Indoor cat has toxoplasmosis

Zoe started having seizures two days ago, and we rushed her the vet. They gave us anticonvulsants and steroids and took blood. The preliminary results showed everything was fine with blood count, kidneys, liver, pancreas. They said they were waiting for more results, one of them being toxoplasmosis, but they dismissed it completely because she is an indoor cat. They told us it was probably a tumor. Since we can't afford the thousands of dollars it would take just to diagnose that, much less what it would cost to treat that diagnosis, vet developed a treatment plan to manage seizures as long as possible while maintaining quality of life. Turns out the rest of the results came in, and it's toxoplasmosis, not a tumor. That makes me angry with the vet because for two days we lived with the knowledge our sweet girl was dying. My question is this: after doing some research, how in the world did my indoor cat get this?? We don't feed her raw food, and to our knowledge we don't have a rodent issue. So… I'm at a total loss. My next question is will the antibiotic cure her? I've been waiting to hear from the vet so i can ask these questions, but it will be tomorrow given how late it is now. Plus I'm a little ticked off about the quick rush to diagnose tumor without complete blood results. I feel like I'm not going to get complete information. So has anyone had any experience with this?

I'm really sorry you're having to go through this with your kitty.  I have no words of experience with this, but I hope someone will come along quickly to help you.
 

While you're waiting, I did a search of the site.  Here are the results.  Maybe some of these threads and articles will help. 

http://www.thecatsite.com/newsearch?search=toxoplasmosis

Hi there and I am very sorry for what you have had to go through with your kitty. Is she the cat in your avatar- she looks so much like my frank!

I do not know much about toxoplasmosis but there is a helpful article on the topic of  toxoplasmosis and pregnancy from this site (http://www.thecatsite.com/a/toxoplasmosis-and-cats). It seems that it is contracted in both humans and cats through the consumption of infected raw meat.  I guess since she has not had raw food she may have eaten some mice? I am not sure it does sound very strange. 

As for treatment after a google search I did find that antibiotics are usually given though it is apparently not a cure but it has been shown to be effective to stop the spread of the disease (http://www.petmd.com/cat/conditions/infectious-parasitic/c_ct_toxoplasmosis?page=2#.UgWerhYTP3A). There is no approved treatment but this site has a list of common medications used (http://www.capcvet.org/capc-recommendations/toxoplasma). Another important element of treatment is fluid and proper nutrition. I would bring her in for some sub q fluids and if she is not eating start syringe feeding or have them insert a feeding tube (both sound scarier than they are and they save a lot of cats lives). 

So it's been a while since I posted about my girl. We completed a full 3 weeks of clindamycine, and slowly phased out the anti-convulsant and Zoe came back to normal. However, I'm starting to see some things that were happening before she started having the seizures - pica (she likes wax coated paper) and some vomiting. I've done some research online, and re-read the posts here and i understand toxoplasmosis is not curable, but does anyone have any experience with this or know of some reputable resources i can go to and check to see how common it is to relapse (if that can even be answered)? Thanks so much!!

I'm so sorry.

Given that the antibiotics alone may not resolve the infection, you may want to chat with the vet about the other treatment options, described in the Cornell brochure:

http://www.vet.cornell.edu/fhc/brochures/toxo.html

Treatment usually involves a course of an antibiotic called Clindamycin. Other drugs that are used include pyrimethamine and sulfadiazine, which act together to inhibit T. gondii reproduction. Treatment must be started as soon as possible after diagnosis and continued for several days after signs have disappeared. In acute illness, treatment is sometimes started on the basis of a high antibody titer in the first test. If clinical improvement is not seen within two to three days, the diagnosis of toxoplasmosis should be questioned.

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So if pyrimethamine and sulfadiazine haven't been used, it seems that may be the next step.

I would also want to provide some type of immune system support, to help her fight this. I'd chat with the vet about using a probiotic (a human grade supplement - my holistic vet recommends 10 billion CFU for adult cats).


Here's a news piece about a study supporting the idea, particularly as it relates to T. gondii: http://voices.yahoo.com/the-effects-probiotics-they-destroy-intestinal-4106449.html?cat=5

This is the study: http://www.cell.com/cell-host-microbe/retrieve/pii/S1931312809002170 (Your vet may have full access to the report).

Given they didn't identify the most effective strains of probiotic to use, I'd suggest a traditional acidophilus+bifidus supplement (I use Natural Factors double-strength) - but given that T. gondii is a double-strain coccidia, you might want to also include a probiotic with S. boulardii in it. I use Nexabiotic 20-strain, because it is palatable to the cats. I give mine daily probiotics: 1/2 a capsule 2x a day of the Natural Factors, and 1/4 capsule 2x a day of the Nexabiotic.

Something else to discuss with the vet: curcumin or reservatrol. There are supplements that can be used in cats, it's discussed in relation to helping provide immune system support in FIV+ kitties. But here is a research paper where these were studied in relation to T. gondii infection: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21151942

Again, you may want to chat with your vet about one of these. Your vet can probably access the full paper, and find a correct dosage for a cat.

If you're interested, these things are discussed here (re: using in cats for FIV immune system support). The discussion is in relation to FIV, but describes the method of action, and dose suggestions....

Curcumin: http://www.fivtherapy.com/curcumin.htm

More here - scroll down for curcumin: http://www.fivtherapy.com/bdmeds.htm#Botanicals



Vibes for your you and your girl. :heart2: