Diagnostic Help

I am so sorry this is incredibly long, but I would really appreciate any help you guys can provide...

I got little Behr in June when he was three months old. It wasn't long before he developed a URI and then a minor eye infection, both things of course were no big concern. But at the beginning of September, he had what the vet said looked like textbook tetanus which I posted about on here at the time. His recovery was too quick for it to actually BE tetanus, but the symptoms were the same with the lockjaw, rapid respiration, inability to swallow resulting in tons of drool, rigid and stiff throughout his body, unable to stand, bloody urine, etc. After a night spent in the hospital, with a mix of amoxicillin and metronidazole he recovered very well.

Within a couple days of the antibiotics being finished (it was a 10 day course, if memory serves me right), the drool and the quick breathing rate returned, as well as some of the same shaking I felt when he was so stiff. So he went back on antibiotics for a little longer, and he went back to normal again. This happened one more time after that, same recurrence of symptoms after the same length of time, but this time the course of antibiotics was for 10 days instead of the previous 5. When he had a couple days left, he started vomiting so the vet told me to stop and she prescribed anti-nausea meds and a pepcid like medication. The day after, I had to leave on a trip, so he was boarded for the long weekend.

When I brought him home five days later, he was the happiest, most energetic I had ever seen him. And then within 48 hours, the drool and the rapid respiration returned. Upon taking him to the vet, she decided that since his gums were very red this time, that it looked like he had suffered an electric shock from chewing on cords. She didn't think it was the tetanus-like sickness returning. She prescribed prednisone and azithromycin for 10 days. At home, I didn't find any teethmarks on the cords, but I began to treat him anyway. This was this past Thursday.

He got better at first, but then this afternoon the rapid respiration returned with a vengeance - I counted 130 beats/minute - as well as the drool. Up until then he had a good appetite and relatively normal behavior. It was recommended that we do x-rays of his chest to check his lungs for damage and the only concrete thing that resulted was that the diagnosis of an electrical burn was incorrect. The vet (a different one, as my regular one is in only Wednesdays-Sundays) noted a little bit of whiteness in a spot of Behr's heart which he said could indicate a kind of pneumonia, or even heart failure but he said that other indicators of heart failure were not present so that isn't as likely. He advised that I stop the prednisone in case it is an infection of some sort, but continue the azithromyacin, and keep a close eye on him. Now that he's home, I tried to feed him and he seemed excited to eat but then lost interest. So I added water to his wet food and was able to syringe feed him several mLs. With the drooling I'm nervous that he may become dehydrated. He's just sitting and breathing at that very fast rate and not moving at all but he'll go after a string if I try to play with him.

One thing which the vet believed was unrelated was that I had tried putting Profender on him yesterday, but it was too low and when I saw he could reach it with his tongue I washed it off. He was fine for the rest of the day so I don't think it could be that either.

Behr's bloodwork has been consistently good throughout all of this, as well as his litter box habits and urine concentration.

I am 99.9% convinced it is something in my apartment that is making him chronically sick, but my other cat has been completely fine aside from a bartonella issue a few weeks ago now. Before I even got cats, I went through every list online going through harmful household items so I am confident I've eliminated those. Otherwise, I keep a clean house, I feed him Natural Choice wet kitten food and an all ages Goodlife Recipe dry food, and I use the Tidy Cats Small Spaces litter.

Again sorry this is so long, but I was wondering if any of you had suggestions as to what could be going on. I am so frustrated that he has to be feeling sick so often, and of course I would love to save my money.

Thank you so, so much in advance.

If it wasn't for the bloody urine, my first thought would be seizures. Poor baby. I hope someone can help you...

My first thought was also that there is something in your apartment causing it. There may be mold or asbestos or something that he reacts to. It happens with human families in "sick houses" that only one of the family members get sick while the rest are fine. I recently saw a show on TV about a woman who got sick from mold in her home which started after she had the flu or something like that. Somehow her body became more susceptible to it when she got sick, if I remember correctly. So maybe the URI had something to do with it. It all sounds very strange and very scary.

Would it be possible to have Behr stay somewhere else for a couple of weeks or so, like with a friend, to see if his condition improves? That could at least help you rule out or rule in something in the building.
I would also recommend taking him for a second opinion to a feline specialist and maybe even a neurologist. It sounds to me like a neurological disorder. Of course that's just a guess and I'm not an expert.

