Cat has clear ear discharge and will not eat- what to do?

I'm so mad at myself right now :-(. I agreed to help take a cat from Animal Control for a short time until the adopters could come in from Wisconsin- my conditions were that it had to be healthy, spayed, and friendly as I have immune compromised cats plus my two feral kitties who live outside.

I picked her up on Friday and she seemed fine. I put her in a cage in the same room where I have my FIV+ foster who has free access in the room. She did not eat which I thought was just her getting settled. And that night, she showed interest when I tried feeding her some different crunchies (she showed no interest in any other wet or dry food and trust me, I have every possible food). She ate a small handful and I thought ahhh, that is a good sign.

Yesterday we were very busy all day - in fact I have been in motion since Thursday night with my own issues. But when we got home around 5PM yesterday and I saw that she was STILL not coming around, I decided to take her out of the cage and try to better see what was going on. She did a short walk around the room and settled down by me. I just sat there with her so I could see what was going on. At some point she scratched her ears on two different occasions, and both times she cried out when she scratched them. One of those times she shook her head and some clear fluid went on my hand. I wasn't sure where it came from. 

Because it was late at night and I just wanted to keep her going, I syringe fed her a some wet food- she was NOT happy with that- and put her back into her cage and covered it, then threw the bedding into the laundry in case she was contagious. 

This morning I went to have a look at her (after making a vet appointment for Tuesday UGH). I was going to have a look at her ears. When I went to take her out, more fluid came from her ears onto my hand. 

I got a towel and had a look, and she has clear fluid in both of her ears, it is easily visible just by pulling her ear back the slightest bit. She has no other symptoms, not sneezing, nor any discharge from eyes or nose. I had some Animax so I put it in there for now. Yes I realize that can be risky but she cannot be seen until Tuesday unless I want to pay for an emergency visit. And I know where she just came from- Animal Control where she was recovering from a bad URI. 

I am really really bummed about this- we are leaving on vacation this coming Saturday. I don't want either of my FIV+ cats nor my other 3 cats to get this, whatever it is :-(. 

Has anyone had a cat with this and what should I do until I can get her to the vets. I alerted the sponsor rescue but I doubt I will get any assistance nor anyone to take her for now. 

So sorry you are going through this! I did a bit of googling about clear liquid in cats ears and even though it seems to be a common question I did not see any definitive answers as to what it could be. There were some suggestions that using an ear cleaner may help. 

I would also keep syringe feeding her until you can see a vet. 

As you know a vet trip is really the best thing you can do but I understand this is a difficult situation and you are doing the best you can! 

Barb, without a swab, there's no way to know if it is bacterial, yeast, or mites. I don't think I'd continue with the animax, unless it treats all three. The only thing I know of that does treat all three is colloidal silver, at 10ppm - 30ppm, a few drops several times a day. Most health food store would carry colloidal silver at that strength - though as of tomorrow, you're just one day away from the vet, so it's probably best just to wait.

I'm so sorry hun...

Thank you and thank you. I am hopeful it is just a regular infection and not yeast. She just finished a course of liquid doxy. I know it can be worse if she is treated for the wrong thing. I hope the vet's office can figure it out. She is very miserable, very very thin, and I don't know when she last ate other than the tiny 15 or so crunchies she ate yesterday at my house.

When I picked her up to give her the sub q fluids, she threw up clear fluid as well. I think she is just that sick. 

I talked to the sponsor rescue too, they said I could take her to their vet. I am calling them first thing in the morning. I got about 50ml of sub q fluids into her before she was able to wrestle away. She is not at all strong, but she was writhing around with the needle in her and impossible to hold that part of her still  :-(. My husband was helping me and he did NOT want to be a part of it. He started lecturing me about how this needs to stop with bringing in sick kitties. :-(. Augh. 

Just to update this thread, I took this kitty to the vet both Monday and again Tuesday where she received fluids plus clavamox, and antibiotic ear drops and then a shot of convenia bc she became so nauseated she could not keep the antibiotics down.

