Mr. Jinx health/stuff update

Hi everyone!

Well, today the vet came to look at Mr. Jinx. I was able to pick him up and move him from the little bathroom into the bedroom with no issue, so I did that yesterday, and he's adjusting very well. He loves having a big bed to sleep on!

I hear what you were saying about home vet visits. It wasn't as awesome as I'd expected, and it seems he wasn't that prepared to be handling a feral cat (not even gloves! I was pretty surprised). However, Mr. Jinx did really well, and allowed him to wrap him in a towel and take blood, distemper vaccine, etc. He got nearly all his claws cut, but one paw still is long, because Jinx decided the visit was over and went under the bed.

Anyway, turns out he  has several abcesses causing the chipmunk cheeks, but they've drained and healed on their own - however, they are still quite sensitive, poor guy. He is also missing all of his canine teeth, the vet says probably due to some raging outdoor fights. He places Jinx at 2 years old.

I will find out tomorrow about his FIV/fecal etc. but the vet says it's more than likely positive considering his condition. I'm so so sad for him.

I called my reg vet to set up his neuter which he will have on Monday the 19th. It'll be good to get their opinion on those tooth/abcess issues also, because they're pretty amazing over there. I am positive I can get Jinx into a carrier by then with no problem (or little problem) and that gives him some time to calm down from the stress of today.  After all, he did let me hold him and walk him through the house without an issue, so a carrier shouldn't be so bad, and it's REALLY large for him.

Please send vibes! I find out tomorrow about the other things. So scared.

that the results are better than you're expecting!

Thank you!! Should find out in a few hours.

He forgave me pretty quickly yesterday, and only hid under the bed for a few hours. We were back to lap kitty action by last night. Ugh, he's just so sweet, I hate to think he was and may still be in so much pain. Heartbreaking.

Hi Hun !!! for negative test results. Don't worry if the fecal comes back positive with something as intestinal parasites are very, very common among strays/feral's. No way around that - but easily taken care of :nod: He was a very good boy then for the vet coming over today and he WILL forgive you for anything. In fact, he is probably glad to have you all to himself after the vet left :happy3: Poor Mr. Jinx and those sore cheeks and missing teeth- but all will be well now, he has you :heart3: to help him heal. We are here to help you along the way with anything . Will be waiting to hear the good news

Any results yet? :cross: I, too, hope the news is better than the vet led you to hope.

Our Chumley is FIV+ (that's why we have him, in fact, the foster network wouldn't take him). If that's the case, I have excellent resources for you, and there's no reason not to introduce him to your other kitty eventually. FeLV is the nasty one. :cross:

Did you ever get Revolution or Advantage or Frontline on him? (and your other kitty?) How are things going with the fleas? :cross:

Hey everyone!

Thanks so much for all the support. I have another question if I may, but I'll give all the details...

So his results finally came in today. According to the vet, he has FIV and Giardia. My regular vet said that if this is the case (the FIV), it shouldn't be too much of an issue anyway, and wants me to test my other kitty, and if she's neg (she was before), they suggested the vaccine.

But in any case, here's the weird part - so the home vet said that the test came back positive, but that he wants to do another test to confirm? Is this normal? Don't you just do one test? I'm suspicious, so please tell me if it's warranted.

And yes, I have no interest in not keeping him because of FIV. He supposedly ran his full blood work and that's all that came up, and then of course the fecal, and that's all that came up.

Poor Mr. Jinx! But other than that, he's doing REALLY well! Tremendous. He looks better each day! I can't wait until he goes to our usual vet for his neuter, because they're excited to meet him. And then he can have his eye looked at, as well as all the other shots he needs (he's only had 1 round distemper so far). And then finally, he can come into the rest of the house! I can tell he's so ansy, because he gives me so much meowy business when I leave the room! He really wants to follow me around all day.

From what I've read, false positives aren't unusual, which is why the test will be repeated. That's normal. LDG (Laurie) can tell you more, since one of her boys is FIV+, and she's done tons of research on it.

It's good to hear that he's doing so well; that everything is taken care of asap so he can follow you all around the house!

