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very sick cat - advice please

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ClareB - 21 Feb 2008 23:47 GMT
I've found this NG in the hope someone has come across this problem
and may be able to help.

Before I start I have to explain that the cat in question has had
medical treatment, including an hour in an oxygen tent and an
overnight stay in the vet clinic. she is now on steriod treament, but
the vet does not know what is wrong with her and has basically sent
her home to 'see what happens"

Tiddles is approx 2 years old and she adopted my SO on a building
site
and came home with him. Unfortunaely it has just started to manifest
that she has 'passengers' and is around halfway through a pregnancy.
On tuesday I saw her playing with something then eating it - she
catches at least one mouse a day and eats the lot - even the guts-
everything. she did'nt come in for supper and SO found her making
'funny noises' in the Garage. I looked at her and her face was
swollen
and she had brownish frothy mucous and very pale gums. She was also
hypothermic -her temperature was 36 and it should be around 38. Wed.
morning she was no better and I thought she may have been poisoned as
we are still finding rat poison in some of the outbuildings we
inherited ( we live in a rural property). The vet examined her and
said she did not have signs of rat poising as the warfarin would make
her bleed from the gums and eyes and she had no symptoms. He agreed
she was hypothermic and they kept her in the clinic overnight, with
60
minutes oxygen therapy and intravenous fluids. she perked up this
morning and this was when I was advised to bring her home - it was
that or do further tests, but he seemed to think it was best just to
'see what happens'. the kittens are still in there and are alive . he
thinks she has had an acute reaction to a substance but does'nt know
what.

We have just moved into the property and are in the process of
renovating a bathroom where we found a load of mouse droppings under
the old bath which attracted tiddles who was mooching around. I
mentioned this to the vet and asked if she could have injested
Tylenol
(paracetamol) by mistake -if there were some remnants of old pills on
the floor -he reckoned that if she had injested Tylenol she would be
dead by now as it is lethal in very small doses for cats,  so would
not even test for it -he said by the time the test came back, if it
was positive she would be dead anyway, if not I'd have wasted $150 on
the test..I have an issue with this vet -i really think he's out of
his depth and probably more used to dealing with cows and horses than
cats but he's the only one for miles.
So, she's back home, face still swollen and i'm trying to get her to
drink or eat but she'll only 'drink' mushed up tuna mixed with water.
It looks like she may be incontinent as she peed in the car on the
way
home which is not like her and she looks totally depressed. I've been
on the Net most of the afternoon researching, but like all medical
conditions, you can almsot 'think' yourself into any condition out
there. She's been sent home with  cortisone steroid medication
So-has anyone any advice or have seen this before??
Any tips for getting a very sick cat to drink??
If she had something really really serious would the kittens not have
been 'the first to go' ie she would have aborted them??
Thankyou, in anticipation

Clare
.._.. - 22 Feb 2008 16:58 GMT
You found this cat in the garage?  Is there any sort of automotive stuff new
or old in there?

Your decription sounds a lot like poisoning, but more like engnine coolant
(and the alcohol and chemicals in there) injestion.  (It tastes good to some
animals.)

In that case, kidney and liver failure is probably likely, along with
possible brain damage.

Take a look around that garage look for puddles of old coolant (green, blue
or yellow/orange) including on counters or in a pan or something the cat
could have walked through and then "cleaned" off it's paws.  Also, in an
unused bathroom, sometimes car antifreeze is placed in drain traps in the
event the building is unoccupied and unheated in the winter.

Being an outside cat carries risks that does cause them to have a diminished
expected lifespan.  Also, in a rural area, your neighbors probably have
attitudes that are borderline barbaric about cats and may do stuff
deliberately if your cat wanders or chases "their" birds or poops in the
wrong spot.

Do you have access to another vet?  Perhaps a second opinion is what is
needed.  (Not that there's a lot you can do, if the cat is poisoned it's
pretty much wait it out, it dies or it doesn't.)  You might want to start
getting ready to hand-feed the kittens in case she stops producing or
produces bad milk.

> I've found this NG in the hope someone has come across this problem
> and may be able to help.
[quoted text clipped - 58 lines]
>
> Clare
ClareB - 22 Feb 2008 23:54 GMT
> You found this cat in the garage?  Is there any sort of automotive stuff new
> or old in there?
[quoted text clipped - 25 lines]
>
> - Show quoted text -

thankyou for that information -it was very useful and reflects what I
am now thinking, that she has walked through something and licked off
her paws. the garage is quite clean but we have outbuildings that are
locked that I've not been in yet ( we've just recently moved in) - she
may have found a way in,  so I must go investigate at the wk end and
clean anything up. We are rural, very rural and the nieghbours are
just like you described - one woman told me that any un neutered male
cat they found on their property would have its b*lls cut of with a
blunt knife -nice! Luckily all mine are 'done' but Tiddles came to us
with passengers already on board.

She is perking up - she has managed half a can of tuna and I've been
to Walmart ( 80 mile round trip -sigh-) to buy some wet kitten food
and stuff with gravy so she can lick it. Her face is still ' Hamster'
like,  though  it has gone down. She is still on cortisone steriods,
so i will see what happens when she comes off them in five days.
Hopefully, as it has'nt killed her, she will recover - i am amazed the
unborn kittens have survived, though if she aborts them early it will
probably be a blessing -harsh maybe, but i would rather her be rid of
them and on the road to health.  The Vet would not inject her to abort
them - said it 'rarely worked' His ethos seems to be if she's injested
something and it has'nt killed her in 48hrs then she'll probably be
ok.......anyway........Her mood is 'up' and she looks more alert, is
peeing, though getting liquid into her is a challenge - in her healthy
mode she preferes the toilet bowl water to fresh tap or bottled water
( i don't use toxic cleaner in the bowl so that has'nt affected her)
thankyou so much for taking the time to reply and i shall hopefully
have some good news to post in a few days

Clare

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