Emergency! Sick kitten! Cannot see a Vet!

[jennyr]

It would be terrible if things go wrong now, after all your hard work. Do all you can to get her seen by the vet. My friend says the |UNiversoity Health Clinic for Animals (the link I sent you) is really good and part of the bigger clinic in Islamabad. So she would be in good hands.

 

[artiemom]

I have been following this thread but not commenting until now...

Oh, sweetie; What I am about to say is said with love. You have done so much for Sparrow...she is sick, beyond your capability.  Perhaps you can use this approach with your mom..

Here goes:

I am really concerned about Sparrow. You have done so much to get her well, and have done an excellent job, under dire circumstances. Sparrow is indeed strong, and she loves you very much; however, any time a third eyelid shows and especially when there is increased thirst, and pawing at a certain part of the body, then a Vet visit is vital.

I really mean vital. Sparrow has gone through so much. She still has a lump! That lump very well can be an abscess which has severely infected her...

I am not saying this to be mean, worry you or increase your anxiety. This is possibly how you should approach the Vet subject to your mom.

Sparrow seriously needs a Vet visit. She has made a marked health change. A very negative health change ~~ a dramatic one. She needs intervention beyond what you and homeopathic stuff can provide.

She needs a Vet....

She is a beautiful kitten who loves you so much. 

(((hugs)))   keep us updated.....

 

[stewball]

A homeopathic remedy is a sugar pill with the memory of the original substance imprinted on it.  There is no chance of mercury poisoning because there is none of the original substance.  OP, I am assuming this is what you were using.  With remedies, they are called the same thing as whatever the original substance was, but they are a dilution to the smallest, smallest fraction.  This is why people wonder if they work at all, or if it's by placebo effect if anything.

Yes, things can be labeled homeopathic when they are not in this form, but this is actually the definition of a remedy - the dilution of a substance.

Quite a few years ago I was prescribed some homeopathic medicine by a professional. It was for my constant headaches. I didn't have a headache for a year and then they came back but that year was marvellous.

 

[stewball]

Mothers. What a pain we can be. I really hope she takes what Artiemom is saying seriously.

 

[kskatt]

Would it work if you cried? I hate advising anyone to be manipulative, but sometimes we have to play every card you can find.

 

[indie-n-button]

 
I have been following this thread but not commenting until now...

Oh, sweetie; What I am about to say is said with love. You have done so much for Sparrow...she is sick, beyond your capability.  Perhaps you can use this approach with your mom..

Here goes:

I am really concerned about Sparrow. You have done so much to get her well, and have done an excellent job, under dire circumstances. Sparrow is indeed strong, and she loves you very much; however, any time a third eyelid shows and especially when there is increased thirst, and pawing at a certain part of the body, then a Vet visit is vital.

I really mean vital. Sparrow has gone through so much. She still has a lump! That lump very well can be an abscess which has severely infected her...

I am not saying this to be mean, worry you or increase your anxiety. This is possibly how you should approach the Vet subject to your mom.

Sparrow seriously needs a Vet visit. She has made a marked health change. A very negative health change ~~ a dramatic one. She needs intervention beyond what you and homeopathic stuff can provide.

She needs a Vet....

She is a beautiful kitten who loves you so much. 

(((hugs)))   keep us updated.....

I've tried EVERYTHING. I've told her that the third eye-lid could be a sign that the infections gone to her middle-ear, but she just responds with saying that there's no pus coming out of her ear so she'll be fine. I told her that the lump could be an abscess I even went as far as telling her that it could be cancer, but she said that it feels like it's going down so it shouldn't be a problem. It has been going down, yes, but I'd honestly be a lot more happy if it wasn't there AT ALL. She also says that it can't be an abscess because we were giving her antibiotics and thus she shouldn't have an infection :-( It's all just so frustrating how she refuses to listen to me and think she knows better.

She thinks that  Sparrow's just teething and going through it badly and that she's hot due to how humid and stuffy it is. Even our other cats are panting and laying around and sleeping most of the time. Mum doesn't think something's wrong because Sparrow's still eating fine.

