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One of our ferals, Pretty Kitty (PK), is sick.
We cannot trap him right now. Because of other health issues he has, I feel he is very likely non-releasable. So we are making plans to permanently bring him inside after we get 5 kittens adopted out (therefore freeing up necessary space), which has been continually delayed by sickness and now the pandemic.
Until then, we don’t really have a place to contain him long term.
I work in rescue and have a lot of connections in the community, so trust me when I say that rescues are not an option right now. I’m on my own here.
I’m not sure when this all started. We noticed PK using one of our half built shelters in the garage two nights ago. He has never used a shelter of ours in the years we’ve been caring for him.
The first time we noticed, my boyfriend was taking out the trash, and it wasn’t until I came in that I saw his head poking out of the shelter window. He quickly ran off once my boyfriend started opening the garage door.
The next night, same thing. My boyfriend spotted him this time and told me to come look. Once I got in there, he asked if something was wrong with PK’s eyes.
I didn’t have my glasses on at the time so I couldn’t see much detail, but I could tell he was squinting at me.
Pretty Kitty is still very feral, so the fact that he didn’t leave either time we walked into the garage was pretty suspect on its own, but the squinting definitely threw up a red flag.
So we positioned our cameras in ways that would make PK’s face easier to see.
Meanwhile, I went back through a month or so of photos, and PK looks like he’s squinting most of the time. I have no idea exactly when it started, but can narrow it down to sometime in the past few weeks.
I did notice a couple other odd things too.
In the pictures and videos from the last three days, the fur around his face looked more disheveled and dirty. I’m assuming now it’s the eye (and possible nasal) discharge.
Also, while PK will sometimes lay in the garage for 20-40 minutes at a time, he only does so very rarely. Aside from the shelter incidences, he has being doing this more frequently the past week (and had three separate long periods last night where he laid by the food).
He has also shown up three times during the day recently - he has never done this before in 3 years. We have tried painstakingly hard, time and again, to get him to come eat on (or even off) a schedule during the day because of wildlife at night, and it has never worked. He only comes at night. So this likewise caught my attention, even though it mostly happened prior to all of the other changes/symptoms.
Anyway, looks like last night we were able to catch some good photos and videos of him.
I’m posting to see if you guys notice something I’m missing or could better explain to the vet.
(Excuse our opossum friend)
(So mad.. the camera glitches right when PK gets close!!! )
These were the best stills I managed to pull from that video -
Other photos -
I’m seeing:
- Bilateral eye discharge (color unknown)
- Squinting
- Potential photophobia (eyes seemed a little more open in the shelter).
- Redness around eyes
- Elevated third eyelids (last photo is where I’m primarily seeing this)
- Swollen eyes/face? I’m going to search through older photos of him to try and compare. Not sure if it’s just in the eyes or the whole face.
- Behavioral changes (hanging out in the garage more and using the shelter)
He seems to still be eating and drinking, so that’s good. I’ve watched about an hour total of (super boring) videos of PK from the last week or so, and did not observe any rubbing, sneezing, coughing, hacking, obvious nasal congestion, etc. Most of his observable symptoms so far are conjunctivitis-related.
Do y’all see anything else of note?
I’m trying to decide what to do. Vet won’t prescribe without seeing him, but can’t trap him right now. Thinking the next best option is to say it’s one of our personal cats with the symptoms PK has.
We’ve recently had outbreaks of bacterial bronchitis and also herpes or calici (we didn’t confirm which, but probably herpes, I think) among the 16 cats in our home. So our vets are pretty much on a “tell us and we’ll prescribe for whoever is symptomatic right now” deal with us at the moment.
My current thinking is I could at least get some broad spectrum antibiotics/doxy and anitivirals/Famciclovir. And maybe a decongestant like Bromhexine?
I don’t normally give L-lysine because of the inconclusive science, but I’ve gone ahead and ordered some because it can’t hurt - who knows when it will get here, though.
There are a number of issues with this plan, however.
First, how the heck am I going to reliably get medication in him?
He doesn’t come on a set schedule. And there are other ferals, and currently, raccoons and opossums to contend with too (yay, baby season ).
Our situation has not enabled any “feral friendliness” with this particular colony. All of our ferals will bolt if they see me (being in the garage with PK was by far the closest I’ve ever been to any of the ferals in this colony), so no chance of policing dishes.
I could leave food with meds out, and pay close attention to the notifications on my phone when the camera goes off and chase away anyone who isn’t PK, but that’s about it.
Timing of meds also won’t be consistent or properly spaced (especially for anything with a 2x a day dose) either due to everything being dependent on when PK decides to show up (and how accurate my estimations of when he will visit are). What if PK doesn’t show up? What if he’s late? Etc
Another thing to consider is the potential for PK to spread whatever he has to the others. We had 3 new ferals show up this month that we haven’t yet trapped (working through kittens in another colony), so PK and those three are currently unvaccinated.
And we are also considering the possibility of PK having FIV or FeLV. The latter being of particular concern regarding the other cats and sharing bowls.
But our hands just feel so tied right now.
We’re trying to consider all of our potential options, along with just generally considering all of that we should consider!
