cat's drowning in drainage

thanks all for your thougts.  i'm sticking with the diagnosis of herpes /and possible fiv. 

we could test but treatment would be the same as i'm doing now -- treating symptomatically.

am told a culture and sensitivity test on nasal discharge is unreliable because there are so many contaminants / organisms that no single one will produce a colony large enough to identify as the problem.

(am told this is not the case for urine samples or samples taken from wounds, which produce more definitive results.)

have looked at the afflictions covered by the idexx pc / urd test and ruled out almost all of them them (except herpes)  based on what we know.

the cat has gained two pounds since i began this post, thanks in part to several 10-day prednisolone doses.

tried azithromycin but gave up after one dose because of nausea and the cat's struggle to avoid being dosed again.

cat has been on tetracycline.

this may be helping. cat is not so afflicted as it has been.

i give 1/2 tsp or less daily, in gerber turkey baby food.

tetracycline is a yellow powder. it is said by some to be largely ineffective due to overuse in the past, but they still sell it, and i can't say it doesn't work. it might.  it is available in my area at tractor supply co. for about $5 for a small bag that is enough to last for many, many daily cat doses.

thanks again for all the input.

 

All I can say about the culture and sensitivity test is that it saved my cat's life.  If we'd not have had the test, we'd not have discovered she had a serious, life-threatening pseudomonas infection that would've led to her death within a few months if we'd not caught it.  They actually took many samples from her nasal passages and from her throat.  If your vet is telling you the test is unreliable, you need a new vet.  Labs don't offer these tests if they're not reliable.  You CAN find out what's causing the problem and you CAN get to the bottom of it, but YOU have to be the advocate for your cat.  Get a second, third, fourth opinion if need be, but your cat needs you to be her voice. 

Well this is  certainly an interesting thread.

@crier  it sounds like you appreciate the advice given to you, but it's a bit troubling, at least for me.

One thing you must understand is, we all volunteer our advice, because we really care, we are cat loving people who offer our help to those who have questions or concerns, issues with their cat's health, behavior, etc.

So please understand that none of us want to ever make someone upset or feel bad by our advice or comments. I say this ahead of time because I have a way of calling it as I see it basically.

Never do I mean to upset or offend anyone!

However, after seeing the pic of your cat with his head down on it's paws, I can't help but feel for this poor cat.

You are still, after months of starting this thread, guessing at what is wrong.

A large part of being a responsible pet owner is making sure they get the help and/or meds they need, and never allow them to suffer needlessly.

You said he saw a vet but haven't told us anything what-so-ever on what the vet said is going on, now I can't speak for anyone else here, but if I took my cat to the vet because something is wrong, you can best believe I will get an answer and a solution, and if I don't, I WILL find another vet who will tell me what I need for my cat and on the road to recovery.

Your cat surely has a secondary infection, I have no doubt in my mind and heart, and because of the lack of antibiotics for him, and trying this, trying that, substituting over the counter fixes for what he really needs. 

What you are hearing in him is NOT herpevirus, nor fiv. Perhaps he has the herpevirus in his system, but they can also become an infection. He may even be fiv positive, which means he needs antibiotics when he is sick. 

Your cat has an internally draining infection, likely starting in his sinus cavity or thereabouts.

It drains down his esophagus creating the sounds when he breaths, and quite possibly going into a lung infection.

Just because he was found in the woods doesn't make him any less valuable or important. He is exactly the same as an expensive pure bred show cat. He deserves to be cared for just as much.

If he is suffering from something he is unable to get rid of himself, then please do him the kindness of getting him some real antibiotics.

I wish you the best.

crier said:

tetracycline is a yellow powder. it is said by some to be largely ineffective due to overuse in the past, but they still sell it, and i can't say it doesn't work. it might.  it is available in my area at tractor supply co. for about $5 for a small bag that is enough to last for many, many daily cat doses.

Click to expand...

I'm a bit confused. Are you self-medicating your cat without seeing a vet?

FYI-tetracycline IS NOTJUST POWDER

I'm sorry, but I don't understand. Was the tetracycline prescribed by a vet?

This has got me all upset. From what I'm reading is she took her cat to the vet. MONTHS ago not recently.She bought over the counter antibiotics at a feed store. She has self diagnosed and I'm beside myself in grief for this poor baby!!!

i know what you mean, i find this post very upsetting and i keep thinking about this poor little guy.

hi my cat is going through exactly the same thing

I HAVE taken my to a very experienced vet.

my vet said it was Not asthma and herpes.

Your cat needs a steroid tablet daily to decrease the inflammation which wil make his breathing easier, must be prescribed by a vet, not at chemist

They need to do a chest x-ray, this can usually be done at the vets and is not expensive. The x-ray will indicate whether the cat has lung cancer.

Your cat should also be treated with Paraforte or similar which treats a specific parasite that invade heart/lung

It is more likely a parasite, lung infection or cancer, good luck

my cat is doing ok, he is had his course of Parafote, and is now on steroid and high dose antibiotics

Hi crier -

I want to chime in here and defend you at bit, since it seems at this point to be a bit of a (well meaning) pile on.

First of all - clearly you are trying to be pro-active within the bounds you have.  Others may have ignored your initial comment:  "I've got limited time, limited money. and many others to take care of"

but I definitely hear you, I understand your position and I, for one, think you are doing a good job of trying to find a way you CAN, at this point and with limited resources, help your Patch.

You are being pro-active and you deserve recognition.

