Kitten at death's door from some infection/ ongoing issues and updates

[Nilo]

Sorry for making everyone wait. Here's the long awaited update

Terry and food:

I've been using Me-O creamy treats in a tube. It's the one thing he's eating now. With assistance ofc.The smearing on the mouth trick seems to work most of the time. It didn't work 2 days back as he'd just not lick at all and lie down with his mouth all sticky, but now he's responding better. He keeps licking for a short while before whining at me to stop smearing him.
I'm slowly trying to increase the quantity he eats.

He does interestedly smell everything I present to him. He sometimes plays with the food. By picking it up, then dropping it back, again and again. He has eaten a nail sized quantity of wet food twice in 2 days, but I can't make him do it.
There's ofc still tons of suggestions from this thread and the other eating thread I haven't yet tried. I'm keeping at it.

Vet told me he's probably feeling nauseated because of all the meds we're giving him on an empty stomach, so he might not want to eat, but he still will, just got to keep trying. I asked them about the anti-nausea meds, but they told me let's try to get him to eat without them, he's already on too many meds, it might not get along well with the others.

I've also previously read that a lot of cats with FPV have been noted to go sit in front of the food bowl without eating. That the virus causes them to be hungry, but unable to eat. But I thought Terry's almost beaten FPV. I suppose not completely. Does anyone have any idea why FPV cats do this and what the solution for them specifically is?

Terry's jaundice and anemia:

Jaundice is treated differently based on the specific cause.
There are 3 main types of jaundice:

• pre-hepatic (destruction of RBC cells),
• hepatic (liver damage),
• post-hepatic (gallbladder damage)

They've decided Terry's jaundice must be caused by the destruction of RBC cells (pre-hepatic).

Terry's RBC are suspected to be getting destroyed due to FHM (feline hemotrophic mycoplasmosis) which like silent meowloook asked is often transmitted by fleas. Terry does not have fleas now, but the incubation period is up to 7 weeks, so it's possible. It is apparently common to get FHM when FPV goes on for a long period. Terry could have been a carrier for FHM and when his immune system remained compromised by FPV for a while, the FHM became active.
FHM commonly causes anemia, jaundice and a bunch of other symptoms.

The treatment:
They're treating FHM by reducing RBC destruction using Prednisolone injection and encouraging RBC production using iron sucrose injection and iron supplements.

Replies:

Have you tried baby food? Most kittens and cats love it.

Interesting. I'd not even thought of baby food. Great suggestion, thank you!

Here is a place that ships from the US to India… I don’t know how the price compares. But you said dvm says he is getting some of the ingredients at least.

Yes, thank you for taking the extra trouble. Yeah, I checked with the vet, and they've decided the other ingredient SAMe is not particularly required for Terry because his jaundice is not hepatic but pre-hepatic. But we do have local tablets containing SAMe for 1/40 th the price of importing Denamarin. The vet told me I could give it a pass as he's already been given a lot of other necessary supplements.

Mycoplasma is likely what the vet means. Mycoplasmosis is common in immunosuppressed humans and animals and transmitted by biting and stinging insects.

Yep, you're spot on, thank you very much. This really put me in the right direction.
I was initially getting only mycoplasma pneuomonia search results, so I got confused. Thank you for clearing it up at the time. Sorry, I couldn't get back to thank you earlier.

It seems like his platelet count is low? that could be caused by panleukopenia I think or by some thing else. Let us know what your DVM thinks.

My bad. It's 1074k not just 1074. It's super high. I should edit my original post.
Yeah, my vet says it's the FPV but I didn't specifically ask him for the reasoning.
I asked him about the chance of blood clots, and he says it's negligible for short-term high values. That we'll immediately bring in under control, so no need to worry.
Anyways, Terry seems to have excessive bleeding opposed to more clotting. Super unfortunate that he got wounded in such a state as well.

Glad to hear about the box and the toothbrush!


As for food you can try putting different things through a blender with some water too. Kibbles may make him feel more full faster and his tummy will be super small right now. Wet food will be easier to digest.



You can also try some low or no salt tuna in water or other fish. It's not a long term solution, but when a cat hasn't eaten in awhile, anything works..



We have Churu here which is always a big hit, I'm not sure what other tube style treats might be available in India.



Try kitten or senior cat food as they will smell stronger.



There's some things on Amazon, though, I usually attempt to avoid them I'm not sure what other retainers are available to you, nor what prices are good. Amazon.in : wet cat food

I'm now using all of the food types you've mentioned. Thank you!

There's also a thread on getting your cat to eat tricks we've all tried. Any Good Tips To Get Your Cats To Eat? Share Them Here!

That's perfect. Just what I needed. Thank you!