I understand that you're saying this to try and help me, and it's very VERY appreciated!! I just wish my Mum would see how serious this matter could get if it's left too long. Even if nothing is wrong with her and she is just feeling hot due to the weather, there's no harm in making sure that's the case and nothing is seriously wrong with her :-(

Though today, she seems much better. The nictating membrane (I think it's called that??) is just a little bit visible on both of her eyes, but it's nowhere near what it was yesterday. The weather today is slightly milder, though it's still very high. I'm not sure what to think honestly. If I ask Mum to take her to the vet now she'll probably just say no because she's active and running around again! :-( Mum did say that we'd take her today if the lump hasn't gone down some more, but she hasn't yet. She also thinks that the reason why she's scratching at her skin around her ears/neck is due to me feeding her raw food... and the fact that she acts like she's vomiting, according to her, could be tonsilitis??

I did some more research on it this morning and I found that polyps can sometimes extend down into the throat which can cause pawing at the mouth or discomfort with eating. The only problem is Sparrow doesn't like having her mouth opened so I have no way to prove to my Mum that something really IS wrong with her.

The most frustrating thing about all this is that Mum just laughs it off as if it's nothing to worry about. Like one minute she'll be concerned if I mention something serious like a brain defect or a middle-ear infection but then she'll just start cooing over Sparrow and say that she'll be fine and pull through it. And when she asks me what I should do about certain things, as if she expects me to know everything a vet should, it's REALLY frustrating. There's only so much I know about cats and there's no way that I'm as qualified or experienced as a professional vet, so I really don't see why she can't just take Sparrow to the vets and make sure she's alright.

 

[fairycatmom]

Sorry to hear about how hard it is to get your mom to take you to the vet

. I can totally empathize with you and understand how difficult the relationship with your mom can be when manipulation is involved. Good luck getting Sparrow to the doctor.

 

[jennyr]

Is there any way you can get your mom to talk to the vet on the phone and see what they say? They might just say to bring her in, but it might be worth a try.

 

[artiemom]

@indie-n-button,   Oh honey, (((hugs)))

It sounds like a terrible relationship you have with your mom. It must be so hard for you...

Your mom really needs to understand that you are only 16 years old. You are not an adult, you are not a expert on Veterinary care...(no insult intended) 

You are a highly intelligent, caring, kind, loving person who is trying her best with limited resources. You have done wonderfully. 

Do you happen to have a trusted family friend.. a friend of your mom's who you could turn to for some help? To help persuade her into seeing the Vet?

or even a relative?

Or a friend's mom?  or a teacher?

I am just trying to think 'outside the box' at alternatives....

 

[indie-n-button]

 
Sorry to hear about how hard it is to get your mom to take you to the vet

. I can totally empathize with you and understand how difficult the relationship with your mom can be when manipulation is involved. Good luck getting Sparrow to the doctor.

Hmm yeah, it honestly sucks. But, I will continue doing what I can until then. I've stopped the antibiotics today, and hopefully her poops will get back to normal and the infection won't come back. I've noticed that the third-eyelid has actually gone back to normal since I've stopped the antibiotics?? I'm not sure if this should be something to be concerned by or?

Is there any way you can get your mom to talk to the vet on the phone and see what they say? They might just say to bring her in, but it might be worth a try.

We actually talked to another vet when Sparrow first came here -- the one that said to give her Calpol for her fever :-( Ever since Mum herself has been really fishy about vets over here, mostly because she's concerned that they might make Sparrow sicker than she already is. I do have the new vet's phone number though, I've tried ringing it a few times but got no answer, I think the line may have been busy. I'll maybe try sending them an e-mail? I hope they check their mail regularly...

 
@indie-n-button,   Oh honey, (((hugs)))

It sounds like a terrible relationship you have with your mom. It must be so hard for you...

Your mom really needs to understand that you are only 16 years old. You are not an adult, you are not a expert on Veterinary care...(no insult intended) 

You are a highly intelligent, caring, kind, loving person who is trying her best with limited resources. You have done wonderfully. 