Ideally, we all would be getting unlimited X-rays and tests for X, Y, and Z and zooming off to 2nd and 3rd and 4th opinions, and seeking out specialists and going at 3 a.m. to emergency vets for any and all crisis-

but some of us:

1- live in rural or depressed areas where emergency vet facilities are unheard of, and the 1 vet in town closes at 5 pm,

and he's stingy and not terribly forthcoming with all the possible options in 1 visit let alone 3....

2- simply CANNOT afford much in the way of professional examinations, follow-up check ups, and tests and medicines.

But life is not ideal so much of the time, is it.

Generally speaking - for a lot of conditions, experience and good ol' farmer sense- with over-the-counter resources, including some antibiotics and wormers that can be bought at Tractor Supply, etc... designed for fish or goats or dogs, etc... can be adapted for cats when one knows how to properly dose and adjust.

It's not ideal, but when the alternative is doing nothing - don't let naysayers discourage you from modest attempts at care.

I also want you to know I read and took to heart your comment that you HAVE researched what the one test would determine, and given his symptoms and past history of this coming and going, it's one of two things and the protocol would be what you're doing now regardless.

Again- it looks very much to me like you are TRYING hard to help your cat within the limits life has for you and he at the moment.  I'm there with you and I understand.

Yes- certain antibiotics are best for certain infections of the X, Y and Z - but if you're at a brick wall in terms of $$$ and commitment to others (I have often 6 pets at a time, and try to find tricks to stretch care when money has run out), but if you cannot do cultures, I'd try the cheat method of buying Fish antibiotics - you can get the various kinds (I got Doxycycline for my dog's Lyme that way) online without a prescription.

Just make certain you buy the kind that are labeled as not having any other additive and research you dosage thoroughly.  You can buy empty gel caps to re-pill the powder from some old fashioned drug stores.

Best of luck to you and Patches.  How old is he, by the way?

Dear 4catsN,

Thank you sincerely for your utterly kind post and your wise practicality.

I came to this forum with a sick cat who'd been to the vet, and I was trying to find more ideas about what might be ailing him.

I found several such ideas, which I discussed with my (excellent) vet.. So I got what I came for, and for that I'm grateful to many who have posted here, notably hazmat, sillywabbit, stephanietx, cprcheetah and catownerlady..

I was not able to investigate all possibilities as I might have liked, in part for the reasons you so well re-stated but also because Patch didn't give me the chance.

However, I was pursuing a sensitivity and culture test as recommended by stephanietx. I didn't think it would be fruitful for reasons I've said, but it cost only money to try it.

My vet didn't have the requisite swabs so ordered them for me.

My intention was to have a vet tech do the swabbing and I'd drive the specimens to the university veterinary lab about 45 minutes away. 

I didn't have the $140 the test costs but knew I'd find it in due course.

Since I made the original post last winter, Patch's condition of impaired breathing waxed and waned. 

He demanded much of my time. I could not sit at my desk without his begging to be held.

As our amazingly harsh winter began to subside, Patch began to sit at the cat window -- through which cats can come and go -- and stare outside. I know now he was planning his break.

You ask how old he is, I do not know. I adopted him from the wild about eight years ago, by which time he'd already been somebody's pet, somebody who declawed him and, I believe, discarded him, probably for peeing up the house.

(He has some bad habits in that regard, but this is a tolerant home -- I know God made cats as they are.)

When I found Patch he was living in the woods, off bugs.

He could not catch mice, moles, birds, because some idiot had had his claws removed and them dumped him to fend for himself. So he ate what he could -- bugs.

Even after I took him in and cared for him through the years, he still was notable in his attention to specks on floors, counters, clothing and the like -- examining them always to see if they might be a bug.

One evening in early May -- last month -- Patch seemed especially intent on charming me with affectionate bites as I held him on my lap. By then I'd nursed him for months.

The next morning he was gone.

I've not seen him since.

This is what he does. Summer comes and he leaves. I believe he camps out, lives rough.  And how, it would appear, his illness has not thwarted him in doing that.

 I live miles from where I found him originally, so I do not believe he returns there. He simply goes into the woods hereabouts, and stays.

I cannot explain it. He has food and a safe place here, and all the care and concern I can muster, but he is drawn back to the wild.

Will I see him again? I don't know. Of course I hope so.

Last year he returned home in mid-summer and he was very sick -- with the breathing issues that eventually prompted my original post. Previous to that the troubling respiratory symptoms of his illness had been intermittent, surfacing each year for a spell, then going away, but this time they just stayed. 

So anyway, he's gone. It's possible he will die and I'll not see him again. It's possible he's already dead. But I'd bet not; underneath his illness has been a strong, sinewy cat. I just hope the illness doesn't do him in while he's staying away. Not that I was able to do much good for him while he was with me.

If he returns I'm eager to continue investigating what ails him, as I am able. With the culture, but also other ideas, such as the x-ray that catownerlady, in what appears to be her single post on this forum, suggested.

As for your interesting post, I was not aware of the options of fish or goat antibiotics but that's another valuable bit of info I've learned from this discussion. I'll mention it to my vet, who recommended the Tractor Supply tetracycline, similar to doxycycline she said. Don't know if she was aware the doxy is available without prescription.

Thank you again, dear 4catsN, and as I said I'm most grateful to all others who took time in this discussion to give me their best advice. 

What a lovely post and thanks for coming back on to let us know what's been happening. You obviously care an awful lot about Patch and I hope he returns maybe one last time and that he's not already passed. If that was one of mine, the not knowing would kill me. You've done everything you can for him. Please let us know if he comes back. Thinking of you!