Hi, I cannot find any literature to back up the caution I gave regarding iron. From memory I don't remember ever giving a cat iron supplementation. As far as I know iron deficiency in cats is extremely rare and they have trouble eliminating iron, so they run the risk of toxicity. But I cannot find anything in literature. The bottom line is that your vets have been seeing him and examining him and treating him. So, if they are recommending it obviously follow their orders.



Has anyone suggested doing a blood transfusion? At this point it might be a good idea, or it might only help temporarily.



Mycoplasma used to be called Hemobartinella. It is a bacteria that acts like a parasite on the red blood cells. It is usually seen in debilitated stressed cats and can be passed through fleas. They get very sick. with anemia and often require blood transfusions, steroids, and antibiotics. It takes a long time to treat.

http://[URL][URL][URL]https://www.vetinfo.com/mycoplasma-in-cats.html

[/URL][/URL][/URL]



The fluctuating temperature is caused by the kitten being to ill to regulate it. You have to be very careful to avoid accidently over heating or over cooling the little guy. It sounds like you have been doing well so far.



The jaundice, yellowing of the skin, serum, eyes, is usually caused by a buildup of of bile, often due to liver disease or damage. The yellowing can also be in part from damage to the red blood cells.



Have they said if the anemia is regenerative or non-regenerative?

Did they do radiographs?

http://[URL][URL][URL]https://icatcare.org/advice/anaemia-in-cats/

[/URL][/URL][/URL]

This kitten really needs to eat. Has anyone talked to you about placing an esophagostomy feeding tube. He may not be strong enough to survive the surgery.



Have they tested for feline leukemia?



When they are giving the IV fluids, are they placing an IV catheter each time, or does he go home with a catheter?



I wish there was something I could do to help your kitten. Unfortunately, not knowing what is causing all this makes it hard to treat.



If the vets there have a canine parvo test the kitten can be tested for parvo with a small amount of feces and a positive test would lean strongly to it being feline panleukopenia. Although, there is not real treatment of that due to it being a virus. Just treated symptomatically

I am sorry about all this kitten has been going through. You as well.

Regarding iron toxicity, the vet seems to disagree with you. He says that there's absolutely no chance of iron toxicity, Terry already has less Fe. I did ask him we only know he has less Hb, we don't know about the Fe. He's like "meh, it will be used up to become Hb". I asked him how many days it takes for Fe to become another intermediate compound. And asked since we're giving him 5mg injection (sometimes twice a day) + 12 mg oral Fe, whether it could build up to 17x5 = 85 over 5 days. He said no chance of all the oral Fe getting absorbed. By the mucosal absorption layer theory or something, the absorption rate depends on the number of cells present. So no need to worry. I did think about some cats that ingest human meds being admitted for Fe poisoning, so they do absorb that much Fe, right? But at this point, I stopped asking him more and more in order to not bug or offend him, and thanked him for all his explanations.
What do you think?
You've managed to scare me regarding the iron toxicity What do you think I should do?
As absolutely awesome as this vet has been and the immense gratitude I feel towards him, I still have trust issues when it comes to doctors and vets in general, not gonna lie.

No blood transfusion suggested. Are you asking because I wasn't clear about the platelet values (1074k not 1074) or is it the RBC? Since it's regenerative anemia, we won't need a transfusion, right?
No radiographs done or mentioned. What exactly would that be used to find?
They seem to prefer not to do tests much, I am not sure why.

No feeding tube mentioned. What surgery?
They're just keeping him on drips until he starts eating. I've been told that's sufficient for him to survive.

Terry has not been tested for FeLV. But vet says FeLV is super rare in India. Which I have also noticed in other ways, cats are not even prescribed vaccinations for FeLV here. I've read about them online, but when I called up vets inquiring about the vaccines (for a different kitten), none of them provided it and some of them assumed I was saying a wrong name as they'd never even heard of it.

Yeah, they didn't do the feces test, but he's been treated for FPV only. We've completed the 5 day course of tablets called Parvocure or Parvocare available locally here. And the treatment seems to have worked as his fever's gone down from 106 to 102.5.

Terry does not have a cannula. They've been giving him RL SubQ. They switched to Dextrose after Jaundice. They used IV twice. But then they couldn't find a vein after that. And he was in a lot of pain screaming and biting when they kept trying, so they switched back to SubQ again. My vet says IV or SubQ is not a big deal, as they're planning to stop the drips as soon as Terry starts eating and drinking on his own. They're only waiting for Terry.

Wdym you wish you could do something? You're already doing so much more than I could have even imagined. It's simply insufficient for me to just say "Thank you" at this point.
But please don't worry about Terry, he's doing a bit better. He's a strong boy.

