Colony cat drooling and loud breathing etc

[Meowmee]

Hi Everyone,

i have been caring for one of my outdoor kitties. I trapped her about a month and a half ago when I noticed her eye was swollen and bulging out. Her history is she showed up ear tipped and began eating with the other kitties I care for outside. She has had a chronic mucus drooling in her mouth and nose and weepy eyes for a long time. I took her to DVM who said her eye was severely damaged and she would need enucleation. They believed it was from a herpes infection. She got the enucleation about a week and a half ago at another DVM.

She did very well and she has been on the following medication since she has been inside. Antibiotic currently orbax once a day, antiviral famcyclovir once a day for nearly a month now, appetite stimulant elura to help her take medication and food, lysine in her food she was getting outside as well, every day since she showed up, gabapentin for pain since she has been inside with increased dose since the surgery.

She’s not touchable and I don’t know if she’s going to be tamable or not yet. She has been very scared and hissing / growling on and off at times since being inside, but she has started coming over to eat some treats and her food etc., and she purrs but I’m not sure if it’s because she’s happy to be fed, happy to see me or she’s trying to make herself feel better. I spend some time with her later on and come in 2-3 three times a day to see how she’s doing, take care of her and I also watch her with a remote camera.

When I came in tonight I was kind of alarmed because her other eye was closed and she was breathing loudly with large thick mucus coming from her mouth. She did eat part of the food that I put out for her and then went back to sleep in the litter box and she seems comfortable now- she seems to like to spend a lot of time in the litter box even if she has pooped in there and I often have trouble getting her out of there to clean it etc. It sounds like she’s snoring now.

The whole mucus and congestion thing has been going on for a long long time. I’m wondering if this could also be anything to do with having the enucleation, and it has maybe congested her more? I also wonder if we can add in a decongestant or if there is something else I can do to make her more comfortable. I wonder if there’s something else going on besides the herpes virus and the eye etc.

When she was first examined at the first dvm, he did not mention anything else being wrong and he said the mucus was moderate but to me it seems really bad and I thought that since she showed up and she started having that problem. The odd thing is after the surgery and being continued on all of the medication she had days where she seemed a lot better and then all of a sudden it gets worse again which is pretty much what was happening outside too. I don’t understand why after being inside all this time and on all of these medications she is not improving more. Bloodwork initially showed she had a high wbc but everything else was normal and the 2nd dvm said her blood work was good before the surgery.

She is at the tail end of all of the medications, maybe two or three more days of the antibiotic and the antiviral, she was also wormed with Panacur for the past eight days. Her stool tested positive for lungworm. And I’m wondering if treating the lung worm is making the symptoms worse and if some of the breathing and the mucus could be caused by the worms as well? She also had rabies and the 3 vac initially and her first felv shot when she had the surgery. She is negative for fiv/ felv. She goes back to have the stitches removed next week.

 

[Xena44]

Hi Everyone,

i have been caring for one of my outdoor kitties. I trapped her about a month and a half ago when I noticed her eye was swollen and bulging out. Her history is she showed up ear tipped and began eating with the other kitties I care for outside. She has had a chronic mucus drooling in her mouth and nose and weepy eyes for a long time. I took her to DVM who said her eye was severely damaged and she would need enucleation. They believed it was from a herpes infection. She got the enucleation about a week and a half ago at another DVM.

She did very well and she has been on the following medication since she has been inside. Antibiotic currently orbax once a day, antiviral famcyclovir once a day for nearly a month now, appetite stimulant elura to help her take medication and food, lysine in her food she was getting outside as well, every day since she showed up, gabapentin for pain since she has been inside with increased dose since the surgery.

She’s not touchable and I don’t know if she’s going to be tamable or not yet. She has been very scared and hissing / growling on and off at times since being inside, but she has started coming over to eat some treats and her food etc., and she purrs but I’m not sure if it’s because she’s happy to be fed, happy to see me or she’s trying to make herself feel better. I spend some time with her later on and come in 2-3 three times a day to see how she’s doing, take care of her and I also watch her with a remote camera.

When I came in tonight I was kind of alarmed because her other eye was closed and she was breathing loudly with large thick mucus coming from her mouth. She did eat part of the food that I put out for her and then went back to sleep in the litter box and she seems comfortable now- she seems to like to spend a lot of time in the litter box even if she has pooped in there and I often have trouble getting her out of there to clean it etc. It sounds like she’s snoring now.