Please feel free to spitball at us here!
We cannot trap him right now. Because of other health issues he has, I feel he is very likely non-releasable. So we are making plans to permanently bring him inside after we get 5 kittens adopted out (therefore freeing up necessary space), which has been continually delayed by sickness and now the pandemic.
Until then, we don’t really have a place to contain him long term.
I work in rescue and have a lot of connections in the community, so trust me when I say that rescues are not an option right now. I’m on my own here.
I’m not sure when this all started. We noticed PK using one of our half built shelters in the garage two nights ago. He has never used a shelter of ours in the years we’ve been caring for him.
The first time we noticed, my boyfriend was taking out the trash, and it wasn’t until I came in that I saw his head poking out of the shelter window. He quickly ran off once my boyfriend started opening the garage door.
The next night, same thing. My boyfriend spotted him this time and told me to come look. Once I got in there, he asked if something was wrong with PK’s eyes.
I didn’t have my glasses on at the time so I couldn’t see much detail, but I could tell he was squinting at me.
Pretty Kitty is still very feral, so the fact that he didn’t leave either time we walked into the garage was pretty suspect on its own, but the squinting definitely threw up a red flag.
So we positioned our cameras in ways that would make PK’s face easier to see.
Meanwhile, I went back through a month or so of photos, and PK looks like he’s squinting most of the time. I have no idea exactly when it started, but can narrow it down to sometime in the past few weeks.
I did notice a couple other odd things too.
In the pictures and videos from the last three days, the fur around his face looked more disheveled and dirty. I’m assuming now it’s the eye (and possible nasal) discharge.
Also, while PK will sometimes lay in the garage for 20-40 minutes at a time, he only does so very rarely. Aside from the shelter incidences, he has being doing this more frequently the past week (and had three separate long periods last night where he laid by the food).
He has also shown up three times during the day recently - he has never done this before in 3 years. We have tried painstakingly hard, time and again, to get him to come eat on (or even off) a schedule during the day because of wildlife at night, and it has never worked. He only comes at night. So this likewise caught my attention, even though it mostly happened prior to all of the other changes/symptoms.
Anyway, looks like last night we were able to catch some good photos and videos of him.
I’m posting to see if you guys notice something I’m missing or could better explain to the vet.
(Excuse our opossum friend)
(So mad.. the camera glitches right when PK gets close!!! )
These were the best stills I managed to pull from that video -
Other photos -
I’m seeing:
- Bilateral eye discharge (color unknown)
- Squinting
- Potential photophobia (eyes seemed a little more open in the shelter).
- Redness around eyes
- Elevated third eyelids (last photo is where I’m primarily seeing this)
- Swollen eyes/face? I’m going to search through older photos of him to try and compare. Not sure if it’s just in the eyes or the whole face.
- Behavioral changes (hanging out in the garage more and using the shelter)
He seems to still be eating and drinking, so that’s good. I’ve watched about an hour total of (super boring) videos of PK from the last week or so, and did not observe any rubbing, sneezing, coughing, hacking, obvious nasal congestion, etc. Most of his observable symptoms so far are conjunctivitis-related.
Do y’all see anything else of note?
I’m trying to decide what to do. Vet won’t prescribe without seeing him, but can’t trap him right now. Thinking the next best option is to say it’s one of our personal cats with the symptoms PK has.
We’ve recently had outbreaks of bacterial bronchitis and also herpes or calici (we didn’t confirm which, but probably herpes, I think) among the 16 cats in our home. So our vets are pretty much on a “tell us and we’ll prescribe for whoever is symptomatic right now” deal with us at the moment.
My current thinking is I could at least get some broad spectrum antibiotics/doxy and anitivirals/Famciclovir. And maybe a decongestant like Bromhexine?
I don’t normally give L-lysine because of the inconclusive science, but I’ve gone ahead and ordered some because it can’t hurt - who knows when it will get here, though.
There are a number of issues with this plan, however.
First, how the heck am I going to reliably get medication in him?
He doesn’t come on a set schedule. And there are other ferals, and currently, raccoons and opossums to contend with too (yay, baby season ).
Our situation has not enabled any “feral friendliness” with this particular colony. All of our ferals will bolt if they see me (being in the garage with PK was by far the closest I’ve ever been to any of the ferals in this colony), so no chance of policing dishes.
I could leave food with meds out, and pay close attention to the notifications on my phone when the camera goes off and chase away anyone who isn’t PK, but that’s about it.
Timing of meds also won’t be consistent or properly spaced (especially for anything with a 2x a day dose) either due to everything being dependent on when PK decides to show up (and how accurate my estimations of when he will visit are). What if PK doesn’t show up? What if he’s late? Etc
Another thing to consider is the potential for PK to spread whatever he has to the others. We had 3 new ferals show up this month that we haven’t yet trapped (working through kittens in another colony), so PK and those three are currently unvaccinated.
And we are also considering the possibility of PK having FIV or FeLV. The latter being of particular concern regarding the other cats and sharing bowls.
But our hands just feel so tied right now.
We’re trying to consider all of our potential options, along with just generally considering all of that we should consider!
Please feel free to spitball at us here!