Help me, I'm a new cat lover with a sick cat

This wonderful Tabby showed up at my door about 6 months ago. He is quite vocal and extrodinarily affectionate. He lives indoors and outdoors. He will come in after being out all night and sleep hard about 8-10 hours straight after eating. Two days ago he came in and crashed longer than usual, when I went to see about him he would barely arouse. He has no appetite, he will drink a little water from time to time, but mostly he just stays in one position in his bed. He is not vocal at all, he won't even purr. have checked him over well, I see no injury, swelling of the abdomin, there is no vomitting or diarrhea. Does anyone have any ideas?

Take him to the vet-NOW! Seriously, living outside and inside as he does increases the risks of what could happen to him.If you don't want to have to face the possibility of losing him. Get him to the vet.

Hissy's right. It sounds quite serious, and requires immediate vet care.

Yes take him to the vet, this is the reason why I don't let my Kitten out. You never know....

Please keep us posted, sending positive vibes that he will be okay.

good luck, hope hes ok. keep us informed

Yes please let us know, and thank you for taking action

I took Fuz Nuts (my son named him) to the emergency vet in Chattanooga after I talalked with you. He was diagnosed with Leukemia and was too sick to do much about. Anything the vet did to prolong his life would only prolong his suffering. He went peacefully. My son and I buried him in the flower garden, his favorite outdoor litter box. Fuz was a sweet little fellow and my heart is broken, at least he is not suffering anymore.

I am worried about my other cats (his harem). He may have been the father of one of the babies. what do I need to do about them?

Thank you for all your good wishes and especially for your advice.

I am sorry to hear about this I'd ask your vet, but I believe what you need to do next is to test the mama cat.

You need to take him to the vet!

Also, you may need to evaluate him going outside at all. It's much healthier for cats to live indoors, it also prolongs their life


EDIT

just read your subsequent post, i'm so sorry he passed away If you do plan to adopt another cat, please follow my advice and keep him indoors 100% of the time.

Thank You for your condolences, I am having a diffecult time with his passing. I some how feel that I am a fault. I wish I had found this web site sooner. I will have Lily checked, should I have her checked now or wait 30 days? If she tests positive will her kittens? Lily belonged to some folks across the street and they moved away and left her. I tried to get them to let me have her spayed when they still lived close by. She turned up pregnant just before they moved. She is now a house cat, she had her kittens under my sons bed 10 days ago. I haven't tried to move them I'm waiting on her to bring them out. She is not at all agressive, I don't believe there has been a blood exchange between her a Fuz Nuts. Fuz may be the father of one of her kittens.

My other cat is cornbread, she is four years old. Cornbread has always been in the house. She was declawed as well. I am so worried, what if I have let them all get infected, will I loose them all?

The disese is passed from cat to kitten through bodily fluids, mom's milk and also through the umbilical cord. The virus does die quickly outside the body. A kitten infected with Fe LV and showing symptoms can be live several weeks to several months depending on how far advanced the disease inside is. Other kittens can seem okay and then as they grow they can be stricken with the disease, tiggered by stress which makes the immune system plummet.

Symptoms: anemia, colds, jaundice, decreased appetite, weight loss, diarrhea OR constipation, blood in stool, enlarged lymph nodes, decreased activity, peeing and drinking more than normal." Kittens for Dummies[/quote]

Originally Posted by katiecnm

I took Fuz Nuts (my son named him) to the emergency vet in Chattanooga after I talalked with you. He was diagnosed with Leukemia and was too sick to do much about. Anything the vet did to prolong his life would only prolong his suffering. He went peacefully. My son and I buried him in the flower garden, his favorite outdoor litter box. Fuz was a sweet little fellow and my heart is broken, at least he is not suffering anymore.

I am worried about my other cats (his harem). He may have been the father of one of the babies. what do I need to do about them?

Thank you for all your good wishes and especially for your advice.

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I am so sorry for your loss. He has crossed RB now and is no longer in any pain. Thank you for getting him attention right away. You did the right thing.

Thanks, I guess I will have her checked as soon as she weans the babies, I plan to have her spayed at that time anyway. If she tests positive I will decide what to do about the babies then. All seem healthy at this time, I pray that they will stay that way. If she tests positive what should I do about the babies? I have them good homes, but giving them away knowing their sick doesn't seem right. Has this ever come up before? Any advice would be helpful.

