We were so excited @ the birth of what we thought was our final litter
as breeders, & I was delighted when Blue~Belle had four wonderful
little white mice. She had an easy birth & all was well(2nd Feb 07).
Shortly after then, Lilly became very ill, & had to be taken to the
clinic on the spot, where she was diagnosed with Pyometra..which was a
tale in itself. As I posted at the time, I thought that it was
possible that Lilly has cat flu, but when I asked my vet@ that time,
she assured me that it couldn't be, because all of our cats were
vaccinated against Flu....
It was not until we got Lilly out of the first surgery & in to the
second surgery, that I got someone willing to me..The new vet took a
full panel of bloods & did a few other tests & confirmed that we did
indeed have a rampant case of mutant flu.5 other cases had been
diagnosed recently in our local are, & out of those 5, only 2cats had
made it through to the other side, &Are still with us to tell the
tale.

This would explain some of the drooling that Lilly was suffering & the
bacterial infection that she contracted after catching flu.
Lilly had a strain of calicivirus which lead to Pneumonia in her
instance.
Once we got her home, I isolated her because I knew in my gut that we
were fighting more than Pyometra here, because Biffy, her ex mate also
started sniffling whilst she was @ the clinic, then the green/yellow
eye secretions started, high temperature and bubbling nose too. I
asked the vet to look at him too, & she did. He was injected with
amoxi & given oral Marobycil @10mg daily . I was also supplied with
spare courses of antibiotics to treat any further cats that contracted
the flu too.
Lilly suffered the worst case, then Biffy was a very close second,
Tazy got the next dose but didn't seem over distressed by it, then
Belle(mummy) got it too. She didn;'t seem to be suffering too much
with it, but I was advised to give her the Marobycil@ 10mg daily to
help out if the kittens contracted it.
Both Lucy(fur!) & Ringo don't seem affected at all, Tiggy didn't
suffer from it at all either.
As soon as Lilly did get home, I isolated her from all of the other
cats, then started isolating the other cats from each other too. It
would seem that it was like shutting the gate after the horse has
bolted though. The incubation period was well over, & I think that
both mother & kittens were exposed to the flue well before Lilly even
went into the clinic.
Despite isolating them all, & trying to observe clinical cleanliness,
it made no difference at all.
As soon as they started displaying symptoms, & we tried to treat
them, it was looking trying to hold back an enormous tidal wave...It
was impossible..all of the kittens were showing upper respiritory
congestion, one after another, hour by hour...I tried to kid myself
that we might be able to save a few of them, but in reality, it was a
lost cause.
At two weeks old, we were just getting to know who was who & love them
for whom they were too. To watch them race downhill so fast was like
watching the light in their little souls wink out..terrible to observe
& a crying shame to all who were touched by their lives. They were
wonderful babes & loved beyond measure.
Their Poor mother is devastated as we are, but there is nothing I can
do to lessen her grief:o(
We are obviously devastated too, & I can tell you the sorrow that we
feel right now..guilt included for not realising sooner too...
The only consolation to this sad story is that we have still got all
of our adult cats, but it doesn't damped the heat of that loss...only
time will help that one.....
My only other consolation is that now that they have crossed the
Rainbow Bridge, that they suffer no longer & will be with Jasper, who
crossed it last November. He will guide them all to the place where
there is plenty & purrs of peace that envelope them all.
Good Bye Cornelius Fudge, White eye, Nose Blaze, Mittzi the mitted
too, we loved you all & wish you purrs of affection in your new home.
Sheelagh
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Haemorrhagic fever and high mortality associated with feline
calicivirus (FCV) infection

Feline calicivirus (FCV) is one of the cat flu viruses which most
commonly causes signs of upper respiratory tract

disease such as sneezing, nasal discharge, mouth ulceration and
conjunctivitis. Several outbreaks of severe disease associated with
FCV have recently been reported in the USA. In these outbreaks,
swelling of the head and paws was noted as well as other signs
including flu signs, jaundice and bleeding from the nose and the
bowel. Up to half of the affected cats died as a result of this
infection which was caused by a particularly severe strain of FCV.
Both adult cats and kittens were affected by this infection and many
of the cats were vaccinated for FCV suggesting that the vaccines for
this disease are not completely protective for this strain. So far, no
confirmed reports of similar outbreaks have been seen outside the USA
although one unconfirmed report suggested that this strain may also
exist in the UK.

The Veterinary Record, August 2002
did indeed have a rampant case of mutant