Hi everyone,
New to the forums, unfortunately for sad reasons!
I currently live in the Philippines (i.e. a country with lots of stray cats & myriad tropical diseases/etc.). Back in late July, we found a kitten abandoned in the street and took him in - he was still tiny, likely not more than a month old (probably 3 weeks) (we named him, creatively, "Kitty"). A month later, we found another one at a similar age and took her in too (her name is "Princess"). Other than the odd bout of diarrhea and a couple of vomits, our two kittens were basically healthy and active from that time in late July until October. We fed them rice and cooked fish twice or thrice daily - not the typical North American diet, but basically the only one people use in this country. They were both indoor cats – they never interacted with any other animals during this time, and we kept our house and their litter box clean.
They generally played well and we loved them a lot, though Kitty, being the boy, was always more energetic and curious than Princess, who was always weaker and kept to herself more.
Then, in October, I found a long worm (probably a roundworm) in the poop of Princess and noticed her stomach getting pretty bloated for her size, so I took both of them into a local vet to get deworming pills administered, which we gave to them twice (with a two-week interval in-between). Didn't notice any further worms in either of their poop in the next couple weeks, though their appetites dropped quite a bit, with a few days going by where they both refused various types of food, and a couple days where they vomited or had diarrhea. But they generally still seemed fairly healthy, though Princess was much lower energy these days and spent most of the day lying around.
Then, two weeks later, I brought them in again for their first vaccination, Merial’s PUREVAX FELINE 4 (Feline Rhinotracheitis-Calici-Panleukopenia-Chlamydia Psittaci Vaccine Modified Live Virus & Chlamydia). The vet we had previously been using was absent that day, so the other vet there administered the shots into their hind legs (I say "vets" but I don't actually know if either of these people were trained doctors, or just assistants, or what have you. It was an accredited store in a mall, which is more than can be said for most stores/doctors/vets in this country, so I trusted the place).
That was on a Sunday. Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday then passed uneventfully - with both of them eating well, with firm poops, and consistent energy levels (still ok for Kitty, still fairly low for Princess). By Thursday, though, we noticed that Princess seemed really weak in the hind legs, barely able to stand up, and falling rapidly down if I helped her stand up. It is Saturday now, and she is still basically like this - She's eating a little bit and can walk on her own, but not very well, and doesn't do so unless it's necessary.
Kitty, though, is the sad story, which was the surprise, since he had always been the healthier and more energetic one. By Thursday evening, we noticed that he was starting to have back spasms, where the skin/muscles along the middle-top of his back rippled uncontrollably for short periods, then stopped again. When they happened, Kitty would get scared or generally discomforted. That was Thursday. Friday morning continued the same, but with the spasms getting worse (we tried massaging him, to no avail). Kitty didn't eat all day and was growing increasingly discomforted - crying out in what sounded like pain/anxiety when these spasms kept happening. As evening approached, the spasms were getting so bad so as to make him collapse and flail about on the ground. Then, late in the evening as we were preparing for bed, he had what seemed like a full-blown seizure, collapsing in full-body spasms on the ground, urinating uncontrollably, and absolutely SCREAMING in pain - It was terrifying and horrible to witness!
After this event (which lasted only about a minute), he became a different cat. His breathing and heart rate rocketed upward - he was panting incredibly quickly. He also was no longer able to stand up at all. If we lifted him up and tried to position him on his feet, he would collapse right back down and start squirming, flailing, and kicking - rolling back and forth, and screaming loudly while doing so. He would eventually tire after a few seconds of this, or I would come to comfort him with petting and holding him down on his side, and would then lie still on his side, panting heavily. His eyes essentially just looked straight ahead and seemed out of focus, though occasionally noticed my hand movements/etc. during the times when he wasn’t flailing in pain.
The problem was, of course, that this episode began at midnight, and there are no 24-hour vets near our house. We didn’t know what to do, so we wrapped him up in a blanket and tried to wait until morning when the nearby vet would open again. It was a fitful night though, with him flailing around and screaming every few minutes, so we got up frequently to try and comfort him. He drank a little water and milk when we fed it to him on a spoon, and choked down a little bit of food, but that was it. He didn’t urinate or defecate any more after that initial seizure episode.