Casper is the same way. He is a rescue cat. He lived on his own for over a year before he was brought in.



We spoke to our vet about Casper and she said that, when a cat lives on its own and has to find its own food, it tends to stay with one food source. Once it finds one safe food, it won't trust any others.



Consequently, Casper ONLY eats "his" cat food and rarely eats any other. He eats almost NO human food. Occasionally, a bit of chicken or meat. Maybe a lick of butter or Vegemite or cooked egg yolks. The warmed up liverwurst was one of the few times when I got him to eat more than a taste of anything but cat food. The only exception he'll eat on a regular basis is tuna fish. When we make dinner with tuna, I'll leave a few scraps and a spoonful of juice in the can for him as a treat.



I don't know but if your guy is anything like Casper, maybe he'll eat a little bit of those things... chicken, meat, liver/sausage, tuna fish, cooked eggs.



Do you think he'll like Vegemite?

Actually, they say that cats like the taste of Vegemite. I wouldn't give too much, though. The stuff is really salty!

Yes, that's exactly how Terry used to be. You get it.
Well, I've actually been a vegetarian all my life, so I wouldn't know how to make any of those things, nor do I want to tbh. Terry's going to have to do with packed cat food, instead of cooked meat.

mani Hi, Tamil guy in Australia. Here's the update
Furballsmom Yep, addressed the jaundice now

from Terry and me

 

[Furballsmom]

You are amazing

 

[Alldara]

You are awesome and doing amazing. Terry is very blessed to have you.
Keep at it. You might find some things work for some time and then stop working, in regards to getting him to eat on his own.

His progress really lifted my heart today. Thanks for sharing that. I hope he keeps on moving forward.

 

[silent meowlook]

Hi.

Feline Panleukopenia - Feline Panleukopenia - Merck Veterinary Manual

Learn about the veterinary topic of Feline Panleukopenia. Find specific details on this topic and related topics from the Merck Vet Manual.

www.merckvetmanual.com

The above link goes into some detail regarding blood transfusions and the use of anti-nausea medication.

 

[Meowmee]

I am so glad Terry has no more fever and he is starting to eat hearts and hugs to you both. I’m going to try to read up about the platelets and reply back later my brain is kind of fried right now. Give Terry a smooch

 

[silent meowlook]

OK. I am having internet issues with my internet access. The following link is to the worldwide vet conference from a couple of years ago. Look around in there. You might find something useful.

Feline Medicine - WSAVA 2019 Congress - VIN

www.vin.com

The feline mycoplasma can be detected on just a fresh blood film, one drop of blood on a slide and then stained with diff quick stain and read under oil immersion at 100x power. It looks like little clusters of purple dots on the red blood cells.

If the platelets are really that high, be aware of signs of DIC (rare in cats but does happen) those signs would be bleeding or bruising.
I hope things are going better.

With a blood transfusion, the antibodies of the cat that donates the blood can help the kitten.

In 2007, I adopted out a very young kitten, against my better judgement. He did well and then came in face planting and looking like he was going to die. His HCT was 8. I was surprised he was alive. Not wanting to waste any blood on a kitten that small we only ran the minimum tests that could be done on a drop or so of blood. The glucose was so low it didn't read, and the HCT was 8. The slide showed mycoplasma. Did a whole blood transfusion and kept on top of the blood glucose level. Started Antibiotics and Prednisolone. The kitten ate after the transfusion. Was sent home and came back in about 2 days later, once again in the same condition. We did another transfusion, which is risky doing a second since the chance of a reaction is increased. Once again, the kitten improved, and he continued to do well on the prednisolone and antibiotics. Continued the treatment along with probiotics and easily digested high fat and protein diet. After about 2 months, I think, hard to remember, the antibiotics were stopped, and the prednisolone was slowly weaned off over a couple of weeks. The kitten did very well for several years. He did eventually die from an undiagnosed heart condition. Owner came home and found him deceased. But he was maybe 6 years old then.

 

[Nilo]

Very sad update:

Another kitten S that I was fostering has also gotten FPV. S is a 6 month old girl who's super thin and fairly weak.

I've failed her. She's the most affectionate cat I've ever met in my life, by far. I just can't stop crying.

She was perfectly fine and playing last night, but in just about 7 hours, her fever directly shot to 105.4. I just thought she was sleeping, and after a while I went to sleep. No vomiting or diarrhea at all.

She's vaccinated and Terry was kept in a separate room since diagnosis, yet it has spread. No more cats in the house for at least 1 year.

I don't feel like she's strong enough to survive this virus. I was honestly thinking about letting her just go. But my family convinced me to take her to the off-time emergency vet and she's been given some meds and RL. I don't know what I'm going to do.