Okay, gotcha. So he probably will need another test - maybe. I mean, I honestly don't care so much that he's FIV positive (I hope that sounds how I mean it to sound, of course I care about him.) because if he has any other issues, they'll be taken care of immediately (and always will for that matter) so it isn't a huge deal. And also, he has only 1 half  of a canine tooth, so deep bite wounds are simply not gonna happen no matter what! LOL

But yes, I would love to hear LDG's thoughts. And I'm reading everything I can, but honestly, it all looks ok. And there's no way I'm letting this little guy go!

Just confirmed - FeLV Neg!

Yay for FeLV negative!

My Wendel's FIV+ and Laurie was a great help when I found that out.

It is normal to do a retest on a positive. The first test can come back with a false positive so they like to confirm it with a different test. Thus far the only things to really watch for are vet visits for everything early on, possible tummy issues and gingivitis, but all of those are manageable. I'm so glad you're keeping Mr. Jinx. He's really come a long way from your first few posts about him.

mrjinx said:

Just confirmed - FeLV Neg!

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Terrific news!

Thanks so much!

Yes, I think that's the only thing I worry about - his compromised little immune system!

And he has been flea treated and everything, so so far so good.

Since he is walking into his carrier with no issues, I decided to try and get his neuter/vaccines/treatments this Monday, and they had an opening at my vet! So he'll be all sorted out by Monday, which is GREAT!

And after that, he'll be able to integrate into the rest of the family and household - I'm so excited. He is just a little love monkey.

for Monday!

Oh that is fabulous news about being FeLV negative - AND the appt on Monday for his neuter and vaccinations! :bigthumb: !

The FIV... Unless you live in TX, MS, LA or maybe FL or AL, there is absolutely NO point in getting your other cat vaccinated against FIV. Is it turns out, there are different strains of FIV, and the vaccination is ONLY effective against a strain in the SE. It's only effective approximately 70% of the time even then... so there's just not much point. Yes, there ARE documented cases where indoor-only kitties have gotten FIV from a housemate, and they don't know how it happened, because the owner was not aware of a deep penetrating bite wound on the kitty that became infected. But it's rare. And FIV is just not a death sentence anyway. It is SUCH a long-acting virus, it just VERY slowly impacts the normal functioning of the immune system.

If you want to know FOR SURE that you don't have a false positive (which definitely happens), the next step is a test called a Western Blot. It tests for two specific antibodies, and if those both turn up, then there is no doubt. There are no false positives with the Western Blot. I don't know how much it costs where you live, but it costs about $165 here. So if you need to know for sure, do it. If you don't need to know for sure, you can just assume he is.

The only way it would affect your care... as Ms. Freya pointed out - if you ever notice he's off his food or a little lethargic - any behavior changes - ANYTHING that might indicate he's sick, you get him to the vet. Illness just needs to be caught early, and often treated more aggressively. So, for instance, instead of treating something with Clavamox, they'd probably use Baytril. And instead of being on an antibiotic for 10 days, he may need to be on it for 2 weeks, or 20 days. That kind of thing.

Kitties with FIV are prone to problems with their teeth and gingivits. :nod: So if you can afford it, it's really best to get him in for a dental cleaning and check up every six months, instead of every year. But you really ought to do it every year at a minimum.

Since you've already done your reading up on it, I will offer just one link. This is the BEST resource there is on FIV: http://www.fivtherapy.com

Now... when we rescued Chumley, he was a mess. He had chronic diarrhea, he appeared to be allergic to food - what, we didn't know. Allergies in cats are usually first treated with steroids - but this is contraindicated in cats with FIV, as steroids work to suppress the immune system, and that's the last thing an FIV kitty needs.

So when our usual vets (one of whom is AMAZING) were unable to get his diarrhea under control, and his allergy problem was getting worse, not better, even though we'd switched him to the hypoallergenic prescription food, we decided to look for a vet (a D.V.M.) that was also trained in alternative therapies. You'll see if you go through the http://www.fivtherapy.com site that the 2nd treatment they gave Bud was all herbal based. We printed out the entire site and brought it with us to the appointment.