He was getting worse in the morning, so we tried to get to the vet as soon as they opened. Upon arrival there though, the vet said that this was an emergency and that we had to go to an actual pet hospital, as this place was just a little clinic. Unfortunately, not 10 minutes after that, Kitty did one last scream & flail in the box & blanket we had placed in him, urinated again, and died in my arms…
We never did make it to the pet hospital, but we stopped at another vet along the road after he died. We also had Princess with us. The vet at this place swabbed both Kitty’s and Princess’ ears and suggested that he died of ear mites, then prescribed anti-mite ear drops for Princess. This vet was sketchier / a more run-down shop though, so, while I trust him on the ear mites (as he showed me the swab in a microscope), I’m not sure I trust his diagnosis that that is what killed Kitty.
So, after coming home and having a good cry, I’ve set myself to try and find out what killed my little angel. So far, though, in the few hours I’ve been looking, I haven’t seen any common cat disease that matches these symptoms, and the incredible speed in which he went from healthy to dead (less than 24 hours).
I don’t *think* it was rabies, and hope not – as he bit me and drew blood in one of his flailings (I’m getting vaccinated, just to be safe). The symptoms and onset don’t seem to match up, plus, as I said, they haven’t had any contact with any other mammals since at least July. The human doctor I went to for my first rabies vaccine suggested it might have been meningitis, but the symptoms I see for this don’t match up to the speed of death either. And the ear mite symptoms don’t seem to match either, even though he definitely had them.
That suggests that maybe it was a botched vaccination? Especially since Princess is so weak and feeble now too. But why, then, were they healthy and happy on the first 3 days after the vaccine? If there was air in the syringe or something, I imagine they would have died the same day of the vaccine. But, none of the 4 things the vaccine carried seems that it would cause these symptoms either?
I’d love to go talk to a vet about all this, but since two of the “vets” in this country have failed to provide any good advice so far, and since I’m not proficient enough in the Philippine language to attempt to explain these details, I pose the question here and hope someone has some ideas or answers! Most importantly, I’d like to hear your thoughts on the likelihood that this was rabies, since, as I mentioned, Kitty bit me during his flailing, and even though I’m getting vaccinated, it is still a big concern right now!
I welcome any of your questions, ideas, and condolences! L
Thanks in advance,
J
New to the forums, unfortunately for sad reasons!
I currently live in the Philippines (i.e. a country with lots of stray cats & myriad tropical diseases/etc.). Back in late July, we found a kitten abandoned in the street and took him in - he was still tiny, likely not more than a month old (probably 3 weeks) (we named him, creatively, "Kitty"). A month later, we found another one at a similar age and took her in too (her name is "Princess"). Other than the odd bout of diarrhea and a couple of vomits, our two kittens were basically healthy and active from that time in late July until October. We fed them rice and cooked fish twice or thrice daily - not the typical North American diet, but basically the only one people use in this country. They were both indoor cats – they never interacted with any other animals during this time, and we kept our house and their litter box clean.
They generally played well and we loved them a lot, though Kitty, being the boy, was always more energetic and curious than Princess, who was always weaker and kept to herself more.
Then, in October, I found a long worm (probably a roundworm) in the poop of Princess and noticed her stomach getting pretty bloated for her size, so I took both of them into a local vet to get deworming pills administered, which we gave to them twice (with a two-week interval in-between). Didn't notice any further worms in either of their poop in the next couple weeks, though their appetites dropped quite a bit, with a few days going by where they both refused various types of food, and a couple days where they vomited or had diarrhea. But they generally still seemed fairly healthy, though Princess was much lower energy these days and spent most of the day lying around.
Then, two weeks later, I brought them in again for their first vaccination, Merial’s PUREVAX FELINE 4 (Feline Rhinotracheitis-Calici-Panleukopenia-Chlamydia Psittaci Vaccine Modified Live Virus & Chlamydia). The vet we had previously been using was absent that day, so the other vet there administered the shots into their hind legs (I say "vets" but I don't actually know if either of these people were trained doctors, or just assistants, or what have you. It was an accredited store in a mall, which is more than can be said for most stores/doctors/vets in this country, so I trusted the place).
That was on a Sunday. Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday then passed uneventfully - with both of them eating well, with firm poops, and consistent energy levels (still ok for Kitty, still fairly low for Princess). By Thursday, though, we noticed that Princess seemed really weak in the hind legs, barely able to stand up, and falling rapidly down if I helped her stand up. It is Saturday now, and she is still basically like this - She's eating a little bit and can walk on her own, but not very well, and doesn't do so unless it's necessary.
