My KatyKitty is having health problems now....

missy&spikesmom

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She is 10 months old and was a feral kitten I found, at the old grainmill, where I feed a colony of feral cats. She got an ear infection in AUGUST and has been almost constantly on one antibiotic, or another, since then. She has NOT cleared up! I had them do a culture on the ears and they did culture, for gram negative cocci. It showed too, that Zenaquin or Clindamycin were the best antibiotics to use. Well.....she'd already been on Zenaquin for 28 days, prior to that! So, they gave me Clindamycin. Well, she's been on that for 18 days now, and is STILL not better! So, I called the Vet and told him we HAVE to do something, but, my big question is, does he think, that even though she was tested negative for Feline Leukemia, does he think she might actually be positive? OR, how about FIV?? Well, he said she could be tested for both. I am cringing, about the continueing costs, as I have put SO much $$$ into her already, with all the Vet visits and she's STILL not well! She is just the most darling little thing! Just so full of fun and mischief and loves her Mommy (ME!
) I bottle fed her, when I found her, and so she DOES think I am her Mum!
They are taking her in for a few days starting Monday, to observe her and to flush her ears out, under anesthesia and possibly FINALLY figure out what is wrong with my little furbaby.
I just want her to feel good. That is not too much to ask, with how short her time on earth has been, so far! I had to put my Spikey to sleep, just a little over a year ago. Spikey was Katy's "Uncle"...
(though she never met him!) So any kind or positive thoughts are so, so welcomed! THANKS!
 

pat

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She sounds just precious, I will keep her in my thoughts and prayers, and hope you get the answers you need with this next visit.
 

huggles

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awwwwww she certainly does sound simply precious
I am sending lots of thoughts your way from across the ocean and hope that you can find the answers you both need - poor little thing, be brave sweetheart


please keep us updated
 

sanctie

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Poor precious baby. My thoughts are with her! I'll be sparing some for her stressed out mommy too! Big hugs to you both!
 

sharky

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sending healing vibes... stupid question what is kitty eating?? I ask cause my dog has/had masssive ear infections and we are now controling them thru diet..
 
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missy&spikesmom

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I have her eating Dry Hill's Science Diet and sometimes the "A/D" canned catfood... She does have a pretty good appetite, and yes, I have used a natural earwash called Halo's Natural Herbal Earwash. She DID have a lot of earmites, when I found her and it took so long to get them cleared up. The Vet Tech I spoke with, said that maybe she has a lot of debris in the ear canal and the earflush will get that out. She said that the debris can cause irritation and can set it up then, for ear infections. Have any of you ever heard that before??? Anyway, if there are some more natural ways I can help this, I would DEFINITELY be open to those suggestions. I just want my KatyKitty to feel better. She is eating, and drinking and doing her "business" in the litter box. But, she is NOT as active, as she was, prior to these on-going ear infections. She scratches at her ears so much, shakes her head, and really doesn't want me to touch her ears much(which, if they ARE hurting, I certainly understand why!)
Thanks SO much, for your replies!
Here is Katy a few months ago:
 

sharky

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Science diet dry food is far from a "quality" food IMHO .... read the label then read anything at the grocery store... they will be simliar ... corn wheat soy are often allergic or yeast infection agents in sensitive cats...

Natural balences venison and pea might be a good one to try... If you can find it Califonia natural is great as is felideas chn and rice...

Nutro natural choice might work as it has no wheat soy or grd corn
 
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missy&spikesmom

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So, are you thinking that the ear infections might be allergy related? I know he did give her several shots of antihystamine since August and it did nothing to relieve her symptoms. But, you know what? I was just reading some links I found here, on natural homemade catfood and am seriously thinking of doing this, just for the peace of mind, knowing EXACTLY what my cats REALLY are eating! Thank so much for your info!
 

stephanietx

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The kitty that we adopted in November had terrible ear mites, but were quickly cleared up with a treatment of Revolution. Then, we had to deal with the debris. Ick! They did a good cleaning in December when I took her in for a re-check, but there was still a lot of debris down deep where they couldn't reach while she was awake. When I took her to be spayed in January, they flushed her ears out while she was under and she's had beautiful ears ever since!

