Mystery Illness - Kitten With Lumps, Blisters, And Breathing Problems

haynes171044

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Sorry this is so long! I hope you read and share any experiences that sound similar. I want to know if anyone has seen anything similar to what is happening to my foster cat or if what is happening to him sparks any thoughts/similar threads. Not looking for a diagnosis, just an outside sounding board of people who have experienced a variety of things.

Background: Fostered a litter of one month old kittens rescued from a hoarding situation. The whole litter:
- was tested for FIV/FELV (negative)
- received Pyrantal and Revolution for ear mites and fleas
- received all of their FVRCP vaccines
- had 12 days of Panacur for giardia
- were fixed and adopted out because they were completely healthy except for one male named Mouse

A week before being neutered Mouse developed 3 bumps on the top of his head (one grew to the size of a black bean within hours and had a scab). They were firm, not on the surface of the skin, did not feel attached, and had no hair loss or irritation. The vet suspected an abscess from a bite or scratch from one of the litter mates. The original bumps went away, but new ones popped up on his neck by his clavicle. Painful blisters appeared in between his pads on the skin and on the tops of his paws. He had diarrhea which went away with Albon. For the past 2 months he has received the following treatment with no overall success and the vet is still puzzled as he has been treated with what seems like everything.

Round 1: The lumps would come and go randomly in the same locations and his feet got worse
- Skin scraping (nothing found)
- Bravecto topical for mites (no change)
- Prednisolone (no change)
- 10 days later Advantage Multi for mites (no change)

Round 2: He started having heavy breathing and rattling from his chest that sounded very dry. No nose/eye discharge or sneezing.
- Fecal (nothing found)
- Blood work (normal except for high white blood cell count)
- Chest X-rays (lungs were extremely cloudy)
- Anti-inflammatory shot (lungs resolved 3 days after shot)
- Panacur for 14 days in case of lung worm
- 2nd skin scraping (nothing found)
- Enrofloxacin for 10 days (bumps started shrinking at first and then stopped changing, blisters on feet went away)

The bumps still are coming and going on his neck, but this time over a patch of skin about the size of a prescription pill bottle cap. It's all one firm patch and you can feel the thickness of the skin in between your fingers. The skin seems to be nothing but crust (not like a scab on top of the skin) with some areas starting to break open into sores. No hair loss, no itching, no skin discoloration, and the patch is not even visible despite his short coat. He has not had any behavior changes, exposures to foreign objects/chemicals/plants, change in eating or drinking habits, we tried new food with no change and he was on his original food for a month before symptoms started, and he is the only one who is experiencing any trouble. His ear are still getting dark wax build up despite all of his treatment and ear mite medicated drops.

Does this sound similar to anything anyone has experienced or knows about? I just want any rabbit hole that I can follow if you've had a cat who has had similar issues. I am still working with my vet and am doing only what she prescribes, I am just curious if anyone else has experienced anything like this?

Thank you!!
 

duckpond

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I do not have any idea what the issues may be. I would say yes, keep up with the vet visits and hopefully they will figure it out.

Sending him my best wishes and hopes that they figure it out soon, or you may need a second opinion. You vet may recommend bringing in someone? Do keep us updated on him!
 

di and bob

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I am leaning more towards allergies. You might switch his food again and keep him on something bland for a while, like chicken, etc. It wouldn't hurt. If they can I would try the steroid shot again too, it seems to help with a variety of my cat's issues. The discharge from the ears sounds bacterial since it is black, once the bacteria is exposed to air it turns black, one of my cats often has this. The 'bumps' are concerning. This same cat I have that has the ear discharge has a quarter size 'scab' that first appears as a bump, that is between her shoulder blades every few months and takes a long time to heal. But it itches. I keep antibiotic salve on it and that seems to help. I also applied Chlorhexidine antiseptic wipes to it because it said it covered about everything and it did seem to hasten the healing process too. I got that on Amazon. Ask your vet first though, you don't want something interacting.
My vet has looked at it several times and says either an injury (I don't think so) or an allergic reaction. I hope you find what it is, please post again and keep us updated on your findings!
 

silkenpaw

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Is there a differential on the high white cell count? In allergies, eosinophils would be prominent. In an infection, you’d see neutrophils, maybe even band neutrophils. I’m wondering if this might be autoimmune.

Do please keep us updated. I would love to know how this turns out. And good luck to you and Mouse.
 
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haynes171044

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I will definitely request for the vet to do an ear swab because I do think it's bacterial which would make sense as to why it's still there after Revolution and such. It's been put on the back burner because it's not as pressing as all of the other issues, but I didn't know if it may be related.
Isn't it strange that with your cat and mine that the bumps come and go in the same spot?? I agree with you doubting it's an injury on your cat. Have you ever figured out what she might be having an allergic reaction to?
When everything first started we all started thinking autoimmune which would make sense as to why the bumps would come and go for no reason and did not itch like you would expect allergic reactions to. The fact that the Prednisolone he first got did nothing kind of threw us all for a loop. Then the anti-inflammatory shot cleared up the lungs, but didn't seen to do anything for the bumps, yet the Enrofloxacin antibiotic did towards the end of treatment before improvement stopped. Anti-inflammatory should help autoimmune or allergic reaction, but there was no change in the bumps and the antibiotic only slightly helped the bumps, but no bacteria was found on the scrapings and if related, what bacteria affects the skin and lungs? That's our thinking and why the two vets at the clinic and us are stumped! And the high white blood cell count would suggest infection (maybe the lungs were completely unrelated though) Hahaha. I will ask the vet about the Chlorhexidine wipes because if they will help, that's a plus. Not to mention we are trying everything at this point. I will also see about trying to feed something with very limited ingridents to see if any improvement occurs.
Thank you so much for your thoughts! I just want this little baby to health up so he can be adopted out and live a happy life.
 
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haynes171044

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It's also slightly difficult because I am his foster mom. We drop him off at the vet that the rescue uses and then pick him back up. The vet does contact me sometimes because I am "the kitten lady" in the rescue and in charge of tracking everyone's medications, but it's not as much face time as there would be at a typical appointment. I'm not sure on the differential on the high white cell count. I was just hoping that the vet(s) used the information they found. I will try and bring it up to see what they found because it could hopefully point us to allergies or infection. I like the autoimmune path as well, but what it is and what it responds to is leaving us stumped.
I will bring up the blood work. Thank you so much!!!
 
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