On Weds afternoon I had to hospitalize her as she was not improving and on fact was in her litterbox drooling from nausea .

On Thursday the hospital called in the AM to advise her temp was down but she was not as well as expected. By that time I had made arrangements with a sponsor rescue to put her in their ISO while I was out of town this week. I decided to add a day to the hospital time just to improve her chances, and the rescue agreed to pick her up from the hospital late fri nite.

Thursday afternoon the vet called to say her temperature was back up and her white cell count was low, plus she was having diarrhea. They were concerned for panleukopenia or dry FIP. I authorized a panleukopenia test and called the rescue. We both agreed we did not have resources to treat either disease.

The vet confirmed within an hour that the test was positive for panleukopenia. i had to make the awful decision to euthanize her. The rescue agreed with me, but with equal despair.

I went with my husband to say goodbye. It was an agonizing decision and I was/am haunted by her face and her anguished stoicism. She came to our house without any will to live and I was resolved to save her. The fact that she was right made me feel so strongly that humans failed her.

I slept in the room with her and talked to her before she went into the hospital, and all during the time i was with her, she looked past me, as if she already knew what I did not. I still do not completely understand, but I knew she had given up and that she was looking at another life, one after death and not the second chance within this life that I was telling her about.

I had closed off her room by Sunday and on Thursday nite I had to go back in with garbage bags and sterilizers and gut the room. It is now closed off and my cat sitter is keeping an eye out for signs of distemper in my cats.

i hardly slept that week and was fighting a bladder infection myself that blew past the meds I was given. I am still recovering from this. i cant put into words what happened, even. She was the first kitty I had to give up on, for the sake of my own cats, and also bc it was beyond me to treat her as I was leaving town, plus have not had a kitty with distemper who was so far into the illness. i feel horrible.

Rip Amour, you had a life of pain and suffering and now you have crossed the rainbow bridge. I am sorry I could not save you and that many others failed you. But you were loved and if love could have saved you, you would be here today.

I am in utter despair reading this and I am so sorry for your loss!

That's heartbreaking. I'm so sorry she was too sick to save. RIP, Amour.

Thank you Franksmom and jcat,

I too felt complete despair, like I fell into a dark pit with no way out. Everyone suffered and Amour the most. It started out bad and got worse- a nightmare that you don't wake up from. Throughout I felt that Amour was already not with us mentally. By wednesday nite I pretty much collapsed, realizing I was facing something larger than I could manage or comprehend, despite being in rescue 12+ years now.

I did strongly feel the "other side" on the nights that I spent with her. The last night she was with me I had put her looking out the window, and although she looked out, it was as if she were looking from a far away place. I walked over and crouched down between her spot on the cat tree and the window. When I started to talk to her, the white string lights on the other side of the room went on by themselves. They stayed on all night and went out in the morning by themselves. These were lights that had burned out several nights earlier and were not on a timer. I took Amour to the hospital the next day and the lights did not come on again.

:heart3: :heart3: :heart3: :heart3:



Oh Barb, I'm so sorry. I can just imagine how difficult this was for you. :heart2: :rub: But Amour knew... and apparently you knew too, it just took a while for "science" to catch up with what you felt and what she was communicating to you. I think that's pretty darn amazing about that string of lights. She knew she was going to be an angel. I'm sure she appreciates the love and hope you offered her, even though she already understood her healing wasn't to be in this life. She's shining brightly on the other side now.

:grphug2: :grphug2: :grphug2: :grphug2: :grphug2:

Thank you Laurie,
Re the lights, You know I am not one of those people who is big into mysticism etc., i never "saw" things when Toby wasill. And i have dealt with string lights a lot. But it was so very specific and I had jiggled those lights days before, and there was nothing there to move them. Plus they went out on cue too in the am.
Also after it was all over, and my husband was helping me disinfect I showed him too, they were dead and never flickered or anything, and I twisted themall over and jiggled the plug.. But when they were on it was steady. II know it was special. It gives me reassurance that maybe she had others waiting for her, maybe her baby kitten who died at CACC.