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Cat Forum / Cat Anecdotes / August 2005Getting a former feral to the vet - long
Early summer, Bonnie started doing something weird with her nose. Snorty, hyperventilating, half-sneezy, sort of trying to blow something out her nose. She was also coughing, and that was right around the time someone posted a link to a video of a cat having an asthma attack. It almost looked like that, but not quite. Her yearly appt came when it started and TED didn't hear - see - feel anything was really all that wrong. She even did an xray that didn't show anything at all. Now, the nose thing continues even though the coughing has mostly stopped, and I decided it was time to bring her back in before the house gets dry from heat, and things get worse. Not an easy task with a former feral. She always knows when she's going to vet somehow. Or just knows something's up. I had a plan, and a contingency plan for catching her. The usual "catch her in the bathroom and shut the door fast, with the carrier hidden in the tub" plan didn't work. Plan B. Closed my bedroom door so she couldn't hide under the bed. Cut off all access to behind the couch downstairs, shut all the doors except the easy rooms to catch her in - bathroom, room with the litterboxes, kitten room upstairs. She ran downstairs as was the plan. Ran behind stuffed chair - no problem, pulled it out from the wall but she's wily enough to have me chasing her around it. She tried to go behind the couch, found the way blocked, then surprised me by jumping ON the couch (it's a sectional in a corner) and jumped down the "hole" in the corner and got behind the couch any way. *sigh* So I was forced to pull that out from the wall, got her to leave behind there on her own. Back to the chair merry go round. Oi. By this time I'm stressed, she's stressed. I had a blanket ready trying to throw it on her to catch her, didn't work AT ALL. Got her in the litter box room, shut the door, picked her up from the corner she was crouching in (she freezes when you actually catch her). Carried her to carrier, put her in, QUICK tried to shut door, she escaped. Fast cat. Chase starts up again. I had tried to block the corner "hole" to the back of the sectional, but she worked her way around that, back in the hiding spot. I tried to reach down to the floor, but she has her claws dug in the carpet and somehow makes herself weigh 100 pounds. Pull couch out again and chase her out from back there. Caught her under the desk, carry her to carrier, try to shut door again but AGAIN she's faster than me. By this time we're both really stressed and both really ticked off. Her eyes are big as saucers. Then as luck would have it she runs into the only room I know I can get her - the bathroom. She jumps in the tub, jumps up to the window sill about 5' up, I go in bathroom and shut door. I talk softly to her but know she isn't hearing me. She's terrified of me by now. I reach up and hold her around her middle to lift her down to me, she has her claws dug into the window sill, the track of the sliding window, and isn't budging. I had to pull hard to get her loose. She's worn out by now, as am I. I put her in the carrier, closed it (yay), covered it, and off to the vet we went.(I was soaked in sweat by now, adrenaline flowing) The vet couldn't find anything wrong with her. She was expecting to find a crusty nose, or maybe a fever, but Bonnie didn't have either. I told TED that Bonnie licks her nose constantly so she's licking off the sno ..errr, mucous before it dries. Told her that she shakes her head quite a bit, and if she's close to me I get liquid flung on me, but couldn't tell if it was drool or from her nose. Judging by the way she snuffles and makes that nose noise, I presumed it was snot. Vet says breathing is fine, heart is fine, looks in ears and nose, doesn't see anything. Air is flowing freely through her nose, no fever. She's probably wondering why I went through all that to bring in what she sees is a healthy cat. *sigh again* But, she knows that I care deeply for my cats and if I say something is wrong, something is wrong. So she said we'll try antibiotics (and this vet doesn't hand these out like candy) and try an antihistamine. I said, can we do once-daily antibiotics because I just can't medicate this cat, and mornings are not the time for this kind of chase. Vet and tech laugh and say, no we're giving you the 3x per day kind. They were kidding, I hoped, no.. they were! LOL So I have to give her ABs for the next week. Vet gave first dose today (bless her!) and gave her an injectable antihistamine. I asked if they could clip her claws because I just can't do that myself to her. She said several of her claws were mangled and I felt so bad because it had to be from the struggle this morning. *sigh yet again* but the clipping evened them out. Vet didn't even charge me for the clipping this time and she usually charges $15 for this (I get that done for all my cats at their appts because it saves me stress doing it myself, and she clips so short they're good for a while) I'm happy to say that Bonnie seems to have almost completely forgiven me for this morning, as long as I don't seem like I'm going to pick her up. She's come to me for petting quite a bit tonight. I sort of wonder if she wants forgiveness for her behavior this morning as much as I want forgiveness for scaring her so badly. Like she wants to make sure I still love her.  