The whole mucus and congestion thing has been going on for a long long time. I’m wondering if this could also be anything to do with having the enucleation, and it has maybe congested her more? I also wonder if we can add in a decongestant or if there is something else I can do to make her more comfortable. I wonder if there’s something else going on besides the herpes virus and the eye etc.

When she was first examined at the first dvm, he did not mention anything else being wrong and he said the mucus was moderate but to me it seems really bad and I thought that since she showed up and she started having that problem. The odd thing is after the surgery and being continued on all of the medication she had days where she seemed a lot better and then all of a sudden it gets worse again which is pretty much what was happening outside too. I don’t understand why after being inside all this time and on all of these medications she is not improving more. Bloodwork initially showed she had a high wbc but everything else was normal and the 2nd dvm said her blood work was good before the surgery.

She is at the tail end of all of the medications, maybe two or three more days of the antibiotic and the antiviral, she was also wormed with Panacur for the past eight days. Her stool tested positive for lungworm. And I’m wondering if treating the lung worm is making the symptoms worse and if some of the breathing and the mucus could be caused by the worms as well? She also had rabies and the 3 vac initially and her first felv shot when she had the surgery. She is negative for fiv/ felv. She goes back to have the stitches removed next week.

Feline lungworms
Aelurostrongylus abstrusus
The adults live in the terminal respiratory bronchioles and alveolar ducts. The adult females are 9-10 mm long; the males are smaller, 4-6 mm long, and have a small bursa and relative short and stout spicules. The have a dark brown to black appearance when freshly collected. Due to the small worms being deeply within the terminal respiratory bronchioles and alveolar ducts, it is difficult to remove entire worms by dissection. The females lay eggs that contain a single cell when laid anw which embryonate within the alveolar ducts and the surround alveoli. The larvae hatch from the eggs, are carried up the ciliary escalator, swallowed, and passed in the feces. The larvae of Aelurostronbylus abstrusus are quite active larvae which are easy to recover in the feces using a Baermann apparatus. The larva is approximately 360-390 µm long and has a characteristic dorsal spine on the tail.

The life cycle of Aelurostrongylus abstrusus has been shown to involve a required snail intermediate host. It has also been shown that frogs, toads, snakes, lizards, ducklings, chickens, mice, and sparrows can serve as paratenic hosts. After the cat ingests an infective larva, probably in a paratenic host, the females begin to lay eggs as early as 25 days postinfection. The larvae first appear in the feces in 39 days.

Aelurostrongylus abstrusus can cause severe pulmonary disease with heavy infections. Cats infected with 100 larvae developed early radiographic changes 2 weeks after infection. Severe alveolar disease occurs 5 to 15 weeks after infection. Cats followed for up to a year after infection developed neither pulmonary hypertension or associated right ventricular disease. Pulmonary arteries in experimentally infected kittens show disruption of the vascular endothelium and proliferation of the endothelial cells, and as early as 10 days after infection, there is disruption of the internal elastic lamina. Hypertrophy and hyperplasia of the medial and intimal walls of the pulmonary vessels causes complete occlusion of many smaller vessels by 24 weeks after infection. Mild infections present with only minimal signs; heavy infections are associated with severe bronchopneumonia. Heavily infected cats will have rapid, open-mouthed abdominal breathing. There is a single published report of a cat dying of its lungworm infection, a 6-month-old cat that developed signs of respiratory disease when three-months-old. During the three months of illness, the cat had been observed to be coughing and sneezing with a muco-purulent discharge, and finally, the cat became dyspneic, anorexic, emaciated, and with hydrothorax.

Cats infected with Aelurostrongylus abstrusus can be treated with fenbendazole (55 mg/kg daily for 21 days or 20 mg/ kg daily for 5 days followed by a second 5 day treatment after a five day hiatus). Fifteen experimentally infected cats that were treated with fenbendazole for 3 days (50 mg/kg, once daily for three days) stopped the shedding of larvae in the feces by 14 days after treatment, but a few days later, the larvae reappeared in small numbers in the feces of the infected cats. Results with ivermecitin have been variable, however, treatment with ivermectin (200 µg/kg followed by a second treatment with 400 µg/kg) has been reported to clear a cat of its infection.