 

[Meowmee]

Very sad update:

Another kitten S that I was fostering has also gotten FPV. S is a 6 month old girl who's super thin and fairly weak.

I've failed her. She's the most affectionate cat I've ever met in my life, by far. I just can't stop crying.

She was perfectly fine and playing last night, but in just about 7 hours, her fever directly shot to 105.4. I just thought she was sleeping, and after a while I went to sleep. No vomiting or diarrhea at all.

She's vaccinated and Terry was kept in a separate room since diagnosis, yet it has spread. No more cats in the house for at least 1 year.

I don't feel like she's strong enough to survive this virus. I was honestly thinking about letting her just go. But my family convinced me to take her to the off-time emergency vet and she's been given some meds and RL. I don't know what I'm going to do.

So sorry for S and for you I hope that she can pull through this somehow. That is strange that she also was infected, was she fully vaccinated? I have forgotten what the schedule is for kittens now for those particular vaccines how many they got etc. and when. Anyway, don’t blame yourself, you did everything right and sometimes these things happen. The only thing you can do now is just hope that she makes it through and now you have some experience of how to care for her too.

Just in case, if you can, maybe have them both snap tested. But obviously focus on keeping them going to get through this ordeal. Either way, remember you are doing the best you can and are able to do which is a lot more than what most people do for these kitties.
Big hugs for everyone

 

[mani]

mani Hi, Tamil guy in Australia. Here's the update

If you're referring to my username.. nope, just into Sanskrit.

That's so very unfortunate about your other foster. Was there definitely no contact?

 

[Sarthur2]

At 6 months she will hopefully pull through. Keep her hydrated and the fever down as much as possible with anti-inflammatory meds. It sounds like you have a very supportive family!

You are doing a wonderful job - hang in there!

 

[Nilo]

Status
We all made it through today. Nobody has a fever at the moment. And both of them are eating and drinking. Although much less than usual. No vomiting or diarrhea at the moment. Both are anaemic and quite weak.

I really needed to hear that it's not my fault, and that it's still highly likely that everything is going to turn out okay.
Thank you so much Sarthur2 and Meowmee

Taking care of Terry was easy, as I wasn't emotionally attached to him.

Story of Shanky
I've raised Shanky from the day she was born, gave her up for adoption. The family returned her when she kept crying abnormally loudly all day during her heat cycle which started early. (India's vets have not yet started early sterilization, they make us wait until 6 months old. Most vets here haven't even heard of pediatric sterilization). She's been staying with me for a few weeks until I can get her sterilized and rehomed. We sleep together every night hugging each other the entire time (And that's probably how I gave her the disease from Terry). I let Shanky make friends and play with Terry on our terrace, under my supervision, to distract and tire her to sleep during her heat cycle (I was unaware what a dumb move that was, at the time) We then invited Terry into our home for a few hours each day. He still avoided me, just played with her and left after, not even sleeping inside. I planned to vaccinate him once he became more comfortable with humans. And within a week, he became sick and here we are.

Well, yeah, that was irrelevant medically. Just been feeling quite emotional.

I even gave Shanky some immune system enhancing syrup when Terry became sick, so that she doesn't catch FPV. It was super difficult to make her drink it though, she is a super stubborn hyperactive cat who literally kept spitting saliva 10 mins after I finished giving it, so I just gave it to her twice, which must have been insufficient i guess.
Also, she's been given the 2 recommended doses for FPV vaccine when younger.

Huh, the funniest part, in a way, is that, I decided to have no more new pets just last year, and focus more on my career instead. RIP dreams.

Also, I have a 9 yo labrador dog as well, he's not at risk from these feline infections, right? I know it's a cat forum, but you guys got my back.

I'll respond back to each of you specifically later.
I haven't yet had the time to read up on the technical links mentioned.

 

[Furballsmom]

We all made it through today. Nobody has a fever at the moment. And both of them are eating and drinking.

This is incredible, and a large part of why they are at this point, which is fantastic, is because of you

 

[Caspers Human]

I really needed to hear that it's not my fault

It's not.

Feline Infectious Peritonitis is caused by the Feline Coronavirus. (A different kind of virus than COVID-19.) That virus is ubiquitous in the environment (It exists everywhere) and current medical opinion says that the main method of transmission is from mother cat to kitten. Simply put, the average person might say that cats are born with it.

Here's the confusing part... Not all cases of FeCV (Feline Coronavirus) turn into FIP. (Feline Infectious Peritonitis) The virus mutates inside the cat's body and becomes FIP. Scientists aren't completely sure how or why FeCV mutates into FIP. Basically, Science knows the "what" but we don't know the "why."