She didn't need to look through it. She knows western meds like any vet, but she wanted to pursue treating him based on Chinese medicine. She has treated FIV kitties before, and they have subsequently tested NEGATIVE for FIV. So rather than try to pursue Bud's specific therapy, we let her do her thing. The drops she prescribed for his diarrhea worked inside of four days. It took a couple of weeks for his stool to become completely normal, but that was impressive. He was SO itchy, he'd licked his abdomen clean of hair. Turns out that while that MAY have been a food allergy... (and we had switched him to a grain free, all wet food diet), she diagnosed him with "an extreme spleen Qi deficiency," and "an extreme Yin deficiency." Basically... he was "too hot" (not in a fever sense, in an energy sense), and thus he was pulling out his hair. She prescribed a chinese herbal pill. Within two weeks, it was clear it was helping. We bumped up how much we were giving him... and his "itchies" and over grooming stopped. It takes a while for all the hair on the abdomen to grow back in, but his coat is now thick, full, and incredibly soft and glossy. And no more itchies! Oh - we did have to switch to an unscented dust free litter, and that's something to consider up front.

But as it turns out, a number of the herbs in the pill we're giving him are part of Bud's herbal protocol. We do plan on retesting Chumley at some point, just because we're curious to see if he'll test negative.

So I don't know where you live. But I give your vet big points for being pretty FIV literate! For all I know, you live in the SE, and then it wouldn't hurt to consider vaccinating your other kitty. But if you make slow introductions, there shouldn't be a problem with fighting, which is all you really need to worry about. Our Billy and Chumley are our two VERY cat friendly cats, and they groom each other all day long... and we don't give it a second thought. FIV is not passed orally via saliva.

But if you have ANY questions, feel free to ask me!

And if you find that Mr. Jinx develops any kind of immune-related issue (such as something that may be caused by an allergy, or IBD, food sensitivities or whatever), I HIGHLY recommend you do some searching to see if there's a DVM that is additionally trained in western herbs or chinese medicine that you can get to without too much problem. We've worked with this vet for over a year now, and I'm convinced that western medicine saves a LOT of lives, no doubt about it - but it does not treat immune-related problems nearly as well as chinese medicine does.

P.S. Chumley is the kitty in my avatar next to my username.

mrjinx said:

Just confirmed - FeLV Neg!

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YAY YAY That is fantastic news!! For the FIV - you will have much support here on that and positive resources from Laurie (above ) Much luck on Monday for your little love monkey :heart3:

Thank you SOOOOOO much for the link, LDG (and what a good looking Chumley!)! That is amazing news. My DH and I are really big into natural meds, so that would be amazing! And thanks everyone for so much support!

Mr. Jinx is currently at the vet for his neuter/vaccinations, etc. He walked straight into his carrier today no problem, and was quiet the entire time. When we got to our usual vet's office (he is great), he picked Mr. Jinx up from the carrier, and Mr. Jinx stayed quiet and let them do the exam - no fighting or hissing, or anything. Then our vet held him for a while like a baby, and he just let everything happen. He's so wonderful!

So some news thus far (and of course we don't know everything yet): he DOES NOT HAVE ABCESSES! I knew something was up with that home vet - I didn't trust him. Our vet gave kitty a total exam of the gums, teeth, and face - he has nothing! He just has big feral kitty chipmunk cheeks. He told us that Mr. Jinx is a perfect male specimen, and that every intact male would kill to look like him LOL!

He also is in good health heart-wise, and gums are nice and pink. Mr. Jinx is missing many many teeth, including those fronts, but the vet said it must've happened a long time ago, because everything is nice in his mouth now. So then I asked, "How old do you think he is?" So my vet gave him a solid look, and said, "Normally we can judge solely on teeth, but his teeth are not here, so I have to go on overall condition, plus the teeth and gums I see... I'd say anywhere between 6 and 10 YEARS!"

Can you BELIEVE it?! Mr. Jinx is practically a super senior! I feel so sad about him living so long on the streets. It's unbelievable what a little survivor he is.

We are running the other test, just to be sure, and actually we live on the West Coast, so I don't think the vaccine is necessary either, and I didn't set that up for the other cats. The DR is running blood work and test to check his organ function and blood cell counts, to see exactly where he is in terms of everything else, and of course, track the FIV if he has it for sure.

As for introductions, he's been in the house almost a month now if you can believe it! And he's met them all before when he was outside. They interacted very briefly, but daily, because I'd let the little lady into the yard (supervised) while I was out with him, spending time. And he is in a safe room now, and the lady sleeps in her bed, about three feet from his door. They've smelled each other and have had curiosity, and of course, rubbed all over me, so I make sure to bring their scents in and out. If Jinx is up to it in a few days to week, I'll leave his little door open slightly, so if he wants to explore, he can - and still keep his safe room too. I'll probably put little lady in a room of her own, along with the dog, so Jinx can check everything out without interruption.