In the meantime, if you're worried about him getting dehydrated, could you ask your vet about giving him some sub-q fluids at home? It's pretty easy to learn how to do it. You could just give him a little bit a day or every two days to supplement him. I'd really get him out of the house soon though in case that is what's causing it.

Please keep us updated on how he's doing.

Thank you for your replies!

My best friend's aunt owns a kennel so I may put him there for a little while. I just want him to be relatively back to normal first.

I was thinking of switching the litter first. The URI happened about 2 weeks after I changed from the Tidy Cats 24/7 performance to the Small Spaces. And when he got super sick, that was within a week of coming home from being boarded at the above place that had pine litter. He was at the PetSmart PetsHotel this past long weekend and they had pine litter and he was zippy and happy and everything when he got home, but within 48 hours he was sick again.

So, I was going to grab a pine litter to try for him and vacuum very thoroughly to get all the old litter out of the carpet. Even though the vets have said it's unlikely, it's all I can think about. My building is about 5 years old, so I'm not sure that asbestos is likely, and I haven't seen mold anywhere.

His breathing has been slowing down a bit, thank goodness, and less drool. But he hasn't used the litter box since this morning, so I'm beginning to worry about that now, too

As far as kitty litter I would try something all natural, World's Best Kitty Litter is made from corn and excellent!

I'll remember that, thank you!!

No need to worry about the litter box anymore, at least in terms of urine. He popped up from his bed and ran over to eat some of his dry food then raced to the litter box and left a lake in the middle, stepped in it, freaked out and ran back to the wet food I put out.

Good signs

I love posting on here, everyone's replies comfort me

Well, this morning at about 10:30 his breathing rate and the drool started increasing again. By lunchtime it was back up to 100 breaths per minute and while he was eager to eat, he only sat by his food.

I took him into the vet and she gave me two likely options given that all else has seemed normal - hyperthyroidism (even though he's so young) or metabolic acidosis. Since the test was easy and inexpensive for the first we went ahead with it and everything was fine. For the second, we set up an appointment tomorrow for an arterial blood gas test at the emergency hospital down the road since they have the equipment.

The vet also wanted to try a treatment-approach where we try different meds to see if we can kind of work backwards. We're going to try anti-nausea first for three days while he's still on the azithromycin. Luckily he gobbled down the A&D food the vet sent us home with.

He's still breathing rapidly but the drool seems to have subsided a bit. Just thought I would put in an update in case anyone had any thoughts

If it is something in the house that is making him sick, which it could still be despite the vet's suspicion, he needs to get out of their asap, like now. You can't wait for him to get better before you move him. If it is the house he will get sicker and sicker if he stays there and it can become very dangerous quickly. I would find someone that can keep the cat for a week or so and move him now.
Black mold in a home can cause seizures and a host of other symptoms in humans and it often only affects some family members and not others. If that's what's causing it he could die if he stays there.

I agree. The last time I wrote, Tuesday night, I had to take him to the emergency hospital and he had obstipation (severe constipation) - poor guy was backed up so badly. I even mentioned to the vet he hadn't gone since Sunday and she said she didn't feel anything suspicious.

When he got home from the hospital he was back to normal, so it may have been a one time thing. I got in touch with the foster mom I adopted him from and she said that the other kittens from his litter that she still has are very healthy, ruling out anything congenital. She's offered to take him for a couple of weeks, and I am very tempted to take her up on that.

She mentioned that my other cat Zoey may not be sick because she's old enough for her system to combat it or she's just not attracted to what's making Behr sick. I think it may be the first, because since I'm in school I can watch Behr for most of the day and he doesn't get into anything he shouldn't, and I don't find evidence of it.

I want to try changing their litter since where he's been healthy and happy they use pine litter instead of my clay Tidy Cats clumping one, and I also thought maybe the shower curtain is making him sick. The cats like to play hide and seek with each other in there and I don't wash the curtain as often as I should - just one of those things I always forget when putting laundry together. I was going to buy a new one as well as switch to 7th generation cleaning products and stop using bleach to clean the litter boxes as well.

Another thought I had is maybe the A/C and furnace filters are too old. In my apartment complex they only change them once a year in the fall and they're due to come by the week of the 31st to change them. I like to have the windows open when I can, but we had a hot summer and the weather has turned too cold for the windows.

I can do all of this while he's away for a couple weeks though and then when he gets back maybe everything will be better. Hopefully.