Kitty, though, is the sad story, which was the surprise, since he had always been the healthier and more energetic one. By Thursday evening, we noticed that he was starting to have back spasms, where the skin/muscles along the middle-top of his back rippled uncontrollably for short periods, then stopped again. When they happened, Kitty would get scared or generally discomforted. That was Thursday. Friday morning continued the same, but with the spasms getting worse (we tried massaging him, to no avail). Kitty didn't eat all day and was growing increasingly discomforted - crying out in what sounded like pain/anxiety when these spasms kept happening. As evening approached, the spasms were getting so bad so as to make him collapse and flail about on the ground. Then, late in the evening as we were preparing for bed, he had what seemed like a full-blown seizure, collapsing in full-body spasms on the ground, urinating uncontrollably, and absolutely SCREAMING in pain - It was terrifying and horrible to witness!
After this event (which lasted only about a minute), he became a different cat. His breathing and heart rate rocketed upward - he was panting incredibly quickly. He also was no longer able to stand up at all. If we lifted him up and tried to position him on his feet, he would collapse right back down and start squirming, flailing, and kicking - rolling back and forth, and screaming loudly while doing so. He would eventually tire after a few seconds of this, or I would come to comfort him with petting and holding him down on his side, and would then lie still on his side, panting heavily. His eyes essentially just looked straight ahead and seemed out of focus, though occasionally noticed my hand movements/etc. during the times when he wasn’t flailing in pain.
The problem was, of course, that this episode began at midnight, and there are no 24-hour vets near our house. We didn’t know what to do, so we wrapped him up in a blanket and tried to wait until morning when the nearby vet would open again. It was a fitful night though, with him flailing around and screaming every few minutes, so we got up frequently to try and comfort him. He drank a little water and milk when we fed it to him on a spoon, and choked down a little bit of food, but that was it. He didn’t urinate or defecate any more after that initial seizure episode.
He was getting worse in the morning, so we tried to get to the vet as soon as they opened. Upon arrival there though, the vet said that this was an emergency and that we had to go to an actual pet hospital, as this place was just a little clinic. Unfortunately, not 10 minutes after that, Kitty did one last scream & flail in the box & blanket we had placed in him, urinated again, and died in my arms…
We never did make it to the pet hospital, but we stopped at another vet along the road after he died. We also had Princess with us. The vet at this place swabbed both Kitty’s and Princess’ ears and suggested that he died of ear mites, then prescribed anti-mite ear drops for Princess. This vet was sketchier / a more run-down shop though, so, while I trust him on the ear mites (as he showed me the swab in a microscope), I’m not sure I trust his diagnosis that that is what killed Kitty.
So, after coming home and having a good cry, I’ve set myself to try and find out what killed my little angel. So far, though, in the few hours I’ve been looking, I haven’t seen any common cat disease that matches these symptoms, and the incredible speed in which he went from healthy to dead (less than 24 hours).
I don’t *think* it was rabies, and hope not – as he bit me and drew blood in one of his flailings (I’m getting vaccinated, just to be safe). The symptoms and onset don’t seem to match up, plus, as I said, they haven’t had any contact with any other mammals since at least July. The human doctor I went to for my first rabies vaccine suggested it might have been meningitis, but the symptoms I see for this don’t match up to the speed of death either. And the ear mite symptoms don’t seem to match either, even though he definitely had them.
That suggests that maybe it was a botched vaccination? Especially since Princess is so weak and feeble now too. But why, then, were they healthy and happy on the first 3 days after the vaccine? If there was air in the syringe or something, I imagine they would have died the same day of the vaccine. But, none of the 4 things the vaccine carried seems that it would cause these symptoms either?
I’d love to go talk to a vet about all this, but since two of the “vets” in this country have failed to provide any good advice so far, and since I’m not proficient enough in the Philippine language to attempt to explain these details, I pose the question here and hope someone has some ideas or answers! Most importantly, I’d like to hear your thoughts on the likelihood that this was rabies, since, as I mentioned, Kitty bit me during his flailing, and even though I’m getting vaccinated, it is still a big concern right now!
I welcome any of your questions, ideas, and condolences! L
Thanks in advance,
J
.
. There's a guy from India who got some very good advice and his kitty is so handsome now!