He is also starting his liquids for the giardia and he did have conjunctivitis in that one eye, so he's getting everything he needs today. We get to find out more after 5 pm, but it all looks very promising!

Okay, so I just spoke to the vet and have been reading up nonstop on this FIV stuff!

So he did test positive again - he has it. BUT - I think I can get everything under control, from what I read. What's even better is that all of his cell counts came up normal. The only thing slightly raised was kidneys (39 instead of 36). The vet said he believes it could actually be coming down and was worse outside, so that should be checked again in 6 months. Also, urine was normal - which is why he thinks that.

He says keeping him on a good diet will be great, but I'm thinking it might be even better to put him on a raw diet with supplements, so that he gets the C/acidophilus/bone calcium he needs.

The vet also recommended he start a round of meds (the one he rec'd is something that sounds like the word "invetro" over the phone, so I don't know), but I'm really wary of the meds after reading up on everything.

Everything else went great - he was well enough to get his vaccines and neuter went well! I pick him up in an hour.

What a little champ you have there! :rub: :lol3: And what a survivor he is! :heart3:

I'm SO glad everything went so well! I'm assuming he had another SNAP test - just FYI, if the first one turned up positive, if done in the same time frame, it's most likely another SNAP test would too. :nod: The only actual confirmatory test is the Western Blot, and they'd have to draw blood and send it out to a lab - it'd take 5 days to a week to get the results back. But again, I'm not so sure it's worth it, unless you want to get proactive about "treating" the FIV (which we did with Chum). And then, like it says on the FIV therapy site - it's not about "boosting" the immune system so much as regulating it. :nod: The reason we searched for a vet trained in alternative meds was because we didn't feel comfortable trying to follow Bud's therapy without guidance. Some of the herbals used aren't technically safe for cats, and can interfere with other meds or treatments... and we just didn't feel comfortable dosing and timing things on our own. You can search for a holistic vet (we looked for DVMs with western herbs or chinese herbal training - you'll see the "codes" for how you identify them) here: http://www.ahvma.org :nod:

I can't guess what the med is your vet recommended. What was it for? Because you definitely want to treat that giardia (I know you are), and if it's for his kidneys... it might not be a bad idea. :dk:

But after a few days, his pee is going to smell a WHOLE lot less than it does now. :lol3:

Well, he is back in his safe room, spending most of his time under the bed. He is definitely scared and upset, and doesn't want me to pet him right now. I'm taking it pretty hard.

He did rub me last night for a little bit, but he really is scared right now. I took the carrier out of his room completely, and yes, he has liquids for the giardia. Instead of trying to grab him from under the bed and do even more traumatic things, I took his other food out of the room and mixed the med with his wet food, so if he gets hungry, he has to eat it. He doesn't like it much, though.

My DH and I went to the vet last night, and it's clear that there is a LOT of misunderstanding when it comes to FIV. The vet even said that the Neg cats can catch it from litter boxes! I was pretty surprised. I know this isn't  true from the amount of research I've done, but it really makes me wonder how much discrimination people get with HIV. Like, sharing utensils or toilet seats - isn't it like saying the same thing?

And honestly, if sharing food really did pass it - which I know it doesn't - they'd all have it anyway from the time they were outside together, however brief it was.

So now Jinx is resting. I keep trying to give him toys and catnip, etc. He's not really having it. Hopefully he'll feel better soon. But health-wise he's doing well.  It's a bit cold in the room, so I think later I will bring him a heating pad with a thick cover and place it under the bed with him (there's no vent in that room for whatever reason, so he doesn't get the heat).

I do think holistic is the way to go. The holistic vets here are upwards of 1000 dollars, so I may need to pace that out, but in the meantime, I was giving him Dr. Harvey's Emmune boost cat formula without even knowing he was FIV, because I was giving it to all the cats (my little lady has terrible allergies, and she's old and very small, so it was recommended). I may grab that again, and the vet also gave me a dosage for the acidophilis, which I'm getting today.

Oh, and it's Interceptor - for the FIV.