SignatureCheryl "The clever cat eats cheese and breathes down rat holes with baited breath." - W.C. Fields > Early summer, Bonnie started doing something weird with her nose. Snorty, > hyperventilating, half-sneezy, sort of trying to blow something out her [quoted text clipped - 77 lines] > forgiveness for scaring her so badly. Like she wants to make sure I still > love her. Sometimes it's hell being a meowmie! MLB Man, I got frustrated and exhausted just reading that!! Hope the sneezingish stuff stops soon. > Man, I got frustrated and exhausted just reading that!! Hope the > sneezingish stuff stops soon. She had herpes symptoms when she was first trapped and spayed, but this isn't anything like that. I was worried about either asthma, or something in her nose. That pic of "guynoir" orange cat and the polyp that was removed scared me. He said the only symptom was a runny nose. I wonder how they find a polyp in the nose? Vet didn't see anything, and she checked both her nose and her ears. Karen, I swear, it's like there's something up her nose. The sound she makes when she snorts scares everyone. They act like she's hissing at them. SignatureCheryl "The clever cat eats cheese and breathes down rat holes with baited breath." - W.C. Fields >> Man, I got frustrated and exhausted just reading that!! Hope the >> sneezingish stuff stops soon. [quoted text clipped - 7 lines] > it's like there's something up her nose. The sound she makes when she > snorts scares everyone. They act like she's hissing at them. Hmmm, maybe there *is* something up her nose. This isn't a cat story, but when our niece Sam was about 5 years old, she started having a really runny nose all the time. Her mom thought it was a cold but then it went on and on and on. She went to all sorts of doctors but nobody could tell what the problem was. Finally, one doctor was looking up her nose and thought he could see just the tiniest bit of something. So he reached way up there with some kind of long tweezer and pulled out a long strip of carpet padding! Turns out Sam had stuck it up her nose and accidentally inhaled it too far, but was afraid to tell anyone because she thought she'd get in trouble! In the meantime, her tissue had started to grow around it and it was all nasty and infected. She's 14 and fine now :-) -- Britta "There is no snooze button on a cat who wants breakfast." -- Unknown Check out pictures of Vino at: http://photos.yahoo.com/badwilson click on the Vino album > Hmmm, maybe there *is* something up her nose. > This isn't a cat story, but when our niece Sam was about 5 years [quoted text clipped - 9 lines] > meantime, her tissue had started to grow around it and it was > all nasty and infected. She's 14 and fine now :-) I'm glad your neice is fine now! Wow, that's scary! The problem with a feral, or former feral cat, is taking them repeatedly to the vet. I want TED to do everything when I get her there. TED sees nothing wrong. I've already had to bring Bonnie back after her appt in June, and she had symptoms then. I felt like screaming out -- xray her head. LOL Sonogram her! ACK! Something's wrong. Can I tell a vet to sonogram my cat? How exactly is a tumor or a polyp found in a nasal cavity? I just don't know. Vet knows I'm worried but doesn't find anything. SignatureCheryl "The clever cat eats cheese and breathes down rat holes with baited breath." - W.C. Fields > Something's wrong. Can I > tell a vet to sonogram my cat? I don't really know why not. Usually, we are right when we suspect something. If you have a video mode on your digital camera, try filming her in one of those sneezy episodes if possible. Might help anyway. >> Something's wrong. Can I >> tell a vet to sonogram my cat? [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] > camera, try filming her in one of those sneezy episodes if > possible. Might help anyway. Thanks Karen. I'll try to film it. SignatureCheryl "The clever cat eats cheese and breathes down rat holes with baited breath." - W.C. Fields >> Something's wrong. Can I >> tell a vet to sonogram my cat? > > I don't really know why not. Usually, we are right when we suspect > something. I don't see why not either. There are *some* vets that like to be right always, and never want the client to question their decision. I always feel this is an ego thing and I have no time for it. There is one vet at my surgery that I will not see because of this. IMO it's very important that your vet should be