Took the new girl to the vet this morning. She came home (late Monday night) from the shelter very congested and already on Clavamox for URI.
I got her in ASAP for the URI. It seems better than it was in the shelter (wet sneezes, but not slinging snot everywhere anymore - still coughing/choking/gagging, though
), but her appetite is still pretty much nonexistant. The only thing she's even eaten on her own was some tuna with its water last night, and she promptly threw up some of it.
Personality-wise (and this is a new cat in a new environment, so not much to compare it to, and no idea how either of those two things might be contributing to her behavior in combination with her illness), she doesn't seem to be too lethargic or miserable. This afternoon, she seems a little pooped, but I'm just chalking that up to the vet visit and assisted/forced-feedings (see below). She's very affectionate, interested in exploring her new environment, etc. She seems to be very "at home" in the bedroom she's confined to.
We picked her up pretty late for the shelter, so the limited remaining staff couldn't say if she had been eating consistently (I noticed her evening food looked untouched). She had started to get pretty sick in the days before I picked her up, but one of the staff members mentioned that she had gotten sick previously, seemed to improve, and was now getting sick again. They sent us home with the remaining doses of Clavamox, but her medical info didn't say when she'd started this current treatment or if she'd received it previously (just left a message for someone to call me with the info so I can relay it to the vet).
The Vet Visit:
No temperature. Not excessively dehydrated. The regular exam went fine. A little tartar build-up on some back teeth, so she recommended a cleaning in the future, but the vet isn't interested in pursuing that right now.
My vet stated she is a fan of Clavamox, so will continue the Clavamox if this is her first treatment, or she's been on it less than two weeks. If this is her second treatment, or she's been on it for two weeks straight, she wants to switch to Zithromax. She sent us home with a tube of Lysine (recommended we purchase the capsules in the future, since it's cheaper and easy enough to sprinkle on food (when the cat eats, anyway). She also gave her a dose of Cyproheptadine to see if that would boost her appetite. I asked her if we should continue that, and she advised she would prescribe more if we saw a change in her appetite.
One concern I had was some info on the shelter's intake sheet. The prior owner mentioned that he thought the cat had allergies, since she'd been having sneezing fits off and on over the past few months. The vet and I both agreed to take it with a grain of salt, and the vet pointed out the obvious: If she'd been this sick for several months, she'd be dead. I can be a worrywart with my animals, so I also brought up the possibility of any sort of growth, etc. obstructing her breathing. The vet, reasonably
, wants to treat this like a bad URI until something indicates otherwise. I can hold off my hypochondriac tendencies with the knowledge that the stress of landing in a shelter for a month and a half could have messed with her immune system and made her more susceptible to a severe URI. Not to mention, I don't know her vaccine history, but the prior owner stated he obtained her from a breeder and kept her indoors with another breeder cat, so she may well never have been exposed to it (are the URI viruses like chicken pox? If you are exposed to it for the first time later in life, are its effects more severe?). There's also the possibility that she's just a chronic case.
Also, I requested the vet do bloodwork, since I'm kidney-phobic.
At this point in time, the vet wants to hear from me on Friday (or tomorrow, if things get worse, but she'll be off, so I told her I'd leave her alone, since if the cat is that bad off, I would simply take her to the e-vet). We are force-feeding the good ole A/D slurry. The vet wants at least half a can in her each day we have to force-feed, but would prefer an entire can. I'm still offering her stinky Fancy Feast and tuna (none of the expensive, natural, grain-free stuff garners any interest). I'm offering her dry (Avoderm, what they feed at the shelter, and Instinct), since the previous owner said they only fed her dry. We are hoping she resumes eating on her own relatively quickly. She doesn't seem to be in "good flesh" for a cat that's only eight (spine's a little too bony for my taste, and her hindquarters have that sort of hollowed out look to them), so I'm thinking she was losing weight at the shelter, and might not have been eating much there, either.