Do you happen to have a trusted family friend.. a friend of your mom's who you could turn to for some help? To help persuade her into seeing the Vet?

or even a relative?

Or a friend's mom?  or a teacher?

I am just trying to think 'outside the box' at alternatives....

It's hard, yes, but frustrating more than anything.

And I know I'm not! Not yet at least. I'm actually hoping to become a vet in the next few years, but for now I only really know the basics and how to tell if somethings wrong and how to cure the most basic of diseases.

Thankyou! I'm so so happy with how far Sparrow has come, and I'm adamant that she'll continue to improve.

And no, all of our actual family is over back in England. My Dad's family that is over here cares nothing for cats at all. They hate them and regularly abuse their own cats by putting them in cages and hitting them or throwing water on them as a form of punishment :-( They care more about their furniture than their pets. And I have no teacher either, because I'm home-schooled.

Though, today I have some good news!! :-) The weather has cooled down A LOT because I think a storm's about to come? But Sparrow isn't panting as much at all and her third-eyelid hasn't been seen since this morning (apart from when she's sleepy or just woken up). I also examined her very closely and saw a little red scratch on the inner part of her lower eyelid, so could this scratch have caused all the trouble? I cleaned it with some warm water and I'll continue to do that. Butty, my other male, does swat at her sometimes, so I'll have to keep a closer eye on them. She's eating fine! She's drinking a lot less since it's been cooler. I think I'll start wiping her down with a wet cloth every so often to make sure she stays relatively cool. Also, I was wondering if ice-cubes will be safe for her? If I supervise her with them? We don't have an AC so I don't know any other ways to keep her cool :-(

 

[foxxycat]

ice cubes in the water is fine. but not on her skin. too cold. you can do ice in a bag and wrap in a towel and have her lay on it is better.

 

[artiemom]

Ice cubes are a great idea!  Some people put a couple ice cubes in the water dish when it is very hot outside or in the house. 

I want you to know that I honestly believe, I know in my heart, that you will turn out to be a magnificent Veterinarian. I am sure of it!  Whit what you have been through and done for Sparrow is remarkable, and without any formal medical training! amazing...

Yes, I would keep good watch on that scratch. You do not want it to get worse. Eye abrasions can turn bad very fast.. and if it does the cat can go blind or worse...it could turn into an infection. 

My guy has a weepy eye, and was blinking a lot. I was going to just watch it a bit, but every one here persuaded me to go to the Vet. It turned out to be a small corneal abrasion. I had to use antibiotic eye drops. I think the dose was 3 times a day. The Vet even stressed that it was good that I came in because eye issues turn bad so rapidly.

Another reason to take Sparrow to the Vet...

Instead of using plain water to rinse, Can you you get some contact lens saline solution? ...the kind you rinse contacts in. Make sure it is saline and not the cleaner. Or the over the counter, packages of saline eye drops...

((hugs))

 

[handsome kitty]

You can cool Sparrow down by wiping her with a lukewarm/cool cloth.  Damp, not wet.

I think emailing the vet is a good idea.  It's possible he or a student may live near you and can stop by if he is interested enough in your situation.

 

[indie-n-button]

 
ice cubes in the water is fine. but not on her skin. too cold. you can do ice in a bag and wrap in a towel and have her lay on it is better.

Oooh okay I'll try that then. The cats do have a box upstairs that they use to keep themselves cool, I think I'll move it downstairs and put some ice-cubes wrapped in towels inside. I'll replace the towels every so often so the box doesn't get wet :-)

 
Ice cubes are a great idea!  Some people put a couple ice cubes in the water dish when it is very hot outside or in the house. 

I want you to know that I honestly believe, I know in my heart, that you will turn out to be a magnificent Veterinarian. I am sure of it!  Whit what you have been through and done for Sparrow is remarkable, and without any formal medical training! amazing...

