Mysterious Disease - Please help me!

lovely cats

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Hello, 
I have 30 cats that were abandoned and I rescued them. I love them so much! They are the joy of my life! However, three cats died in the last days from a disease that the vet could not identify. They were a little sad so I gave them Synulox like the vet said. The next day they could not eat and died in some hours. They are all together in a fenced garden, so the other cats contacted with the sick cats. I'm so afraid they get the same disease. The vet seems to me to know little about this. Can anyone help me? Do you know what disease can this be? Do you know what should I do to prevent it? Let me know, please!
 

GemsGem

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I'm so sorry this is happening

Could you describe the symptoms the sick cats are showing or have shown ? So we can help more.

You mention that they looked sad and stopped eating. Was there any other symptoms at all ?
 
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lovely cats

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They were not vaccinated.

The sick cats have not shown more symptoms. Everything happen very quickly, in just three days. On the first day, they looked sad and prostrated so I gave them immediately the antibiotic as the vet said. On the second day, they could not eat. I could give some meat with the tablet to one of the cats, but not to the others. On the third day in the morning, I called the vet and he gave the antibiotic injected into that cat. The others had already died and he passed away late in the afternoon. I noticed that he had some slobber in his mouth unlike the others.
 

red top rescue

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There is also a very virulent form of calici virus that can kill in just a few days.  Did you have any of the dead cats examined by a vet?  Have there been more deaths?  Could they have been poisoned before you got them?  You mentioned "slobber" in the mouth of one, and I hate to say this, but have you considered rabies? 
 

red top rescue

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http://www.petmd.com/cat/conditions/neurological/c_ct_rabies

Here;s an article from PetMD that points out that there are two forms of rabies, paraytic and furious.  The furious form is the one where the animals act crazy, but the paralytic form is weakness, loss of coordination, paralysis and then death.  Also, some just die without showing any symptoms at all.  The timing of 1 to 3 days before showing symptoms is common. 

Do check this out with your vet.  Because of vaccines, vets do not see active rabies very often these days and may not even consider it when making a diagnosis.  We had a case here about a year or so ago where someone rescued a kitten who seemed fine.  They turned it in to a vet's office.  When the vet was vaccinating the kitten, it bit him, but it wasn't acting abnormally considering the fact someone stuck it with a needle.  However, the next day they found the kitten dead in its cage.  They did a post mortem exam and got it tested and it turned out to have rabies.  The vet had to go through the series of rabies shots because he had not had them before because he didn't generally work with wild animals.  And no matter how this turns out, do get the others vaccinated against rabies as soon as you can since they are outdoors and exposed to other animals.
 

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Where do you live? Some diseases are location-specific so that would be helpful.

If any more cats die of this, ask your vet if he'll do a post-mortem examination to see what's happening.
 

red top rescue

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@Lovely Cats, you have never come back to update us on this, and I for one would really like to know what has happened since your last post because I am concerned for both you and the cats.
 
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lovely cats

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Thank you for your messages.

My cats are fine at the moment. I hope they do not get the disease that killed the other cats.

If you have some new information, please let me know. I want to know all the possibilities. If you have any doubt, please ask me so I can explain more.
 

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I am glad you and your cats are fine at the moment.  I do hope you can get them vaccinated at the earliest opportunity.  You might be able to get a local rescue group to help you with this because they order vaccines in large quantities and many are experienced in giving vaccinations.  I know our group would be willing to do this service for free, although we would hope for a donation to help pay for the vaccines, even if you could only give a small amount every month.  Good luck with your big feline family, and thanks for getting back in touch.
 
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