Please, need some help, vets are stumped cats fever won't go down

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just1cat

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If anyone has experienced a persistent fever with their cat please help. My cat was hospitalized for 4 days and had a ton of tests to include surgery of lympnode removal. She is home home but the fever will not subside. Even in the hospital it never improved much. We are waiting for a biopsy to return for a diagnosis but in the mean time I just want my cat to be comfortable. She has been on Baytril, clavamox and metacam. The metacam was through IV. Took her back to regular vet today for another blood test and white cells are very high an still has a fever. Now we are trying a new med to try and bring the fever down, it's clindamycin. I just want her to be comfortable until we can get a diagnosis. We have spent to much money to call it quits on her and hope we'll have some answers in 2-3 days. Of course with her condition she hardly eats or drinks. Anyone that has had a persistent fever with the cat, please offer some ideas. She is just not responding well to medications.

I started a recent thread about her unknown condition. Thread is called "looking for some feedback Re: lymphatic I anyone is interested.
 

just mike

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Hopefully the information in this article will be somewhat helpful to you.

http://veterinarycalendar.dvm360.com/avhc/Feline+Center/Fever-of-unknown-origin-in-cats-Proceedings/ArticleStandard/Article/detail/567316

Sending heartfelt prayers for you and your baby.
Thanks for the informative article Violet.  Just1, I had a persistent fever with one of my cats that nearly made me a crazy person.  The fever would NOT go down.  The vet was convinced Ramsey had the dry form of FIP.  Ramsey was about 10 weeks old at the time and was a rescue but the group he came from is very reputable so I suspected the diagnosis was not an accurate one.  I tried everything.  He went in twice a week for blood tests etc.  Finally I found a woman that had a similar situation with her cat and she had bullied her vet into giving the cat a kitty dose of the human antibiotic, Zithromax.  Well, it worked for Ramsey too.  He really perked up after the first month.  Several months later he relapsed but I put him right back on the Zithromax.  He hasn't been sick since and it's been several years.  Just my experience.
 
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just1cat

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Thanks for the replies. She has had a multitude of tests. SNAP test (FIV, Flev) etc were negative. Its leaning to possibly cancer of some type or an infection. But she has no obvious cause of the infection with the exception of swollen lymphnodes. Two have been sent out for biopsy. She is miserable and I feel a large part of it is due to the fever. Even at the emergency vet they had a hard time keeping the fever in check. Does anyone know if fever is associated with Lymphoma?

I asked the the two different vets about FIP and they said "I don't think so" based on all the tests....Ultrasound, Xrays, bloodwork, cytology, etc. What ever it is, it is not responding to treatment.
 

violet

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I'm wondering, could you possibly ask your vet if he/she could discuss your kitty's situation with an internal medicine specialist? Perhaps you could even get a referral to one. I believe you will  need to pursue this aggressively in order to help your baby.
 
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just1cat

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I'm wondering, could you possibly ask your vet if he/she could discuss your kitty's situation with an internal medicine specialist? Perhaps you could even get a referral to one. I believe you will  need to pursue this aggressively in order to help your baby.

Thanks for the PM, I contacted her. We got to do something fast.
 

crickets mom

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Ive been reading about your cat and im very sorry the vets cant seem to figure it out.  Hopefully you will get some results from the biopsy.  What seems to be nagging at me is the enlarged spleen and low rbc.  I really dont know much about cat health issues but I have had dogs my whole life and have had many dog health issues.  Have any of the vets mentioned that it could be a blood parasite (like ehrlichia or babesia)? I dont know how common those are in cats, but they definatly can get them.  It seems blood related to me, not nessasarily infection or lymphoma. If the results come back negative for lymphoma, the vets, and you need to start thinking outside the box and look a some things that may not be common, but fit with the symptoms.  Do as much research as you can.  You are the one who loves your cat, and care more than anyone else does.  I have been in very similar situations with my dogs, where no one could figure out what was wrong.  I have learned you need to be an advocate for your pets.  I wish you the best, and I hope you get your answers. 

Please let us know how its going.  I have been very concerned, and have been looking for some kind of lead for you.  I know its not easy.
 
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just1cat

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Ive been reading about your cat and im very sorry the vets cant seem to figure it out.  Hopefully you will get some results from the biopsy.  What seems to be nagging at me is the enlarged spleen and low rbc.  I really dont know much about cat health issues but I have had dogs my whole life and have had many dog health issues.  Have any of the vets mentioned that it could be a blood parasite (like ehrlichia or babesia)? I dont know how common those are in cats, but they definatly can get them.  It seems blood related to me, not nessasarily infection or lymphoma. If the results come back negative for lymphoma, the vets, and you need to start thinking outside the box and look a some things that may not be common, but fit with the symptoms.  Do as much research as you can.  You are the one who loves your cat, and care more than anyone else does.  I have been in very similar situations with my dogs, where no one could figure out what was wrong.  I have learned you need to be an advocate for your pets.  I wish you the best, and I hope you get your answers. 


