They never ran a blood test or upper respiratory panel on her so maybe it's time to do that.
 

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Hi all!

This is my second post here, I wanted to post again to see if anyone has any experience with my current situation and can share their stories.

Quickly to recap- I have had a 7 month old Abyssinian kitten (Loki) for about 3 months. We just adopted a 3 month old kitten (Shiva) from our local shelter about a week ago and the vet suspects she has Calicivirus due to a temporary limp in the shelter vets notes about a month ago, a mouth ulcer, a low grade fever, and congestion. We're on the last few days now of administering her with an antibiotic for any secondary infections. She mostly looks healthy, plays, eats, cuddles, etc. The last few days however she's developed constant sneezing... I don't know if that means she's at the tail end of it or if it's getting worse. If the virus started with the limp and mouth ulcer that the shelter reported then she has had this darn thing for six weeks now which is way over the average time for this virus. Her next vet appointment is on Thursday.

Loki has had all of his FVRCP vaccinations. I know that this doesn't prevent the virus, but that it can help with symptoms. A few days ago he stopped eating a decent amount, but not enough to make me panic. It lasted about two days with no other symptoms and thanks to a wonderful poster here suggesting tuna juice he is back to eating his completely healthy and normal amount. I wasn't sure if this was the stress of a new cat in the house or the Calici, but I've read online that Calici can cause a loss of appetite with no other symptoms in some cases. So for all I know he already had the stupid virus.

We introduced the two of them via sight in my glass shower the other day so that they couldn't have any physical contact. It went extremely well so I have no doubt they'll get along when I can finally introduce them. However I've been reading horror stories online that some cats can become permanent carriers of Calici and how horrible the virus can be sometimes. Now I'm concerned that I'm endangering my resident cat by having her. My husband and I love her so much and will NOT get rid of her, but I also don't want to endanger Loki. Ugh. This all just sucks.

I'd love it if anyone with similar experience could share their stories and how their cats are doing now and if there were any complications after introducing them.

You're all wonderful for reading my story, and I hope you're all having a great weekend so far. :)
We adopted a sick cat too, it took him months to get over it he got sick and got better and got sick again. Then he sneezed for a long time after that. It was more a nuisance to him than anything else. We gave him antibiotics but they didn't help.he got nose bleeds periodically from the sneezing. Kitty should be fine soon enough
 
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Neryo

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R Raevyn did you ever determine what it was that made the little one sick?

I'm extremely concerned and am on the fence right now about bringing her to the animal hospital, her eye has started to swell a bit and is red and inflamed. I just fed her lunch though and she ate the whole thing.
 

Raevyn

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The vet said it was most likely either calcivirus or herpes. Because his nose was bleeding she was leaning towards herpes, but she said blood tests would be needed and those can get expensive. We had a few days where we're like should we shouldn't we take him in? But I mean after a few visits to the vet it was like not much she can do at this point without getting into putting him to sleep for other testing which again is expensive so we decided to just home care. After the stuffy nose wore off he was feeling and looking alot better and happier. He was tired often and he had to wipe face ALL.THE.TIME because he was always snotty or had crusty eyes. Because he was.a baby he took a while to get over it but he's fine now. We do joke and say that's he's broken tho lol hes really small for an adult cat and we think his being sick as long as he was made him tiny lol
 

mrsgreenjeens

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R Raevyn did you ever determine what it was that made the little one sick?

I'm extremely concerned and am on the fence right now about bringing her to the animal hospital, her eye has started to swell a bit and is red and inflamed. I just fed her lunch though and she ate the whole thing.
If her eye is swollen and red and inflamed, I would take her in. She make need an eye ointment for that, and if not treated, eye issues can get worse.

Continued eating is a good sign! It may be this is strictly an eye issue at this point.
 

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What is your kitten eating? Sometimes putting on a better quality diet can help them heal faster.
 

josiegirl

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josiegirl josiegirl thank you so much for sharing your story with me. It does put me at ease that they can coexist and both live happy healthy lives eventually. I'm so sorry for the passing of your fur baby. ☹

The little one seems very ill today, I've had to wipe away yellow discharge from her eyes multiple times. Shes still eating and drinking so I'm not going to panic but I'm definitely taking off work tomorrow to bring her to the vet for an emergency visit. I'm beginning to think as you said that this isn't the calici anymore but something else she contracted. Theres np way shes had the calici for 6 weeks. Whether its FVR or some nasty bacterial infection, I'm unsure. We just put her through 7 days of antibiotics though and she seems to have only gotten worse.

I have a weird thought though that she might have actually gotten the FVR from Loki. A few months ago he had a case of conjunctivitis in one eye. Maybe it was FVR? Or it was just latent from the shelter idk. I'm so out of my depth here.

