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- Jul 18, 2018
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We adopted Dahlia, a kitten, 13 days ago who has some concerning health problems that I am hoping for some advice about.
First off a little history that we have been told. She was born April 26th (so she's 12 weeks old today) to a 5 lb feral mother who was caught to be TNR'd. She was fostered by someone who kept her with her birth mother until 8 weeks of age, she was fully weaned before she was removed to another foster by herself at 8 weeks.
That foster took her to the vet, at 8 weeks she weighed 1 lb, 1 oz, had a potbelly, tested positive for roundworms, coccidia, and tapeworms, had fleas and conjunctivitis in her left eye. Vet gave capstar, flea bath, 1/2 a Drontal, 2 take-home 0.2 cc doses of Strongid, and Albon.
Again at 9 weeks the 2nd foster took for to the vet and she weighed 1 lb, 4 oz. Still potbellied but less so, reportedly straining to defecate, eyes less watery. Given Strongid and tested negative for FIV and FeLV.
At 10 weeks the 2nd foster took her in again for ear discharge & irritation. She weighed 1 lb, 6 oz. Still potbellied, given a 4/9 body score. Tested positive for cocci and yeast in ears, brown discharge removed and given Tresaderm to be applied 4 drops in both ears twice per day for 10 days.
We adopted her at 10 weeks while she was on the Tersaderm and finished off the remaining days of the Tresaderm per the vets instructions.
The day after we brought her home at 10 weeks her energy level dropped. We could hear that she was wheezing a bit but this was never reported to us prior to adopting her. 2 days after bringing her home she was clearly struggling to breathe, one of her eyes remained half closed and she was very lethargic, we feared for her life and rushed her to the vet with a fecal sample. She weighed 1 lb, 9 oz, tested positive for roundworms, still potbellied and with dark brown discharge in her ear. Vet said she had a severe upper respiratory infection and gave her a subcutaneous injection of Naxcel 0.5 ml plus gave me Clavamox to administer 0.5 ml twice daily. I received Terramycin to apply to affected eye up to 4 times daily "until resolution". I was also given cans of wet Science Diet Urgent Care a/d to help with her being underweight. Dahlia also received 1/2 a Drontal tab with instructions to return for another dose in 3 weeks. She suspects Dahlia has the herpes virus and that it caused the URI.
The very next day Dahlia's activity level returned to normal but she still had trouble breathing.
Less than a week later I brought her back to the vet at 11 weeks due to my concern over her breathing not improving at all. I informed the vet that she did develop diarrhea which we both suspected was due to the antibiotics. She weighed 1 lb, 10 oz and received another 0.5 ml subcutaneous injection of Naxcel and I was instructed to continue the Clavamox until completion and continue giving the Terramycin. They also gave me more cans of the Science Diet a/d since she liked it and was eating it well at home (I mix it with kitten kibble at home). I was instructed to bring her back in for a re-check once she finished the Clavamox.
That brings us to today. She's had Clavamox for 10 days with absolutely no improvement in her breathing. However she does have a good appetite and her energy level has greatly improved. In the last week, while on the Clavamox, I have also been mixing in some vitamins (feline Missing Link), probiotics and l-lysine into her food to help her out. My husband doesn't think the Clavamox is doing anything and suggested I stop after 10 days. I did stop the Clavamox after day 10 and the bottle is almost empty so I suspect there was only maybe a day left anyway. I am hoping the soft stool will improve before I take her back into the vet tomorrow. I weighed her yesterday and she was 1 lb, 12 oz.
My concerns though are that her breathing has not improved at all and not only does she still keep her one eye closed more than the other but her third eyelid started showing in that eye a bit for the last 2 days. The third eyelid is less visible since it started though.
I read online that URI's can take 20 days to resolve themselves so I'm wondering if maybe anyone thinks perhaps the breathing thing will take that long to resolve or if maybe it sounds like it could be something else and I need to ask the vet to expand her search criteria so to speak? My husband and I are also both concerned about her eye still not being normal after so long. Yesterday I skipped the morning dose of Terramycin since her eye was fully open and third eyelid was hardly visibly but by evening she has back to her eye being half open. I am so frustrated with the lack of progress or answers. I wanted to see if I could get some feedback here before we go back to the vet tomorrow. I just really don't want to put her on more medication especially if it is 'normal' for a cat with herpes and/or a URI to display these symptoms for this long.
ANYTHING would be helpful to me right now...even if only some words of encouragement.
