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Cat Forum / Health and Behavior / November 2004For Those Who Think Vaccinations Aren't Important
We've all gotten a beautiful little kitten that just steals your heart away and we vow to take good care of him. He looks healthy and, despite all the veterinary press about vaccinations, some of us think "My kitten is staying indoors... nothing can hurt him or infect him. He'll be safe." WRONG! Our 12 week old kitten sleeps lethargically on a soft towel in a chair with high fever, no appetite, no will to even open his eyes. The purr he always had whenever he was picked up and cuddled is gone. The vet says "Could be infection but could be panleukopenia". I call up the person we got the kitten from only to find out that the kitten was not vaccinated at all and neither was his mother. We intended to vaccinate him but got busy with so many other things. The Vet says "Give him these antibiotics, give him subcu fluids, and watch him....if he gets much worse, bring him back and we'll either launch him on an intensive round of supportive measures (if you can afford them) ...they will cost somewhere in the high hundreds.... or we can humanely euthanize him". The fatality rate in kittens under 16 weeks with Panleukopenia is 75%. To those who love their new cat or kitten....PLEASE, don't think this can't happen to you...please don't think that vaccinations are an un-necessary precaution or an overeaction on the part of Vets that like to push for them in the very unlikely event that your cat may catch something Don't think that your kitten will have no opportunity to be exposed to anything. Don't be like us and learn the hard way. Susan ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I can only please one person each day. Today is not your day. Tomorrow isn't looking good either. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ > We've all gotten a beautiful little kitten that just steals your heart > away and we vow to take good care of him. [quoted text clipped - 26 lines] > > Susan Susan, I've been through this many, many times. Follow this *closely*: If his plasma protein falls < 4 g/dL or if his total WBC counts fall < 2000 cells/dL *immediately* -- *immediately* order *whole blood* transfusions - preferably from an *adult* cat. It's also *imperative* to maintain electrolyte balance and keep him nourished - even if it means feeding him intravenously . Electrolyte replacement and intravenous nutrient support usually makes the difference between life and death. Keep the faith. Phil >> We've all gotten a beautiful little kitten that just steals your heart >> away and we vow to take good care of him. [quoted text clipped - 41 lines] > >Phil Thank you for the sound advice, Phil. :-) He had 35 CC of subcu Saline last night plus his anitbiotic drops and, this morning, he drank a fair bit from his water dish....I'm taking that as a good sign. He slept on our bed last night and got lots of TLC. I appreciate your input, Phil. Susan ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I can only please one person each day. Today is not your day. Tomorrow isn't looking good either. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ > >Susan, > > [quoted text clipped - 20 lines] > > Susan If you can get him through the first few days (5-7) with fluids and electrolytes, and nutritional support, he'll start producing neutralizing antibodies in about 4 days that will begin to shut down the infection. If you can get him past this crucial stage, he should have an uncomplicated recovery. Don't stop the antibiotics - even if he seems to improve. His WBC count will still be low which will leave him susceptible to secondary infections. Good luck. Phil >> >Susan, >> > [quoted text clipped - 34 lines] > >Phil You're so kind to share this info with me, Phil....thank you! Tomorrow, he gets a test for Parvo (which should also pick up whether it's Panleukopenia). He'll also be tested for a blood infection and have a full blood panel done. If it's Panleuk, he gets whatever supportive care he needs to survive it. If it's blood infection, he gets strong antibiotics to help him get over it. I'm pulling out all the stops on this little guy. I've had many cats in my life, but none as loving as this little one....he deserves anything that I or the medical professionals can do for him. One question....you seem to know quite a bit about feline health. Does he stand a better chance at life if he is supported in hospital or at home where he can be loved and reassured??? Just wondering because it seems to me that the will to live plays an important role in this. Susan ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I can only please one person each day. Today is not your day. Tomorrow isn't looking good either. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ > >> Thank you for the sound advice, Phil. :-) > >> He had 35 CC of subcu Saline last night plus [quoted text clipped - 35 lines] > > Susan If he has panleukopenia, he'd stand a better chance in the hospital. FP kittens can quickly make a turn for the worse, so immediate intensive care is essential. I'm not quite sure what you mean by "blood infection". Bacteremia? Haemobartonella felis? Phil >> >> Thank you for the sound advice, Phil. :-) >> >> He had 35 CC of subcu Saline last night plus [quoted text clipped - 45 lines] > >Phil I think the Vet meant Bacteremia. As it happens, this morning, for the first time in days, the kitten drank a bit of water, managed to use the litter box, and purred when he was picked up. I consulted with the Vet who suggested I keep feeding him through an eyedropper, hydrating him with Saline, keep him on the antibiotic drops, and monitor his progress. She said if it was FP, he'd only get worse. We're taking him in to the Vet to get more Subcu fluids this afternoon. I have the equipment and Saline here but the needle I have is larger and only for adult cats, not a young kitten. Thank again, Phil, for caring. :-) Susan (Heather) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I can only please one person each day. Today is not your day. Tomorrow isn't looking good either. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ # # # ##### #1 - Executive summary #2 - Brain admits he screws [SBI] around all the time #3 - His internal and external business activities #4 - The SYBASE-MODE source code transfers #5 - Why the source isn't PD even though he's labelled it PD. #6 - InterNic Registry Information for XXX.com and XXXX.com #7 - One days WWW traffic snapshot from his personal WS poison. #8 - A Day in the Life: a full days traffic, excluding tons of XXX-support email #9 - Misc traffic # # # # # ## ####### # # # # # Executive summary ####### # # # # # # ##### These are the activities of Bob Brain that are forbidden: o Transmitted out a source extensively maintained at SBI expense. It is "productivity enhancing" software "SYBASE-MODE" lisp/emacs for production use by Sybase SAs. o Gave away these enhancements by labelling them Public Domain [PD], and mailing into competitors such as Merrill Lynch. o Has spent a LARGE amount of SBI time (inside SBI) working on his own WWW business. Still actively does this. o Transmitted a copyrighted script. # This script is a commercial product. Giving or selling it to anyone # is not permitted under any circumstances. o Spends time as "helpdesk" for his distribution of SYBASE-MODE. Furthermore, he has This is a forged message. I forwarded it to my ISP for tracing. Phil > # # # ##### > [quoted text clipped - 36 lines] > > Furthermore, he has >I call up the person we got the kitten from only to find out that the >kitten was not vaccinated at all and neither was his mother. Sounds like he got it from his mother. Vaccination after exposure wouldn't have helped him. I'm sorry you have to go through this. When I adopt out cats I vaccinate, spay/neuter, microchip, get them checked out and tested at vet, make sure they have no behavioral problems... I just don't want one having problems or coming back. That's why I charge an adoption fee, to try and cover some of my costs. An adoption fee which includes these things saves the adopter a lot of money, and heart break.
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