Troglostrongylus subcrenatus
Troglostrongylus subcrenatus is a nematode parasite of the lungs of felids that is related to Aleurostrongylus abstrusus and which was originally reported from a leopard in the Congo. This nematode has ben reported on a single occasion from a cat in Africa, Blantyre, Nyasaland. The adults are about twice the length of the adults of Aelurostrongylus abstrusus.

Oslerus rostratus
Oslerus rostratus is a parasite of wild felines that occasionally finds its way into bronchial submucosa of the domestic cat. Oslerus rostratus is a large worm that is closely related to the canine parasite Oslerus osleri. Oslerus rostratus has been reported from cats in the United States, Pacific Islands, Southern Europe,and the Middle East. These worms are much larger than Aelurostrongylus abstrusus: the adults of Oslerus rostratus males are 28-37 mm long and the adult females are 48-64 mm long. The larvae found in the feces are 335 to 412 µm long and have a tail that is similar to that of Oslerus osleri. The life cycle involves development in slugs with mice and birds as paratenic hosts.

Gurltia paralysans
Gurltia paralysans has been described as the cause of several cases of paraparesis in cats as the worms migrate through the nervous tissue. It is believed that the natural host of this worm is the small wild cat, Felis guigna. In 1993, a cat was presented to the clinic at Cornell that ultimately died with serious neurologic signs following progressive hind limb weakness leading to toal fecal and urinary incontinence. At necropsy, a lesion was seen in the spinal cord with extensive hemorrhage between L3 and L6. The lesion contained a worm consistent with Gurltia paralysans. Unfortunately, the lack of a male in the material teased from the lesion made it impossible to verify the identity of these worms.

Ive seen cats with Aelurostrongylus abstrusus treated with ivermectin successfully. And for a feral cat, that may be the best option bc is can be given in food (if she will eat it). The dose is small so hopefully can be masked by a stinky food.

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[Meowmee]

Thanks I have read that already. She has been treated with panacur for 7 days, (she ate it in her food and did not need to be injected with anything- The first DVM was suggesting ivermectin injection.) Which is another of the treatments discussed in the several articles that I found and read about this. One of the articles I read stated that ivermectin was not as effective as the other drugs used such as panacur.

I mentioned that she was treated with panacur in my post I don’t know if you didn’t notice that? My question or one of them was if the lungworm could be affecting her previous and current symptoms still even though she has been treated for it.

 

[Xena44]

I did see that but in the paragraphs I copied and pasted to you, it states that fenbendazole treatment needs to be for 21 days. I apologize for the incorrect link I posted. I don’t know why that one came through. I actually used it to refer back to the article too! The article stresses the symptoms associated with Aelurostrongylus abstrusus.

Cats infected with Aelurostrongylus abstrusus can be treated with fenbendazole (55 mg/kg daily for 21 days or 20 mg/ kg daily for 5 days followed by a second 5 day treatment after a five day hiatus). Fifteen experimentally infected cats that were treated with fenbendazole for 3 days (50 mg/kg, once daily for three days) stopped the shedding of larvae in the feces by 14 days after treatment, but a few days later, the larvae reappeared in small numbers in the feces of the infected cats. Results with ivermecitin have been variable, however, treatment with ivermectin (200 µg/kg followed by a second treatment with 400 µg/kg) has been reported to clear a cat of its infection.

 

[Meowmee]

I did see that but in the paragraphs I copied and pasted to you, it states that fenbendazole treatment needs to be for 21 days. I apologize for the incorrect link I posted. I don’t know why that one came through. I actually used it to refer back to the article too! The article stresses the symptoms associated with Aelurostrongylus abstrusus.

Cats infected with Aelurostrongylus abstrusus can be treated with fenbendazole (55 mg/kg daily for 21 days or 20 mg/ kg daily for 5 days followed by a second 5 day treatment after a five day hiatus). Fifteen experimentally infected cats that were treated with fenbendazole for 3 days (50 mg/kg, once daily for three days) stopped the shedding of larvae in the feces by 14 days after treatment, but a few days later, the larvae reappeared in small numbers in the feces of the infected cats. Results with ivermecitin have been variable, however, treatment with ivermectin (200 µg/kg followed by a second treatment with 400 µg/kg) has been reported to clear a cat of its infection.