Please let us know how its going.  I have been very concerned, and have been looking for some kind of lead for you.  I know its not easy.
We have an appointment with an internal medicine specialist today. Also we hope to find out the results of the biopsy. We have to find a treatment fast, we literally have to nurse her every day. We have done and spent to much to throw in the towel just yet.
 
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just1cat

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In case anyone was wondering......I'm sorry to report my wife and I decided to lay kitty to rest this evening. When we arrived at the specialist's office today her temp was nearly 106*. She was delirious. Nothing in the tests stood out to the specialist. The biopsy revealed no findings other than necrotic tissue. We talked about an immunology and he was willing to do it, however all the tests that we thought about getting done were well over a thousand dollars. We had already spent several thousand at this point and can't afford much more. We also have other pets to care for. He also wanted to install a feeding tube to keep her nutrition up while we waited for test results. One or two of the tests we were told could take 2 weeks to return.

I refused the idea of a feeding tube. Kitty came to us as a stray and she had loving care from us and lived out her life the way she wanted it. She ran free and had shelter and all the food she could eat whenever she wanted. It broke our heart to see her suffering these past two weeks and the thought of shoving more meds down her throat and going through test after test also broke our heart. It was not fair for her and you could tell she didn't want it anymore. She was suffering.

Kitty is at peace now and so are we to a certain extent. Part of me wishes we knew what was wrong with her but we just couldn't stand putting her through all this any longer. I lost a cat to renal failure 4 years ago and she had a violent death. For 5 months I gave her SQ fluids daily, shots for anemia and shoved meds down her throat. She had a violent seizure in front us that paralyzed her. I refused to allow kitty the chance for this to happen to her. Just the high persistent fever could have caused her a violent death. Its not fair to her and at this point I think we were thinking about our feelings instead of kitty's.

Some of you may agree or disagree with our decision and thats ok. We felt we did all we could do within our means. At some point you HAVE to make a decision that is best for the animal. I feel we did more and spent more than a majority of pet owners would do, and we were given NO guarantee of finding a cause or cure.

With all this said, what do you think about the necrotic tissue in the lymphnodes? And yes, we almost tried doxocycline and predinsone to "buy" time but I explained my reasoning above. I can't change that decision now. Hopefully you guys won't pass judgement.
 

crickets mom

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I am so sorry.  You did the right thing..  Every pet owner knows their pet better than any one else.  You did the best you could for kitty.  I have been in the same situation, and it is so hard.  I feel your pain.  Thank you for letting us know.  I will be keeping you and your kitty in my thoughts, as I have scince your first post.
 

cloud_shade

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I'm sorry for your loss.  It sounds like you made the best possible decision.  If the kitty has not already been buried or cremated, you may want to consider having a necropsy done--it may be able to answer some questions.  My kitty Willow died of FIP.  It was reassuring for me to have the necropsy and testing done so that I could say that with certainty (she was not in the typical age range for an FIP kitty).
 

mrblanche

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Only you can know what the right decision is for your cat, but I would support you 100% in the decision you made.  It sounds like you went above and beyond to solve her problem.  Sometimes, the only humane answer is release.
 
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just1cat

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I'm sorry for your loss.  It sounds like you made the best possible decision.  If the kitty has not already been buried or cremated, you may want to consider having a necropsy done--it may be able to answer some questions.  My kitty Willow died of FIP.  It was reassuring for me to have the necropsy and testing done so that I could say that with certainty (she was not in the typical age range for an FIP kitty).

FIP could have been a possibility but we were told by the vets nothing stood out to them to safely say it was. It does bug me that we won't know what happened. I built her a box out of white cedar to bury her in. I'm not a fan of autopsy type stuff. Just wanted her body to be at peace.

I thank you all for your replies, and comforting thoughts.
 

finnlacey

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I'm so very sorry for your loss as well. I'm leaning with FIP only because I see it so much these days in forums. It's scary really. But I've had friends who had kitties with all kinds of crazy symptoms that didn't sound like FIP at first and then it got out of hand for the kitty, like it did with yours. Same thing, several thousand dollars later they ended up losing them. Whether anyone agrees with you shouldn't be something you put on yourself. You did the best you could and probably more than that little angel would have gotten otherwise. Just know you tried and that your baby died knowing you loved her. That's all any kitty or pet can ever ask for.
 

GoldyCat

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Just1cat, I'm so sorry for your loss. :hugs: You can take comfort in knowing you did the best you possible could for your Kitty, and in the end thought of her instead of yourselves.

I'll close this thread now. When you feel able you might post a tribute to Kitty in the Crossing the Bridge forum.
 
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