empathetic towards the owner too, after all we wouldn't be throwing away the sort of money it costs for a consultation/treatment if we didn't think something was wrong, would we? My vet says he always trusts the owners, even if he initially cannot find anything wrong as he says they know their pet and he doesn't. >If you have a video mode on your digital camera, try filming her > in one of those sneezy episodes if possible. Might help anyway. That's a great idea. Tweed > >> Something's wrong. Can I > >> tell a vet to sonogram my cat? [quoted text clipped - 8 lines] > this is an ego thing and I have no time for it. There is one vet at my > surgery that I will not see because of this. A responsible clinician for patients of two or four legs does have final responsibility, but it's incumbent to explain why he or she is rejecting some proposal. Let me take an example from human medicine. The Helsinki Declaration on Human Rights of 1952 was a reaction to the Nazi medical atrocities, and includes the provision that the volunteer, or their surrogate, is entitled to get information about the proposed procedure in language they reasonably can be expected to understand. That usually means that the technical language is simplified, but I am currently working with some bioethicists at a group of major research centers about the other alternative: what if the patient is medically qualified and wants more detail than the informed consent form contains? For each type of imaging, ranging from X-ray to ultrasound to nuclear scan to CT to SPECT to MRI to PET (well, you get the idea) has advantages and disadvantages. Ultrasound, for example, is cheap and fast, and gives no radiation hazard. It's better than X-ray for imaging soft tissue and fluid. X-ray, however, will be more appropriate for looking at bone, and certain things such as the position of the heart, etc. While MRI is superb for many things, it is expensive and too slow for the emergency situation -- although the cost is going down and the speed is improving. My usual question is "what is your differential diagnosis at this point", which is the way the clinician will organize their diagnostic workup anyway. Some types of ultrasound are moving into advanced life support ambulances, but, for other situations, you may want to get the patient to drink as much as possible (or give IVs) to get the best visualization of the bladder (while full). So it's one thing if the vet says "no, an ultrasound won't give more information at this point", but says that it will be appropriate later, or that other tests are more urgent. Contrary to common belief, for example, it is rarely possible to diagnose many human heart attacks with a single test. Certain severe attacks may not cause any change in the electrocardiogram. There is a need to rule out other conditions that could easily kill quickly, so evaluating acute chest pain properly involves a number of tests -- and, in the final analysis, the experience and intuition of the clinician -- and also the patient. When I first had heart problems, a reasonable set of tests were negative -- but I could describe to my internist what was going on, in terms that he recognized could not be ignored. > IMO it's very important that your vet should be empathetic towards the > owner [quoted text clipped - 10 lines] > > Tweed >>> Man, I got frustrated and exhausted just reading that!! Hope the >>> sneezingish stuff stops soon. [quoted text clipped - 26 lines] > out pictures of Vino at: > http://photos.yahoo.com/badwilson click on the Vino album Or, perhaps, a small bug of some kind crawled in MLB >> Man, I got frustrated and exhausted just reading that!! Hope the >> sneezingish stuff stops soon. [quoted text clipped - 7 lines] > it's like there's something up her nose. The sound she makes when she > snorts scares everyone. They act like she's hissing at them. I imagine they would need to do a scope. Poor baby. If the meds don't work, you could see if they have ever done such a scope. I mean, there must be something. > Early summer, Bonnie started doing something weird with her nose. > Snorty, hyperventilating, half-sneezy, sort of trying to blow > something out her nose. Frank has done this nearly all his life. He's had countless courses of ABs (until I said, stop, no more), he's had his head x-rayed (for other reasons, but I think they would have spotted if there was something in his nose). It doesn't seem to bother him very much, and he's nearly 18 now, so it can't be too dangerous. I myself have a runny nose on most mornings. I've had allergy tests and doctors looking up my nose. Nothing. Purrs that it proves as harmless for Bonnie. But I know how annoying and sometimes worrying it is to not know what causes it. SignatureMarina, Frank, Miranda and Caliban. In loving memory of Nikki. marina (dot) kurten (at) iki (dot) fi Pics at http://uk.