Feral Cat Sick, Foreign Country And Stuck!

[Mabo]

Hi,

I am new to this site and a newly formed cat person I feel horrid in saying I wasn't a cat person before falling in love with my Mushky. I am an expat living in Turkey. A month ago I found Mushky outside my door snuggled close to the bin for warmth. She clearly wasn't well so I couldn't leave her out. I took her to vets, she was injected some medicine and thankfully got better. I realised in a matter of hours I had fallen in love and could not abandon her, and so my feral cat became a member of my household.

To cut a long story short, the past few days she has again not been well. Last week it started with diarrhoea. I was given a medicine (KONTIL? TURKEY) by the vet and used it for 3 days. The diarrhoea stopped but for the past 3 days she has been vomiting. She only vomits once in the morning, it is dark brown with bits in sometimes. She's playful, behaves normal and seems to be eating and drinking fine. Today I took her again to the vet and was told she has an infection. The vet injected her with antibiotics. The problem is I do not trust my vet and feel horrible with all this medicine my poor Mushky is receiving. This is the only vet in this town I live in and apparently vets in the other cities here in the south east of Turkey are not much better. She will follow up with another injection tomorrow and the next day.

I would like to know has anyone experiences anything similar and are there any recommendations for me?

Thank you!!!

 

[Mamanyt1953]

First, THANK YOU! You are doing the best you can in a difficult situation, with no background with cats, and with no one to really guide you. You are now one of my heroes. The vet might be right in this case. We're almost going to have to wait and see on this. Rounds of antibiotics aren't going to hurt anything, considering that Mushky was a street cat, was exposed to who-know-what, and was eating who-knows-what offal. Sometimes it take a bit for the antibiotics to rid the body of whatever is causing the problem. Mainly, if she is eating and drinking normally, going "potty" normally, and is active, she's doing ok. Now, should she stop any one of the first three, or starts hunching in a "meatloaf position", you need to get her to the vet again.

Since you don't know about cats, I'm going to include two photographs of the "meatloaf." The first is a healthy cat just relaxing, and the other is a cat in pain.

HEALTHY CAT

CAT IN PAIN

You can clearly see the tension in the body of the second cat, especially in relation to the first relaxed, happy cat.

I'll be following this thread until we know that Mushky is well on the way to being a happy cat!

OH...I just dug around for information on Kontil. It is used to treat worms, and the infections caused by them. The vomiting that you describe could well be caused by worms. Being a street cat, I am sure that she had a belly full of them, and they can be the dickens to get totally rid of.

 

[Mabo]

Thank you so much!

The pictures are very helpful. I am happy to say Mushky is in a happy position

 

[Mabo]

Sorry I posted that by accident.

I was worried about the position she was in. Now I feel reassured.

Thankfully this morning there hasn’t been any vomiting!! I am over the moon. She will go for her second antibiotic today. Hopefully she’ll get better. I have been very stressed with all the medicine she has had lately.

I also feel better about our vet now. Here in the south-east not many people have pets, I am constantly told that the vets are clueless.

I have many other questions but have decided to ask each one in a different thread. I cannot thank you enough for your response!!

 

[Antonio65]

No wonder you fell in love with this extraordinary beauty!!!
Thanks for your kind gesture, you won't regret it.
What Mamanyt1953 has said is correct, the vomit you witnessed is the cat's body who is getting rid of the parasites. She may also have diarrhea and sore bum for a couple of days.

I knew that Turkish were extremely pet friendly. Over here we have a on-line newspaper that gathers pet related news from the world everyday and very often I had read articles of Turkish capable of great things for feral pets or abandoned dogs.

 

[jcat]

Kontil is the dewormer Pyrantel, and vomiting is a common side effect of that medication.

 

[Mabo]

Thanks for the information. She does seem a lot better. She was passing quite a lot of stool I was cleaning her litter 7/8 times a day, I thought this was normal. Since the medicine and the antibiotics I am down to cleaning the litter once in the morning and once in the evening.

I just want her to be healthy and happy for now!

 

[Mamanyt1953]

You are getting there. The 7/8 times a day were her body getting rid of all of those pesky worms. She'll start gaining a bit of weight now that she is getting her food, instead of those dratted worms getting it!

She is SUCH a pretty girl! She looks like she is posing for a glamour shot!

 

[Mabo]

I’m so glad! One last antibiotic today. Also does anyone have any idea to what her breed is? I would like to research into her traits so far from my research I am thinking Maine Coon?

 

[Antonio65]

Given your current location, couldn't it be a Turkish Angora cat?

 

[Mabo]

Oh gosh, I didn't even consider that! Yes I think thats a possibility - thank you

 

[Mamanyt1953]

Since she is a street cat, we can never really know for sure if she is a breed, or a mix, which is more likely. And since she has only just come in off of the streets, her coat may change with good food and vet care. This is the classic angora coat, which comes in many colors, including all tabbies.

I'll be interested to see if she develops that full tail with good care! Do keep posting pictures of her! She may be Angora, or nearly pure.

 

[Mabo]

Ok I will do, her coat is defo looking better already!

 

[Mamanyt1953]

And I will be here!