Ok, thanks. Somehow I missed that about the longer treatment, or maybe it was a different article. I alos did not read that the larvae came back, which makes me think they didn't really go away.

I am not sure what to do. They said they gave me panacur for 5 days but it lasted 8 days. If it worked I think it is too soon for larvae to reappear. Maybe wait and do another treatment? I read you are supposed to wait 12 weeks for a stool retest.

She is worse and is not eating much now. She has been on multiple meds for a long time with not much improvement. But the first few days after the surgery she seemd better and elura was making her eat more as well as eat the food with meds. Her least fav was the famcyclovir. She will only eat it once per day but the last two days she refused it.

I wonder if there is long term damage from chronic fhv and lung worm and what can help her get rid of this terrible mucus and breathing. I was thinking steam might help her but I am not sure how to do that in a cage situation.
That is certainly a lot of variation in dosages and duration also. But it seems maybe the longer of double round of panacur may be needed. That is good that ivermectin is a small dose. It may be a possibility at some point. I didn’t think the injection was a good idea because she has to be sedated for that so I guess if she would take a pill crushed in stinky food it may be a possibility.

 

[Meowmee]

I did see that but in the paragraphs I copied and pasted to you, it states that fenbendazole treatment needs to be for 21 days. I apologize for the incorrect link I posted. I don’t know why that one came through. I actually used it to refer back to the article too! The article stresses the symptoms associated with Aelurostrongylus abstrusus.

Cats infected with Aelurostrongylus abstrusus can be treated with fenbendazole (55 mg/kg daily for 21 days or 20 mg/ kg daily for 5 days followed by a second 5 day treatment after a five day hiatus). Fifteen experimentally infected cats that were treated with fenbendazole for 3 days (50 mg/kg, once daily for three days) stopped the shedding of larvae in the feces by 14 days after treatment, but a few days later, the larvae reappeared in small numbers in the feces of the infected cats. Results with ivermecitin have been variable, however, treatment with ivermectin (200 µg/kg followed by a second treatment with 400 µg/kg) has been reported to clear a cat of its infection.

Well, unfortunately I have some heartbreaking news. My girl has gone to the bridge and is free from suffering now. It turns out what caused the severe eye damage was actually an aggressive cancer. Had this been diagnosed initially, and I believe it could have been if the first dvm had done an X-ray of the head etc., I would not have done ths surgery and I would most likely have opted to let her go then.

Dvm 2 said that when he did the surgery there was no sign of cancer, which of course I asked about. So my guess is the surgery caused the cancer to spread even more rapidly. Certainly had I known what we were dealing with was cancer and not a virus alone I would’ve not have put her through all of those weeks of medication. I am grateful though that was she was on pain medication the whole time which I insisted on and anti-histamine as well for the last 3 days both of which helped her pain I am sure. The surgery did seem to give her some relief but it also caused the cancer to spread like crazy and it regrettably made everything worse in the long run.

So my advice to everyone is that if your cat has an eye infection which has caused the eyeball to protrude at all please do an x-ray as part of the initial diagnosis to see if there may be any cancer present. It should always be ruled out if possible in this case. She had also been losing weight which dvm noted on the first exam.

DVM 2 stated that the only way to tell for sure if this was a cancer would be to do a biopsy and a mri or CT scan which of course I was not going to do. He said the x-ray showed it had spread to the bone and to the rest of that side of her face so obviously she was not going to survive no matter what was done.

This was only discovered I believe because I requested that they wash her nose out due to the congestion and when they weren’t able to put a tube in her mouth because it was so swollen etc. they did an x-ray of her head. I had asked him to do an x-ray of her chest to see if there was any damage from the lung worm. This all happened the day I was dropping her off to have her stitches removed. I thought everything would go well she get her nose washed out and she would come home come out of the trap and start learning how to be an inside cat and continue to recover.

I chose to let her go and stop her suffering without even saying goodbye which was truly heartbreaking.

I would ask that this thread not be closed. I don’t find it disrespectful to continue to discuss the medical aspects or any other aspects of what happened to her- it could be helpful to others who are in the same situation.