My 9 year old cat has always had ear issues. When she was younger, she had ear mites, but we got them taken care of quickly. She still produces a lot of ear wax. The vet told me that if your kitty has a lot of debris or earwax, yeast can grow which leads to chronic infections. When I took her for her physical, they did a good cleaning on her and put some kind of goop in her ears (which she detested!) that cleared up any yeast in her ears. She scratched her ears for a few days and walked around with her ears down for a few days, but I must say that her ears look better than they've looked in a long time and she's not been scratching them much. You might ask your vet about the external treatment.

Stephanie
 
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missy&spikesmom

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Thanks for all the kind reply posts! Katy is up at the Vet's tonight, for "Observation". She will be going in for an ear flushing, under anesthesia at 7:30am. They said they would expect to find quite a bit of debris and that, itself, can cause repeat ear infections... I am hoping she does like poster; stephanietx and shows a BIG improvement. I hope she doesn't continue on like this, as I KNOW she is just miserable! Also, IF they do not find debris, I asked them to test her for Feline Leukemia (again) and FIV, since she is NOT responding to antibiotics (for months, on end...) I am hoping this is not what has to be done, and that the debris will be cleaned out and her ears are taken care of, for good!!!!!!
--Oh and my poor little Katy, she was just SO scared, as I was leaving her there!!!

Here's a picture of her, a few months ago. She is 10 months old now.
YEP...HANG IN THERE, KATYKITTY!!!!!!
 

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Not that this will be any consolation, but Twitch spent over a year(maybe two) on a wide variety of antibiotics trying to clear up her dental issues.

Now, this might be of a little interest to you. Gabriel, one of the cats we surrendered to the Humane Society, has had what I call bad ears from they day he was born. He got treated for ear mites as soon as we could treat him(maybe at 2 months?). He is now 11 months old. When I am at the HS, I got out a couple of Q-Tips & cleaned his ears. When rubbed, they made a squelching(there is no other way to describe it) noise. He doesn't have an ear infection. His ears simply do not drain properly. They need to be cleaned daily. There are two volunteers that clean his ears: me & Shari. That way, his ears get cleaned daily.

Does KatyKitty's ear make noises like there is something wet in there when you rub them? Do they stink?

I hope she gets better & that all the tests come back negative! She is really pretty, BTW. I am very curious about what it could be. Anything I can learn from you could be very beneficial to Gabriel. I am keeping my fingers crossed!
 
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missy&spikesmom

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Well, they flushed her ears out and they gave her a shot of Benedryl (antihistamine) as they said she did have some irritation there, but NO infection, as far as they could see... That SOUNDS good, but, they told me that a month ago. I still insisted there was something wrong and made them do a culture and sensitivity to be sent away(--$86 to get that done--and it returned positive for Gram Negative Coccii in her ears!!!
) So, I was NOT sorry I made them do this. I am finishing off her Clindamycin and when that is all gone, if she is still not, what I think, is in good shape, I am going to take her to another Vet! I have been working with her ears since August and the poor little thing has been on SO many antibiotics since then. Her poor little tummy, etc, as so often, there ARE side effects they have to deal with, when on antibiotics!

I actually have not heard that "squishy sound" in her ears, other than when I was having to put drops or large doses of ointment into her little ears. But, will check soon, to see. Her ears just seem so sensitive still, and am sort of reluctant yet, to push around on them! Poster; whitekittylover: --Did they tell you that Gabriel has a yeast infection in his ears?? My little white kitty, Missy has gotten them, as she too has a large amount of earwax a lot of times.... They gave me an ointment to get rid of it, and the vet said to keep her ears really clean.
Thanks to you all, for all your kind words!
 

sharky

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Poor Missy

I am so glad you asked for that extra test
 

rblaude

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I'm not familiar with all the medicine names to recognize if one of them was an oral antibiotic. We're just getting Spirit over a nasty case of ear mites/ear infection/upper respiratory virus. Poor thing even lost an eardrum while he was ill.

We're doing ear drops for 14 days and an oral antibiotic, liquid form, for 10 days. The vet explained that if you don't do the oral antibiotic at the same time, when kitty swallows bad stuff gets pushed back up in the ear tubes or whatever, just re-creating the infection. IF you aren't already doing that (and it sounds like your vet is thorough), maybe that would help???

And she is just adorable!!!!
 

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As Gabriel is at the Humane Society, they have a hard time getting him to the vet. It's stupid, but I can't do much. His ears smell funny if they don't get cleaned daily. The assumption is that he gets excess build-up. Maybe in a week or two someone will take him to the vet, but there are higher priority cats & dogs right now(it sounds awful, but we almost lost one cat last night).
 
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