FeCV can go undetected and nobody will know that a cat is infected until FeCV turns into FIP. There are tests for FeCV but they aren't 100% reliable. They can tell whether a cat has been exposed to FeCV, some time in the past, but that doesn't tell us whether they actually have it, at present, and it can't tell you whether FeCV >> FIP.

Bottom line: Your kittens probably had FeCV when they came to you and nobody knows exactly why they got FIP.

You've done everything possible. You quarantined infected cats as well as you know how and you took care of them when they were sick. There isn't much more you can do.

Remember this: The mortality rate for kittens under one year old is 50% or more and it is 70% for kittens under six months old.
That's for kittens that receive treatment! For kittens that don't receive treatment, the mortality rate is close to 90%.

So far, you seem to have beaten the odds...TWICE!

That's a damned good record! Whatever you've been doing, you've been doing it well!

I don't think you should feel sad! I think you should feel proud!

 

[Alldara]

Not your fault at all.

With her vaccination status her infection is likely to be less severe. So that's great! They both keep moving forward.

 

[silent meowlook]

Your dog should be fine.

 

[Meowmee]

It's not.

Feline Infectious Peritonitis is caused by the Feline Coronavirus. (A different kind of virus than COVID-19.) That virus is ubiquitous in the environment (It exists everywhere) and current medical opinion says that the main method of transmission is from mother cat to kitten. Simply put, the average person might say that cats are born with it.

Here's the confusing part... Not all cases of FeCV (Feline Coronavirus) turn into FIP. (Feline Infectious Peritonitis) The virus mutates inside the cat's body and becomes FIP. Scientists aren't completely sure how or why FeCV mutates into FIP. Basically, Science knows the "what" but we don't know the "why."

FeCV can go undetected and nobody will know that a cat is infected until FeCV turns into FIP. There are tests for FeCV but they aren't 100% reliable. They can tell whether a cat has been exposed to FeCV, some time in the past, but that doesn't tell us whether they actually have it, at present, and it can't tell you whether FeCV >> FIP.

Bottom line: Your kittens probably had FeCV when they came to you and nobody knows exactly why they got FIP.

You've done everything possible. You quarantined infected cats as well as you know how and you took care of them when they were sick. There isn't much more you can do.

Remember this: The mortality rate for kittens under one year old is 50% or more and it is 70% for kittens under six months old.
That's for kittens that receive treatment! For kittens that don't receive treatment, the mortality rate is close to 90%.

So far, you seem to have beaten the odds...TWICE!

That's a damned good record! Whatever you've been doing, you've been doing it well!

I don't think you should feel sad! I think you should feel proud!

I think you are confusing viruses, these kittens have panleukopenia, (fpv) feline parvo virus not fip.

 

[Meowmee]

Status
We all made it through today. Nobody has a fever at the moment. And both of them are eating and drinking. Although much less than usual. No vomiting or diarrhea at the moment. Both are anaemic and quite weak.

I really needed to hear that it's not my fault, and that it's still highly likely that everything is going to turn out okay.
Thank you so much Sarthur2 and Meowmee

Taking care of Terry was easy, as I wasn't emotionally attached to him.

Story of Shanky
I've raised Shanky from the day she was born, gave her up for adoption. The family returned her when she kept crying abnormally loudly all day during her heat cycle which started early. (India's vets have not yet started early sterilization, they make us wait until 6 months old. Most vets here haven't even heard of pediatric sterilization). She's been staying with me for a few weeks until I can get her sterilized and rehomed. We sleep together every night hugging each other the entire time (And that's probably how I gave her the disease from Terry). I let Shanky make friends and play with Terry on our terrace, under my supervision, to distract and tire her to sleep during her heat cycle (I was unaware what a dumb move that was, at the time) We then invited Terry into our home for a few hours each day. He still avoided me, just played with her and left after, not even sleeping inside. I planned to vaccinate him once he became more comfortable with humans. And within a week, he became sick and here we are.

Well, yeah, that was irrelevant medically. Just been feeling quite emotional.

I even gave Shanky some immune system enhancing syrup when Terry became sick, so that she doesn't catch FPV. It was super difficult to make her drink it though, she is a super stubborn hyperactive cat who literally kept spitting saliva 10 mins after I finished giving it, so I just gave it to her twice, which must have been insufficient i guess.
Also, she's been given the 2 recommended doses for FPV vaccine when younger.

Huh, the funniest part, in a way, is that, I decided to have no more new pets just last year, and focus more on my career instead. RIP dreams.

Also, I have a 9 yo labrador dog as well, he's not at risk from these feline infections, right? I know it's a cat forum, but you guys got my back.

I'll respond back to each of you specifically later.
I haven't yet had the time to read up on the technical links mentioned.

I am relieved they are ok, for everyone.