Katiecnm

Originally Posted by katiecnm

Thanks, I guess I will have her checked as soon as she weans the babies, I plan to have her spayed at that time anyway. If she tests positive I will decide what to do about the babies then. All seem healthy at this time, I pray that they will stay that way. If she tests positive what should I do about the babies? I have them good homes, but giving them away knowing their sick doesn't seem right. Has this ever come up before? Any advice would be helpful.

Katiecnm

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You definetly need to test the babies and your other cats. As for what to do if the kittens test positive-I would imagine that at the very least you will have to tell the people about them being sick with Felv. I would discuss what to do if they test positive with your vet as well. Since it's an infectious disease, it would be inapropriate to give the kittens to other people, considering they might have cats of their own as well.

Hopefully, they will test negative. Maybe Fuz is not the father... Even if the mother is positive, some of the kittens might not be. You might want to limit contact between the mother cat and the kittens if the mother is positive,as I understand, the disease could be transmitted to the kittens as she cares for them. Are they old enough to be on eat on their own yet?

I had decided that I could not give them to people that had other cats. I will tell anyone that takes them that the mother is positive if she turns out to be. The babies are 11 days old, and she hasn't brought them out from under my sons bed yet. Only one of them (she only had two) has their eyes open. Do you think I should bottle feed them, or is it too late?

As long as Mom is still there and able to nurse, there should be no necessity to bottle them. *sigh* I feel your pain at the loss of the little boy kitty, but honestly, you did the right thing.

Without taking the time to go back into my references, I don't think the kittens can test until they are older, but most certainly get mom tested. If Mom is positive, that pretty much tells you the babies will probably be too. I am sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but I am certain you would want to know the truth.

Originally Posted by katiecnm

I had decided that I could not give them to people that had other cats. I will tell anyone that takes them that the mother is positive if she turns out to be. The babies are 11 days old, and she hasn't brought them out from under my sons bed yet. Only one of them (she only had two) has their eyes open. Do you think I should bottle feed them, or is it too late?

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I found this link on Felv:
http://www.animalhealthchannel.com/FeLV/
I know the pet store next to me sends all the kittens to be tested for Felv before admitting them into the store, so, I imagine you could test young kittens as well as their mother.


"What about a pregnant or nursing queen who is FeLV positive?
In both of these cases, the kittens are at high risk of contracting FeLV. If a pregnant queen is healthy, she should be spayed; this is kinder than waiting until the kittens are born and then taking them away. If she has already had the kittens, they can be tested for FeLV as soon as itâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]s possible to obtain a blood sample."
"At what age should a cat be tested?

Cats and kittens can be tested from birth onwards. Cats should have two tests 12 weeks apart. If cats have only been recently infected, they may not yet have virus in their blood. The interval from getting infected to producing virus in the blood can be as little as two weeks or as long as eight weeks. For this reason, when cats are tested for the first time, it is recommended that they be tested twice, 12 weeks apart. A very small percentage of cats which are FeLV positive are in the process of developing immunity after which they will become negative; this is another reason for testing healthy cats twice. Cats which test positive twice at a 12 weeks interval will be permanently infected. In nature, many cats which are exposed to FeLV recover from the infection. Recovered cats have no FeLV p27 in their blood but may have antibodies to the virus. There is a test for these (virus neutralising) antibodies and it is important not to confuse this test with either the p27 or the virus isolation test."
http://www.gla.ac.uk/companion/ofelv.htm#What

you cant test young kittens because they will have mums antibodies and give a false positive (i think)

Originally Posted by katiecnm

I had decided that I could not give them to people that had other cats. I will tell anyone that takes them that the mother is positive if she turns out to be. The babies are 11 days old, and she hasn't brought them out from under my sons bed yet. Only one of them (she only had two) has their eyes open. Do you think I should bottle feed them, or is it too late?

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I'll be honest, it might be too late. A fellow kitty foster mom got a litter of 4 4-day-olds last year and they all turned out to be FeLV positive. On the other hand, I've also had a cat that was turned in with her 3week old kitten, mama was leuki-positive, kitten wasn't. Just depends.
I'd take all three to the vet, get a leuki test run on mama and have kittens looked at, if you're really worried. It's a simple blood draw and takes all of 20 minutes. It will give you a little piece of mind. If she is positive, you'll probably want to test your other cat, too.

Good luck.