Run free sweet girl, you deserved better. I cared for you since 2016 when you showed up with a tip on your ear and I had hoped that you could become my indoor cat and become part of the family. I will never forget you and I will always miss you. It’s a great pain and emptiness in my heart to know I will never see you come to get food again outside, sit on my car, run out of the cat shelters…. and worst of all I will never have you inside with the boys living the rest of your life in peace. I take comfort from the fact that you are not suffering anymore and that at least I was able to care for you and help you when no one else would

 

[Xena44]

Well, unfortunately I have some heartbreaking news. My girl has gone to the bridge and is free from suffering now. It turns out what caused the severe eye damage was actually an aggressive cancer. Had this been diagnosed initially, and I believe it could have been if the first dvm had done an X-ray of the head etc., I would not have done ths surgery and I would most likely have opted to let her go then.

Dvm 2 said that when he did the surgery there was no sign of cancer, which of course I asked about. So my guess is the surgery caused the cancer to spread even more rapidly. Certainly had I known what we were dealing with was cancer and not a virus alone I would’ve not have put her through all of those weeks of medication. I am grateful though that was she was on pain medication the whole time which I insisted on and anti-histamine as well for the last 3 days both of which helped her pain I am sure. The surgery did seem to give her some relief but it also caused the cancer to spread like crazy and it regrettably made everything worse in the long run.

So my advice to everyone is that if your cat has an eye infection which has caused the eyeball to protrude at all please do an x-ray as part of the initial diagnosis to see if there may be any cancer present. It should always be ruled out if possible in this case. She had also been losing weight which dvm noted on the first exam.

DVM 2 stated that the only way to tell for sure if this was a cancer would be to do a biopsy and a mri or CT scan which of course I was not going to do. He said the x-ray showed it had spread to the bone and to the rest of that side of her face so obviously she was not going to survive no matter what was done.

This was only discovered I believe because I requested that they wash her nose out due to the congestion and when they weren’t able to put a tube in her mouth because it was so swollen etc. they did an x-ray of her head. I had asked him to do an x-ray of her chest to see if there was any damage from the lung worm. This all happened the day I was dropping her off to have her stitches removed. I thought everything would go well she get her nose washed out and she would come home come out of the trap and start learning how to be an inside cat and continue to recover.

I chose to let her go and stop her suffering without even saying goodbye which was truly heartbreaking.

I would ask that this thread not be closed. I don’t find it disrespectful to continue to discuss the medical aspects or any other aspects of what happened to her- it could be helpful to others who are in the same situation.

Run free sweet girl, you deserved better. I cared for you since 2016 when you showed up with a tip on your ear and I had hoped that you could become my indoor cat and become part of the family. I will never forget you and I will always miss you. It’s a great pain and emptiness in my heart to know I will never see you come to get food again outside, sit on my car, run out of the cat shelters…. and worst of all I will never have you inside with the boys living the rest of your life in peace. I take comfort from the fact that you are not suffering anymore and that at least I was able to care for you and help you when no one else would

I’m so sorry. You did the very best for her. I agree about this thread not being closed. There is a lot of info to share. In the mean time, please take care of your heart. She is at peace and has no more pain. That’s the most important thing.

 

[Meowmee]

I’m so sorry. You did the very best for her. I agree about this thread not being closed. There is a lot of info to share. In the mean time, please take care of your heart. She is at peace and has no more pain. That’s the most important thing.

Thanks Xena44, I feel the weight of a sledge hammer on my whole body this time, and complete exhaustion. I am doing my best to take good care as I go through the grief again. I lost Giorgio, another of my outdoor kitties, in December and right after that my father was in the hospital with covid and has been very ill, in and out for 5 month long nightmare now so that sort of blocked out the grief process then.

 

[Xena44]

Thanks Xena44, I feel the weight of a sledge hammer on my whole body this time, and complete exhaustion. I am doing my best to take good care as I go through the grief again. I lost Giorgio, another of my outdoor kitties, in December and right after that my father was in the hospital with covid and has been very ill, in and out for 5 month long nightmare now so that sort of blocked out the grief process then.

I hope you have someone with you to help you through your grieving process sister. It is hard to do alone. And you certainly have had a lot on your plate in the past short length of time. My heart is with you. But please do take care of yourself. Snuggle your other kitties. They help. Continue to share, OK? Please share your burden.