Now you learned to always quarantine any outdoor cat or cat with unknown health and vaccination status from other cats. When I take mine in they are quarantined for 2 weeks usually, sometimes longer. First they go to dvm for a health check, fiv/ Felv test, poop test, and to get vaccinated, or revaxed if they were already tnr or had at least one series of shots.

When Merlin was quarantined for possible rabies, I knotched up my quarantine techniques to use gloves and sterilizing everything, different clothes/ shoes etc. No rabies thank goodness but he did have C Diff I later found out, and that was kind of a nightmare. I was really trained by this on how to keep everything very clean and to not transmit anything. This all happened before the Covid pandemic so it was a good training for me.

Even when we do everything right this could still happen, because vaccines are not 100%, but the likelihood is they will protect her from a more serious infection which is great.

The reason I said do the snap test is if she is also immune compromised she could be more vulnerable to infection even with vaccines. That is another test I do on all cats that I’ve taken in. I always want to know their status for FIV/FeLV. Quinn’s breeder also does that on her kittens. He is a pb siamese. I think you said there’s almost no fiv/ FeLV where you are, but it’s something to consider if available.

You are doing what you do out of love. Always remember that. You are a good person, doing the best you can for these babies.

 

[Nilo]

Hi folks, hope you're all doing well.

Terry:

No fever, eating less, drinking less, has partial diarrhea. Super weak, still cannot walk normally, the hind part appears to be heavy and tilts while walking. His hind legs are probably too weak to support his body weight.

Blood Test Results:
Hb - 5.5 (previously 3.7 - 4 days ago)
WBC - 62.4K (previously 34.6k)
RBC - 3.64M (previously 2.88M)
PLT - 21K (previously 1074k)

Yes, the WBC is extremely alarming. I'm scared about Terry. I was expecting him to have mostly beaten the infection by now, but the infection just appears to have worsened. Any words of wisdom?
The Hb, RBC have slowly improved, but still pretty low.
Doc says the PLT the last time must have been an anomaly - the body's natural reaction to bolster itself when it knew the PLT was going to drop suddenly. He assumes it must have been below 21k after that, and that it should have increased since with treatment.
They didn't have time to discuss more on the blood test results. I'll have to ask for more info tomorrow.

Treatment:

1. Antibiotics
   1. Doxycycline
   2. Metronidazole
   3. Enrofloxacin
2. Tonic to increase PLT count - syrup containing Papaya leaf extract + Tinospora cardifolia / Gudichi extract + Andrographis paniculata extract
3. sachet containing colostrum + prebiotics - for immune system strengthening
4. Syrups to increase RBC
   1. Syrup containing silymarin and other natural extracts for liver
   2. iron tonic + Vitamin B12

Vet has reduced vet visits to once in 2 days. All meds are shifted to oral meds twice a day.

Shanky:

No fever, eating and drinking normally, full diarrhea, sleeps far longer. Hardly plays, but strong enough to do the normal amount of exploration and other activities.

Blood Test Results:
Hb - 9.5
WBC - 20.2K
RBC - 6.36M
PLT - 39K

It sounds quite obvious in hindsight, cannot believe how I missed it earlier.
Shanky never contracted FPV/FIE, Shanky contracted feline hemotrophic mycoplasmosis from Terry, caused by the bacteria Mycoplasma hemofelis.

We've got a lot of mosquitoes in our area, they could have spread it. The most common carrier listed is fleas, but neither of them seem to have it, as per my limited knowledge on fleas. I do intend to watch/read some tutorials to verify whether I've checked properly or missed anything.

Yeah, my previous posts now sound super silly, where I got emotional actually believing that day would be Shanky's last day. So embarrassing.

Treatment:

1. Antibiotics
   1. Doxycycline
   2. Metronidazole
   3. Enrofloxacin
2. Tonic to increase platelet count - syrup containing Papaya leaf extract + Tinospora cardifolia / Gudichi extract + Andrographis paniculata extract

Vet has reduced vet visits to once in 2 days. All meds are available as oral meds twice a day.

I told them I am ready to bring them both in once a day, so that if there's something wrong, they can find out immediately, and that it's hard to make Shanky eat tablets, she's super troublesome. But they encouraged us not to come, not sure why. Could there be a medical reason for tablets being preferred over injections?
Ofc, it does reduce the risk of picking up new infections at the vet. And it gives me a lot more time to sleep and have a life I caught my first uninterrupted 7 hour sleep today, since all this began. My body couldn't believe it that it kept waking me up periodically anyways lol.

from Shanky, Terry and me

Replies:

You are amazing

No, you are.

You are awesome and doing amazing. Terry is very blessed to have you.
Keep at it. You might find some things work for some time and then stop working, in regards to getting him to eat on his own.