It's so upsetting when they're ill, Im hoping the vet can shed some light on this before it gets worse. They never ran a blood test or upper respiratory panel on her so maybe it's time to do that.
The antibiotics will only help with any secondary infections, not the virus itself, which is probably why she seems worse. Yes, take her to the vet tomorrow to treat her dischargE and find out if it's herpes virus.

If she's still eating and drinking, though, then that's a good sign!
 
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Neryo

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Thank you all for your replies! Knowing that a community of cat lovers is here to help is so comforting.

josiegirl josiegirl I've been feeding her Blue Buffalo Kitten Chicken Patte, and her dry food is Fromm Game Bird recipe. I tried giving her Loki's wet food instead of the Blue Buffalo, he eats Organix Chicken & Chicken Liver Recipe but she turns her nose up at it and I'd much rather her eat right now, so that's a problem for another day lol. We just finished her 7 days of antibiotics which was supposed to treat any secondary infections from when she had the Calici since she had a fever. But yeah this is probably Herpes now or some other kind of infection that needs better antibiotics. It sucks that there's no cure for these viruses!

R Raevyn I'm so glad to hear that the little one recovered. Those viruses are really nasty. Did you have another resident cat or was this your only cat? I'm just wondering if he ended up giving it to the other one of you did have another cat.

I have a vet appointment for Shiva today at 2:20. I'm hoping for some good news. Loki's eye started tearing a tiny bit yesterday, this morning it looks fine so I'm keeping an eye on him. I've kept them separated, but I know how contagious these viruses are. I'm wondering if it's possible to relapse? Maybe this is still the Calici, but the symptoms seem much more like Herpes. She probably just has both at this point, but we'll see what the vet says.
 

Raevyn

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Thank you all for your replies! Knowing that a community of cat lovers is here to help is so comforting.

josiegirl josiegirl I've been feeding her Blue Buffalo Kitten Chicken Patte, and her dry food is Fromm Game Bird recipe. I tried giving her Loki's wet food instead of the Blue Buffalo, he eats Organix Chicken & Chicken Liver Recipe but she turns her nose up at it and I'd much rather her eat right now, so that's a problem for another day lol. We just finished her 7 days of antibiotics which was supposed to treat any secondary infections from when she had the Calici since she had a fever. But yeah this is probably Herpes now or some other kind of infection that needs better antibiotics. It sucks that there's no cure for these viruses!

R Raevyn I'm so glad to hear that the little one recovered. Those viruses are really nasty. Did you have another resident cat or was this your only cat? I'm just wondering if he ended up giving it to the other one of you did have another cat.

I have a vet appointment for Shiva today at 2:20. I'm hoping for some good news. Loki's eye started tearing a tiny bit yesterday, this morning it looks fine so I'm keeping an eye on him. I've kept them separated, but I know how contagious these viruses are. I'm wondering if it's possible to relapse? Maybe this is still the Calici, but the symptoms seem much more like Herpes. She probably just has both at this point, but we'll see what the vet says.
I had another cat already at home. She definitely got sick from him too but we gave them both lysine and she was better in like 3 days.
 
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Neryo

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I just wanted to give you all an update on the little one's condition-

I took her to the vet yesterday and he suspects that it's a bacterial upper respiratory infection. She is now on a stronger antibiotic (the other one wasn't meant to treat something like this so that makes a lot more sense now) and we're giving her eye ointment as well. This will be for another 10 days. I'm hoping for a speedy recovery! This morning she was still in bad shape, but that's understandable as we only gave her one dose so far. hopefully in a few days she'll show at least a little bit of improvement.

Thank you all for your help!
 

Raevyn

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I just wanted to give you all an update on the little one's condition-

I took her to the vet yesterday and he suspects that it's a bacterial upper respiratory infection. She is now on a stronger antibiotic (the other one wasn't meant to treat something like this so that makes a lot more sense now) and we're giving her eye ointment as well. This will be for another 10 days. I'm hoping for a speedy recovery! This morning she was still in bad shape, but that's understandable as we only gave her one dose so far. hopefully in a few days she'll show at least a little bit of improvement.

Thank you all for your help!
Try giving her some lysine if the vet says it's OK. My cat bounced back so fast after taking some of that. She looked miserable for a few days and his in the closet with her runny eyes and nose. Poor girl I was taking food up the closet I felt so bad for her. The vet have us lysine treats and she was better under a week
 

mrsgreenjeens

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I just wanted to give you all an update on the little one's condition-

I took her to the vet yesterday and he suspects that it's a bacterial upper respiratory infection. She is now on a stronger antibiotic (the other one wasn't meant to treat something like this so that makes a lot more sense now) and we're giving her eye ointment as well. This will be for another 10 days. I'm hoping for a speedy recovery! This morning she was still in bad shape, but that's understandable as we only gave her one dose so far. hopefully in a few days she'll show at least a little bit of improvement.

Thank you all for your help!
At least they don't think it's still the Calicivirus. Poor baby Hopefully she'll start feeling better soon. She's still eating okay, right?

:vibes::vibes::vibes:
 
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