Yes, I would keep good watch on that scratch. You do not want it to get worse. Eye abrasions can turn bad very fast.. and if it does the cat can go blind or worse...it could turn into an infection. 

My guy has a weepy eye, and was blinking a lot. I was going to just watch it a bit, but every one here persuaded me to go to the Vet. It turned out to be a small corneal abrasion. I had to use antibiotic eye drops. I think the dose was 3 times a day. The Vet even stressed that it was good that I came in because eye issues turn bad so rapidly.

Another reason to take Sparrow to the Vet...

Instead of using plain water to rinse, Can you you get some contact lens saline solution? ...the kind you rinse contacts in. Make sure it is saline and not the cleaner. Or the over the counter, packages of saline eye drops...

((hugs))

I'll put the ice-cubes in the water too, I just hope that doesn't give her another reason to jump in her water and knock over the bowl lmao.

And thankyou so so so SO much!! That's one of the best compliments I've ever gotten :'-)

It seems to be better today, it's scabbed over a little (it's like, hardly visible, just tiny little dots like you'd get on a scrape) but I'll keep washing it and keeping it clean. And yes! I think I'll be able to get saline over here, should I still wash the eye out with the saline? The cut isn't actually on her eyeball, just a tinnnny bit below her bottom eyelid.

 
You can cool Sparrow down by wiping her with a lukewarm/cool cloth.  Damp, not wet.

I think emailing the vet is a good idea.  It's possible he or a student may live near you and can stop by if he is interested enough in your situation.

Okay, I do that with the other two cats too, and it seems to help :-) I'll start doing it with her too! Also we've moved all the cats (as well as myself!) into one of the spare rooms which is much cooler than the other room I was in. Her panting has cut down A LOT since shes been in here and the air from the fan is a lot colder, too. I think I'll close off the other room to stop the cats from going in there seeing as it's really hot.

And I'll e-mail him right now! :-) I was going to do it last night but I was tired and had to revise for my SAT exam that's coming up. But I'll e-mail him today and see what happens :-)

 

[stewball]

You really are everything Artiemom said and more.
Have you shown the scratched eye to your mum?
I don't understand her reluctance to take beautiful sparrow to the vet. Wouldn't she rather that sparrow gets a clean bill of health rather than her come down with something else. Have you tried crying or does that not help!
Will you be having her spayed? She'll drive you mad if you don't and are your boys fixed? If not she'll be having babies all over the place.

When your mum goes away are you left alone in the house? Who's home schooling you? What university do you want to go to?

Back to sparrow. She really has turned into a beautiful cat. Where did you find her?
Keep your chin up and stay hopeful sweetie. Hugs.

 

[talkingpeanut]

Chiming in on this minor point - Saline solution is just a ratio of distilled, boiled water and salt. You can definitely make your own if you need.

 

[StefanZ]

Chiming in on this minor point - Saline solution is just a ratio of distilled, boiled water and salt. You can definitely make your own if you need.

 I agree, homemade saline water works very nicely in practice.  About one tea spoon in a liter. Boil up several minutes.  Dont spare too long, better make new.

The concentration is about as in tears, barely feeling the taste of salt.

Useful also for scratches on the body, on cats and humans.

Its no hokus pokus, hospitals use it heavily too.  Even if their is made sterile.

@indie-n-button

 

[indie-n-button]

You really are everything Artiemom said and more.
Have you shown the scratched eye to your mum?
I don't understand her reluctance to take beautiful sparrow to the vet. Wouldn't she rather that sparrow gets a clean bill of health rather than her come down with something else. Have you tried crying or does that not help!
Will you be having her spayed? She'll drive you mad if you don't and are your boys fixed? If not she'll be having babies all over the place.

When your mum goes away are you left alone in the house? Who's home schooling you? What university do you want to go to?

Back to sparrow. She really has turned into a beautiful cat. Where did you find her?
Keep your chin up and stay hopeful sweetie. Hugs.