His progress really lifted my heart today. Thanks for sharing that. I hope he keeps on moving forward.

Thank you. That's exactly what's happening, they evolve fast and keep me on my toes.
Thank you for being on this journey with us. Words are not enough to explain how much it means to me.

Hi.

http://[URL][URL]https://www.merckv...ons/feline-panleukopenia/feline-panleukopenia

[/URL][/URL]
The above link goes into some detail regarding blood transfusions and the use of anti-nausea medication.

Wow, that's a great reference site. I'm bookmarking the domain. Thank you.
On the same site, I came across Hemotropic Mycoplasma Infections in Animals - Circulatory System - Merck Veterinary Manual. Do you have similar informatory links on feline hemotropic mycoplasma or the bacteria Mycoplasma hemofelis? I'd love to know more.

I am so glad Terry has no more fever and he is starting to eat hearts and hugs to you both. I’m going to try to read up about the platelets and reply back later my brain is kind of fried right now. Give Terry a smooch

Yeah, can't believe we were at a completely different stage just 3 days ago. Feels like a long time. Oh, Terry's getting lots of smooches.

OK. I am having internet issues with my internet access. The following link is to the worldwide vet conference from a couple of years ago. Look around in there. You might find something useful.

http://[URL][URL]https://www.vin.com/apputil/content/defaultadv1.aspx?pId=24437&catId=137410&ind=140

[/URL][/URL]

The feline mycoplasma can be detected on just a fresh blood film, one drop of blood on a slide and then stained with diff quick stain and read under oil immersion at 100x power. It looks like little clusters of purple dots on the red blood cells.

If the platelets are really that high, be aware of signs of DIC (rare in cats but does happen) those signs would be bleeding or bruising.
I hope things are going better.

With a blood transfusion, the antibodies of the cat that donates the blood can help the kitten.

In 2007, I adopted out a very young kitten, against my better judgement. He did well and then came in face planting and looking like he was going to die. His HCT was 8. I was surprised he was alive. Not wanting to waste any blood on a kitten that small we only ran the minimum tests that could be done on a drop or so of blood. The glucose was so low it didn't read, and the HCT was 8. The slide showed mycoplasma. Did a whole blood transfusion and kept on top of the blood glucose level. Started Antibiotics and Prednisolone. The kitten ate after the transfusion. Was sent home and came back in about 2 days later, once again in the same condition. We did another transfusion, which is risky doing a second since the chance of a reaction is increased. Once again, the kitten improved, and he continued to do well on the prednisolone and antibiotics. Continued the treatment along with probiotics and easily digested high fat and protein diet. After about 2 months, I think, hard to remember, the antibiotics were stopped, and the prednisolone was slowly weaned off over a couple of weeks. The kitten did very well for several years. He did eventually die from an undiagnosed heart condition. Owner came home and found him deceased. But he was maybe 6 years old then.

Oh ok, I don't know if my vet actually tested for the bacteria like you said (if it's that straightforward) or just rattled it off the CBC report. It appeared like the latter, but I'm going to give them the benefit of the doubt. I don't think I can ask them point blank if they did it, they might take offense.

Wow, that's some experience. Yeah, Terry's HCT was 12 then. They told me then that we can increase it with oral meds and dismissed blood transfusion. I didn't probe them any further at the time. Do you think I should still consider transfusion given his HCT has improved from 12 to 16 in 5 days? Is that fast enough? I don't know how much experience my vets have with blood transfusion in their career, I'm in general always scared that my pets would end up being early lab rats in their careers. Also where would I get cat blood?

So sorry for S and for you I hope that she can pull through this somehow. That is strange that she also was infected, was she fully vaccinated? I have forgotten what the schedule is for kittens now for those particular vaccines how many they got etc. and when. Anyway, don’t blame yourself, you did everything right and sometimes these things happen. The only thing you can do now is just hope that she makes it through and now you have some experience of how to care for her too.

Just in case, if you can, maybe have them both snap tested. But obviously focus on keeping them going to get through this ordeal. Either way, remember you are doing the best you can and are able to do which is a lot more than what most people do for these kitties.
Big hugs for everyone

Welp, you guessed right, it was not FPV. I did read vaccinated cats have like <2% chance of getting FPV, but multiple vets told me it happens now and then to vaccinated cats in my region, so I was scared and found it easy to believe it was FPV.

Yeah, I asked for snap / fecal tests, but the vets didn't really want to do that, idk why, so it got dropped. I wasn't pushy enough though.

Thank you infinitely for the emotional support during my lows.

If you're referring to my username.. nope, just into Sanskrit.

That's so very unfortunate about your other foster. Was there definitely no contact?