I'll try to add some pictures of the poor girl too.
First off a little history that we have been told. She was born April 26th (so she's 12 weeks old today) to a 5 lb feral mother who was caught to be TNR'd. She was fostered by someone who kept her with her birth mother until 8 weeks of age, she was fully weaned before she was removed to another foster by herself at 8 weeks.
That foster took her to the vet, at 8 weeks she weighed 1 lb, 1 oz, had a potbelly, tested positive for roundworms, coccidia, and tapeworms, had fleas and conjunctivitis in her left eye. Vet gave capstar, flea bath, 1/2 a Drontal, 2 take-home 0.2 cc doses of Strongid, and Albon.
Again at 9 weeks the 2nd foster took for to the vet and she weighed 1 lb, 4 oz. Still potbellied but less so, reportedly straining to defecate, eyes less watery. Given Strongid and tested negative for FIV and FeLV.
At 10 weeks the 2nd foster took her in again for ear discharge & irritation. She weighed 1 lb, 6 oz. Still potbellied, given a 4/9 body score. Tested positive for cocci and yeast in ears, brown discharge removed and given Tresaderm to be applied 4 drops in both ears twice per day for 10 days.
We adopted her at 10 weeks while she was on the Tersaderm and finished off the remaining days of the Tresaderm per the vets instructions.
The day after we brought her home at 10 weeks her energy level dropped. We could hear that she was wheezing a bit but this was never reported to us prior to adopting her. 2 days after bringing her home she was clearly struggling to breathe, one of her eyes remained half closed and she was very lethargic, we feared for her life and rushed her to the vet with a fecal sample. She weighed 1 lb, 9 oz, tested positive for roundworms, still potbellied and with dark brown discharge in her ear. Vet said she had a severe upper respiratory infection and gave her a subcutaneous injection of Naxcel 0.5 ml plus gave me Clavamox to administer 0.5 ml twice daily. I received Terramycin to apply to affected eye up to 4 times daily "until resolution". I was also given cans of wet Science Diet Urgent Care a/d to help with her being underweight. Dahlia also received 1/2 a Drontal tab with instructions to return for another dose in 3 weeks. She suspects Dahlia has the herpes virus and that it caused the URI.
The very next day Dahlia's activity level returned to normal but she still had trouble breathing.
Less than a week later I brought her back to the vet at 11 weeks due to my concern over her breathing not improving at all. I informed the vet that she did develop diarrhea which we both suspected was due to the antibiotics. She weighed 1 lb, 10 oz and received another 0.5 ml subcutaneous injection of Naxcel and I was instructed to continue the Clavamox until completion and continue giving the Terramycin. They also gave me more cans of the Science Diet a/d since she liked it and was eating it well at home (I mix it with kitten kibble at home). I was instructed to bring her back in for a re-check once she finished the Clavamox.
That brings us to today. She's had Clavamox for 10 days with absolutely no improvement in her breathing. However she does have a good appetite and her energy level has greatly improved. In the last week, while on the Clavamox, I have also been mixing in some vitamins (feline Missing Link), probiotics and l-lysine into her food to help her out. My husband doesn't think the Clavamox is doing anything and suggested I stop after 10 days. I did stop the Clavamox after day 10 and the bottle is almost empty so I suspect there was only maybe a day left anyway. I am hoping the soft stool will improve before I take her back into the vet tomorrow. I weighed her yesterday and she was 1 lb, 12 oz.
My concerns though are that her breathing has not improved at all and not only does she still keep her one eye closed more than the other but her third eyelid started showing in that eye a bit for the last 2 days. The third eyelid is less visible since it started though.
I read online that URI's can take 20 days to resolve themselves so I'm wondering if maybe anyone thinks perhaps the breathing thing will take that long to resolve or if maybe it sounds like it could be something else and I need to ask the vet to expand her search criteria so to speak? My husband and I are also both concerned about her eye still not being normal after so long. Yesterday I skipped the morning dose of Terramycin since her eye was fully open and third eyelid was hardly visibly but by evening she has back to her eye being half open. I am so frustrated with the lack of progress or answers. I wanted to see if I could get some feedback here before we go back to the vet tomorrow. I just really don't want to put her on more medication especially if it is 'normal' for a cat with herpes and/or a URI to display these symptoms for this long.
ANYTHING would be helpful to me right now...even if only some words of encouragement.
I'll try to add some pictures of the poor girl too.