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/frankiennikki/ and http://community.webshots.com/user/frankiennikki >I'm happy to say that Bonnie seems to have almost completely >forgiven me for this morning, as long as I don't seem like I'm >going to pick her up. She's come to me for petting quite a bit >tonight. I sort of wonder if she wants forgiveness for her >behavior this morning as much as I want forgiveness for scaring >her so badly. Like she wants to make sure I still love her. Bonnie is so sweet and so clever! What a mystery about her blowing her nose. Betty doesn't have Bonnie's survival and escape instincts, but she also freezes when caught. It must be some kind of rule. >Early summer, Bonnie started doing something weird with her nose. >Snorty, hyperventilating, half-sneezy, sort of trying to blow [quoted text clipped - 87 lines] >behavior this morning as much as I want forgiveness for scaring >her so badly. Like she wants to make sure I still love her. Wow, what an ordeal! Poor Bonnie and poor *you*! Glad to know it appears nothing was wrong. I've done the same thing, and taken cats in because they were snorty/sniffling/snot-slinging, and they usually just say it's one of those cat cold/viral things they sometimes get. Brando (my former feral) was the last with this, and he was put on antibiotics, just in case (although I am immeasurably lucky that he has no problem getting tossed into a carrier, thank heavens!). Purrs that Bonnie feels better and your nerves recover ;-) Ginger-lyn Home Pages: http://www.spiritrealm.com/summer/ http://www.angelfire.com/folk/glsummer (homepage & cats) http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~summer/index.htm (genealogy) http://www.movieanimals.bravehost.com/ (The Violence Against Animals in Movies Website) Cheryl, are there a lot of pigeons in the area that Bonnie came from? There is a fungal type infection (cryptospirosis I think it's called) that can cause symptoms like you have described. I tried to get Domino to the vets last Saturday (long story short - he had 2 abscesses on his face that had burst and he looked like he'd been hit by a car) and the little furball escaped - he broke the locked catflap. The vet gave me some antibiotics for him anyway and I had a worrying day until Domino felt I had suffered enough for the indignity of me trying to get him in a carrier and came home at 9.30pm that evening. The antibiotics went down well as long as they were accompanied by Tuna :-) He seems fully recovered now. SignatureShirley http://community.webshots.com/user/shirleycatuk > Early summer, Bonnie started doing something weird with her nose. > Snorty, hyperventilating, half-sneezy, sort of trying to blow [quoted text clipped - 87 lines] > behavior this morning as much as I want forgiveness for scaring > her so badly. Like she wants to make sure I still love her. Cryptococcus is the name I was trying to remember. Here's a link http://www.mesavet.com/library/cn.htm SignatureShirley http://community.webshots.com/user/shirleycatuk On Sat 27 Aug 2005 05:26:59p, Shirley wrote in rec.pets.cats.anecdotes (news:DU4Qe.10257$x4.8178@newsfe3- gui.ntli.net): > Cryptococcus is the name I was trying to remember. > > Here's a link > > http://www.mesavet.com/library/cn.htm Now, that is familiar. Thank you. I remember someone in H+B years ago with a cat who was infected with that. I remember it took a long time for the titers to go down. Bonnie isn't lethargic at all, and her appetite is mostly fine, though on the day I made the appt it seemed like she was having a hard time smelling her food. I will keep this info and follow up if the antihistamines and ABs don't seem to help. So far today since I've been home most of the day, I haven't heard her making the nose noise. She may be drying out! :) Thanks again for the info! SignatureCheryl "The clever cat eats cheese and breathes down rat holes with baited breath." - W.C. Fields > On Sat 27 Aug 2005 05:26:59p, Shirley wrote in > rec.pets.cats.anecdotes (news:DU4Qe.10257$x4.8178@newsfe3- [quoted text clipped - 16 lines] > > Thanks again for the info! The only symptoms my friends cat had were a snotty nose + lots of sneezing that would seem to clear up with a course of antibiotics only to return a couple of weeks later. The cat made a full recovery but she was on medication for months. Purrs for Bonnie to be fit and well asap. SignatureShirley http://community.webshots.com/user/shirleycatuk You are such a good meowmie for Bonnie. Lots of best wishes and purrs that the antibiotics and the antihistamine works really well, SignaturePolonca & Soncek > Early summer, Bonnie started doing something weird with her nose. <snip>But, she knows that I care deeply for > my cats and if I say something is wrong, something is wrong. So > she said we'll try antibiotics (and this vet doesn't hand these [quoted text clipped - 20 lines] > behavior this morning as much as I want forgiveness for scaring > her so badly. Like she wants to make sure I still love her. |
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