Hah, interesting. Yeah, Mani and Nila are meaningful Tamil names, hence I thought so.
Well, they didn't have any contact with each other since Terry's fever, but I was the common factor. Anways, we suspect it was the mosquitoes that spread the disease.

At 6 months she will hopefully pull through. Keep her hydrated and the fever down as much as possible with anti-inflammatory meds. It sounds like you have a very supportive family!

You are doing a wonderful job - hang in there!

This and (please read below)

Not your fault at all.

With her vaccination status her infection is likely to be less severe. So that's great! They both keep moving forward.

(the one above and) this gave me so much hope at the time I was scared for Shanky's life. Thank you, both of you! I love logic that reasons me into feeling better

This is incredible, and a large part of why they are at this point, which is fantastic, is because of you

You have a most pleasant way of complimenting people. Thank you.

It's not.

Feline Infectious Peritonitis is caused by the Feline Coronavirus. (A different kind of virus than COVID-19.) That virus is ubiquitous in the environment (It exists everywhere) and current medical opinion says that the main method of transmission is from mother cat to kitten. Simply put, the average person might say that cats are born with it.

Here's the confusing part... Not all cases of FeCV (Feline Coronavirus) turn into FIP. (Feline Infectious Peritonitis) The virus mutates inside the cat's body and becomes FIP. Scientists aren't completely sure how or why FeCV mutates into FIP. Basically, Science knows the "what" but we don't know the "why."

FeCV can go undetected and nobody will know that a cat is infected until FeCV turns into FIP. There are tests for FeCV but they aren't 100% reliable. They can tell whether a cat has been exposed to FeCV, some time in the past, but that doesn't tell us whether they actually have it, at present, and it can't tell you whether FeCV >> FIP.

Bottom line: Your kittens probably had FeCV when they came to you and nobody knows exactly why they got FIP.

You've done everything possible. You quarantined infected cats as well as you know how and you took care of them when they were sick. There isn't much more you can do.

Remember this: The mortality rate for kittens under one year old is 50% or more and it is 70% for kittens under six months old.
That's for kittens that receive treatment! For kittens that don't receive treatment, the mortality rate is close to 90%.

So far, you seem to have beaten the odds...TWICE!

That's a damned good record! Whatever you've been doing, you've been doing it well!

I don't think you should feel sad! I think you should feel proud!

They've not been diagnosed with FeCV or FIP, but the same logic still applies. And I totally get your vibe and what you mean. Thank you very much for your inspiring words. This really improved my self esteem, and calmed me down.

Your dog should be fine.

Thanks. I read that the mycoplasma bacteria can cause infections in dogs and humans as well. But they seem to be different bacteria species of the same genus M. haemofelis, M. haemocanis and a whole set of them that affect humans. So can I be certain that they will not affect my dog or my family, right?

I am relieved they are ok, for everyone.

Now you learned to always quarantine any outdoor cat or cat with unknown health and vaccination status from other cats. When I take mine in they are quarantined for 2 weeks usually, sometimes longer. First they go to dvm for a health check, fiv/ Felv test, poop test, and to get vaccinated, or revaxed if they were already tnr or had at least one series of shots.

When Merlin was quarantined for possible rabies, I knotched up my quarantine techniques to use gloves and sterilizing everything, different clothes/ shoes etc. No rabies thank goodness but he did have C Diff I later found out, and that was kind of a nightmare. I was really trained by this on how to keep everything very clean and to not transmit anything. This all happened before the Covid pandemic so it was a good training for me.

Even when we do everything right this could still happen, because vaccines are not 100%, but the likelihood is they will protect her from a more serious infection which is great.

The reason I said do the snap test is if she is also immune compromised she could be more vulnerable to infection even with vaccines. That is another test I do on all cats that I’ve taken in. I always want to know their status for FIV/FeLV. Quinn’s breeder also does that on her kittens. He is a pb siamese. I think you said there’s almost no fiv/ FeLV where you are, but it’s something to consider if available.

You are doing what you do out of love. Always remember that. You are a good person, doing the best you can for these babies.

Yep, expensive revision lesson indeed. Can't believe I forgot it under duress.
How do you quarantine outdoor cats that are not yet comfortable with you? Don't they feel trapped and ask to leave?
Wow, you've got a foolproof system eh. Great for you. Lucky pets.
Yeah, I'm far from that level of quarantining. I still make emotional decisions.
Thank you for the emotional support!

 

[Furballsmom]

 

[Alldara]

N Nilo the diarrhoea is normal for the amount and time he's been on antibiotics for.

Never apologize for an emotional reaction of worry. You've basically been a solo ICU for a cat for weeks before the other cat got sick. It's natural this type of reaction.