Thankyou :-)
And ye I have, but I doubt she actually saw it because the scratch is reaaaaaally tiny. She said that it'll heal with time (which, it actually has, it isn't even visible today) and there's no need to panic.
I don't understand it either :-( It'd be a lot less stressful knowing that she IS 100% alright rather than just guessing and hoping for the best. And no, crying doesn't help at all :-(
Yes! I hope that we're going to be having her fixed, at least. The boys are tom's, and they KNOW that she's a girl. The eldest tom, Indie, wants nothing to do with her though, but our other one, Butty, follows her around everywhere and chirps at her. If he 'tries anything' she quickly swats him away and he's soft so his feelings gets hurt so he just sits to sulk next to her lmao. I'm keeping an eye on them though, and I intervene if anything happens, but so far I haven't had to do anything. It's strange because the boys haven't started fighting each other yet and I doubt that they will? Indie knows she's a girl - if Butty does I'm sure he does too - but he's much more bothered in getting her to chase him, which she doesn't do no matter how hard he tries!!

And ye I am, she goes away every weekend. No-one's homeschooling me atm, seeing as I'm done with my A-Levels, but while I was doing them I was kind of tutoring myself. For the first year I went to school, but after that I quit school and decided to teach myself at home (mostly due to being harrassed at school and also because the teachers would degrade me and call me stupid etc.)

Sparrow was actually bred by my cousin. Her Dad was one of my rescues that I mistakenly gave to my cousin because he kept fighting really badly with my other two boys. He used Cipher (Sparrow's dad) to breed with his own female cat, and she had a litter of 6 babies. One died shortly after birth, one was stolen, and two others died due to unknown causes (probably due to negligence on my cousins side and because they were in such a place that they were hard to monitor). Their Dad died too, we're thinking because of either old age or kidney problems (he always used to drink a lot of water when he was with us, but I didn't know it was something to be concerned about)

Also I'm really hoping to get into Nottingham vet school :-) I've already e-mailed them about it and everything and they said that as long as I get two A's in these last A-Levels I've done (as well as get the relevant work experience) I should be good to go! They told me that I can take a few gap years too to get even MORE work experience and up my chance of getting in due to my age. I also wanted to get into Liverpool, but they didn't respond to my e-mails at all, which was a little disheartening.

 
 I agree, homemade saline water works very nicely in practice.  About one tea spoon in a liter. Boil up several minutes.  Dont spare too long, better make new.

The concentration is about as in tears, barely feeling the taste of salt.

Useful also for scratches on the body, on cats and humans.

Its no hokus pokus, hospitals use it heavily too.  Even if their is made sterile.

@indie-n-button

Ooh okay, seeing as I can make it at home I'll do that today then :-) Her eyes is healed now (which was pretty quick??) but I'll wash it today just to be sure!

 

[kskatt]

Just wondering, haven't seen it mentioned, although I can't guarantee I've read every word. Since you aren't feeding specific cat food, are you able to get the Taurine  supplements over there? Have you thought about getting the boys fixed? Usually cheaper to fix the boys! lol

 

[indie-n-button]

 
Just wondering, haven't seen it mentioned, although I can't guarantee I've read every word. Since you aren't feeding specific cat food, are you able to get the Taurine  supplements over there? Have you thought about getting the boys fixed? Usually cheaper to fix the boys! lol

I haven't found any taurine supplements over here yet, no :-( I'm pretty sure that they're getting all the taurine that they need with all the secreting organs that they get (they normally have organs about every other day, or every other other day, and they're straight out of the chicken lmao) they get heard 1-2 times a week too, so I'm pretty sure they're getting enough taurine :-)

And I was thinking about fixing them, but at the end of the day it'll probably be safer to fix Sparrow instead? Mostly because I'm really iffy on the thought of the boys getting an increased risk of pee problems plus if she gets (which she hopefully won't!!!) pyometra, I'll have to get her fixed anyway, so I'll probably get her fixed rather than the boys. She's also a kitten so she's much more adaptable than the other two who are REALLY afraid of strangers seeing that we don't get a lot of people coming over regularly so they haven't really been properly socialised :-(