Well, VERY interesting news!!!!!!!!!!
Her vet called yesterday morning - he said he was thinking about her this weekend (we'd called Friday worried about her wheezing, coughing and sneezing still). He read an article about Lung Worm over the weekend in one of his medical journals - and then when he got into the office yesterday he checked the local health alerts and found there was an alert for Warren County (where we live) that a feral mom and six kittens were found with lung worm. He said though we're up in Suffolk County, he'd like us to bring her in for another exam. He said her original fecal smear loked exactly like the picture in the article. Lung worm has a longer life cycle than round worm and they reproduce at an INCREDIBLE rate.
I pointed out that they might be up in Suffolk - but we live in and Flowerbelle was found in Warren!
It turns out we don't have to worry about the other cats because to transmit Lung Worm it HAS to go through a host (like a snail or slug). Fortunatey, we don't have snails and slugs in our home.
Anyway, we took her in to see him today - and there were no live worms, but there was larvae in her stool. He gave her a shot of I-don't-remember what it was called
, but it works against lung worm. We have to take her back in two weeks for another one.
But an infestation that bad definitely left scarring - so she will always be prone to wheezing. He estimates her lungs are at about 60%, and that though this will improve, they'll never get back to 100%.
For now, when she gets too excited and plays long enough that she starts wheezing, we have to isolate her to get her to calm down.
...and she's definitely feeling better. There's almost no more sneezing, so the URI has almost completely cleared up.
But... that means she has been zinging around like a madwoman - especially playing with Tuxedo.
But it is SO WONDERFUL to know what happened - and to know that though there will be some lifetime scars and lung capacity problems, she is just fine.
BTW - this was the first case of lung worm that vet practice has seen in its 20 years of being in business.
I LOVE OUR NEW VET!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Her vet called yesterday morning - he said he was thinking about her this weekend (we'd called Friday worried about her wheezing, coughing and sneezing still). He read an article about Lung Worm over the weekend in one of his medical journals - and then when he got into the office yesterday he checked the local health alerts and found there was an alert for Warren County (where we live) that a feral mom and six kittens were found with lung worm. He said though we're up in Suffolk County, he'd like us to bring her in for another exam. He said her original fecal smear loked exactly like the picture in the article. Lung worm has a longer life cycle than round worm and they reproduce at an INCREDIBLE rate.
I pointed out that they might be up in Suffolk - but we live in and Flowerbelle was found in Warren!
It turns out we don't have to worry about the other cats because to transmit Lung Worm it HAS to go through a host (like a snail or slug). Fortunatey, we don't have snails and slugs in our home.
Anyway, we took her in to see him today - and there were no live worms, but there was larvae in her stool. He gave her a shot of I-don't-remember what it was called
But an infestation that bad definitely left scarring - so she will always be prone to wheezing. He estimates her lungs are at about 60%, and that though this will improve, they'll never get back to 100%.
For now, when she gets too excited and plays long enough that she starts wheezing, we have to isolate her to get her to calm down.
...and she's definitely feeling better. There's almost no more sneezing, so the URI has almost completely cleared up.
But... that means she has been zinging around like a madwoman - especially playing with Tuxedo.
But it is SO WONDERFUL to know what happened - and to know that though there will be some lifetime scars and lung capacity problems, she is just fine.
BTW - this was the first case of lung worm that vet practice has seen in its 20 years of being in business.
I LOVE OUR NEW VET!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