Any suggestions to help this kitty feel better? Any suggestions I should bring up to the vet? Anything at all, honestly, would be nice. I dealt with anorexia due to CRF, and a very picky eater who never lost his appetite (just *couldn't* eat at the end) even after a malignant mass showed up under his tongue. All the other sick kitties I've dealt with have been foster kittens (hand-feeding them, anyway), and in the shelter and later, the vet hospital I worked in. I just want to know what I can do at home to make her more comfortable while we wait for the drugs/her immune system to work.
I got her in ASAP for the URI. It seems better than it was in the shelter (wet sneezes, but not slinging snot everywhere anymore - still coughing/choking/gagging, though
Personality-wise (and this is a new cat in a new environment, so not much to compare it to, and no idea how either of those two things might be contributing to her behavior in combination with her illness), she doesn't seem to be too lethargic or miserable. This afternoon, she seems a little pooped, but I'm just chalking that up to the vet visit and assisted/forced-feedings (see below). She's very affectionate, interested in exploring her new environment, etc. She seems to be very "at home" in the bedroom she's confined to.
We picked her up pretty late for the shelter, so the limited remaining staff couldn't say if she had been eating consistently (I noticed her evening food looked untouched). She had started to get pretty sick in the days before I picked her up, but one of the staff members mentioned that she had gotten sick previously, seemed to improve, and was now getting sick again. They sent us home with the remaining doses of Clavamox, but her medical info didn't say when she'd started this current treatment or if she'd received it previously (just left a message for someone to call me with the info so I can relay it to the vet).
The Vet Visit:
No temperature. Not excessively dehydrated. The regular exam went fine. A little tartar build-up on some back teeth, so she recommended a cleaning in the future, but the vet isn't interested in pursuing that right now.
My vet stated she is a fan of Clavamox, so will continue the Clavamox if this is her first treatment, or she's been on it less than two weeks. If this is her second treatment, or she's been on it for two weeks straight, she wants to switch to Zithromax. She sent us home with a tube of Lysine (recommended we purchase the capsules in the future, since it's cheaper and easy enough to sprinkle on food (when the cat eats, anyway). She also gave her a dose of Cyproheptadine to see if that would boost her appetite. I asked her if we should continue that, and she advised she would prescribe more if we saw a change in her appetite.
One concern I had was some info on the shelter's intake sheet. The prior owner mentioned that he thought the cat had allergies, since she'd been having sneezing fits off and on over the past few months. The vet and I both agreed to take it with a grain of salt, and the vet pointed out the obvious: If she'd been this sick for several months, she'd be dead. I can be a worrywart with my animals, so I also brought up the possibility of any sort of growth, etc. obstructing her breathing. The vet, reasonably
Also, I requested the vet do bloodwork, since I'm kidney-phobic.
At this point in time, the vet wants to hear from me on Friday (or tomorrow, if things get worse, but she'll be off, so I told her I'd leave her alone, since if the cat is that bad off, I would simply take her to the e-vet). We are force-feeding the good ole A/D slurry. The vet wants at least half a can in her each day we have to force-feed, but would prefer an entire can. I'm still offering her stinky Fancy Feast and tuna (none of the expensive, natural, grain-free stuff garners any interest). I'm offering her dry (Avoderm, what they feed at the shelter, and Instinct), since the previous owner said they only fed her dry. We are hoping she resumes eating on her own relatively quickly. She doesn't seem to be in "good flesh" for a cat that's only eight (spine's a little too bony for my taste, and her hindquarters have that sort of hollowed out look to them), so I'm thinking she was losing weight at the shelter, and might not have been eating much there, either.
Any suggestions to help this kitty feel better? Any suggestions I should bring up to the vet? Anything at all, honestly, would be nice. I dealt with anorexia due to CRF, and a very picky eater who never lost his appetite (just *couldn't* eat at the end) even after a malignant mass showed up under his tongue. All the other sick kitties I've dealt with have been foster kittens (hand-feeding them, anyway), and in the shelter and later, the vet hospital I worked in. I just want to know what I can do at home to make her more comfortable while we wait for the drugs/her immune system to work.
