my favorite neighborhood and lately backyard stray Spooky died this morning in m arms on the way to the emergency hospital.
a quick background: i was already feeding another stray at my house every night and Spooky, a black, short-hair Tom showed up at my house in July'11. he came by nightly but wuld never let me come close to touch him. he disappeared in june of last year for 3month and showed up again sept '13.
he finally let me pet him and in oct '13 i caught him and had him neutered. i told the vet tech when i dropped him off that he was a stray and if they could check his teeth while he was under but in case something was wrong not to do anything unless they called me first. they called me and said his teeth mouth and gums were fine but that he was running a slight temp and he had a nasal discharge out of his right nostril. they gave me a bottle of liquid amoxicillin for him. i mixed it in his food and his nasal discharge disappeared and he was fine.
after i had him neutered he decided the fropntyard was his new home. about 3 month ago he decided to check out the backyard and to stay there. i have 10 other cats, 4 of which are also black. the others would give him strange looks like 'you look like us but who are you'. he was never hostile or aggressive and everybody got along. he wouldn't come in he house, don't think he iked closed doors.
about 4 weeks ago i noticed a slight nasal discharge again. i never saw him sneeze, vomit or cough at all (and i'm home all day) and his appetite was normal. about 6 days ago i noticed he was lethargic and he didn't seem o eat as much.it's been pretty hot here and my other cats appetite is usually a little less. tuesday night he turned away from the food. i took him in on wednesday to my regular vet. where i had him neutered is a low cost spay and neuter clinic. the clinic i take my cats to has 3 vets. 2 are great but i don't like the 3rd one because i don't think she knows what she should because she gets this blank look on her face sometimes. i told her all of the above and we discussed possible URI etc. we decided on a sht of antibiotics to take care of the discharge and then probably x-rays etc.
anytime the other vets prescribe meds for my babies they tell me before hand on what it is, what it's supposed to do and what to look out for. she didn't. i was worried about him not eating and didn't ask and just assumed it be amoxicillin or clavamox. when i checked the papers at home it said 'Convenia'.
he still had no appetite or drank water so i gave him some sub q fluids (i have a CRF kitty) the next day and started syringe feeding. i practically had to pry his lips apart for the syringe. he didn't fight me at all, if i got some in his mouth he'd finally swallow. it seemed like he could care less.
after coming back from the vets he decided to stay in the house. he'd go in the backyard for a few minutes and come back in. this morning he was howling at the door wanting out. it was really hot so i hadn't let any of them out in the backyard. i thought maybe he wanted out to do his business. i checked on him 20min later and he was laying behind a planter barely breathing. i picked him up and hubby drove us to the ER clinic. he died in my arms on the way.
i did some checking on Convenia, www.catinfo.org/?link=convenia . it is a long-lastig, 65 days or more antibiotic listed for use in skin diseases but is also used in dentals. it said that it is always better to opt for the liquid or pill antibiotics because almost all antibiotics stay in the body only 10 -14 days so if there's an adverse reaction you can stop and everything is ok since the cat only got small doses. but with injections and especially one as long lasting as this one you can't take it back out of the body. the site also states that there have been a lot of deaths reported in cats after injections that should not have died and there's also a Convenia recall FB page.
i'm going to call the vet tomorrow to find out why she gave him this med. Spooky didn't have any skin disases or open wounds.
in the end i got only myself to blame for not asking, i just assumed.
after all his years as a stray he'd finally found a furever home but only for a short time. i can't stop crying and keep thinking ..if only
a quick background: i was already feeding another stray at my house every night and Spooky, a black, short-hair Tom showed up at my house in July'11. he came by nightly but wuld never let me come close to touch him. he disappeared in june of last year for 3month and showed up again sept '13.
he finally let me pet him and in oct '13 i caught him and had him neutered. i told the vet tech when i dropped him off that he was a stray and if they could check his teeth while he was under but in case something was wrong not to do anything unless they called me first. they called me and said his teeth mouth and gums were fine but that he was running a slight temp and he had a nasal discharge out of his right nostril. they gave me a bottle of liquid amoxicillin for him. i mixed it in his food and his nasal discharge disappeared and he was fine.
after i had him neutered he decided the fropntyard was his new home. about 3 month ago he decided to check out the backyard and to stay there. i have 10 other cats, 4 of which are also black. the others would give him strange looks like 'you look like us but who are you'. he was never hostile or aggressive and everybody got along. he wouldn't come in he house, don't think he iked closed doors.
about 4 weeks ago i noticed a slight nasal discharge again. i never saw him sneeze, vomit or cough at all (and i'm home all day) and his appetite was normal. about 6 days ago i noticed he was lethargic and he didn't seem o eat as much.it's been pretty hot here and my other cats appetite is usually a little less. tuesday night he turned away from the food. i took him in on wednesday to my regular vet. where i had him neutered is a low cost spay and neuter clinic. the clinic i take my cats to has 3 vets. 2 are great but i don't like the 3rd one because i don't think she knows what she should because she gets this blank look on her face sometimes. i told her all of the above and we discussed possible URI etc. we decided on a sht of antibiotics to take care of the discharge and then probably x-rays etc.
anytime the other vets prescribe meds for my babies they tell me before hand on what it is, what it's supposed to do and what to look out for. she didn't. i was worried about him not eating and didn't ask and just assumed it be amoxicillin or clavamox. when i checked the papers at home it said 'Convenia'.
he still had no appetite or drank water so i gave him some sub q fluids (i have a CRF kitty) the next day and started syringe feeding. i practically had to pry his lips apart for the syringe. he didn't fight me at all, if i got some in his mouth he'd finally swallow. it seemed like he could care less.
after coming back from the vets he decided to stay in the house. he'd go in the backyard for a few minutes and come back in. this morning he was howling at the door wanting out. it was really hot so i hadn't let any of them out in the backyard. i thought maybe he wanted out to do his business. i checked on him 20min later and he was laying behind a planter barely breathing. i picked him up and hubby drove us to the ER clinic. he died in my arms on the way.
i did some checking on Convenia, www.catinfo.org/?link=convenia . it is a long-lastig, 65 days or more antibiotic listed for use in skin diseases but is also used in dentals. it said that it is always better to opt for the liquid or pill antibiotics because almost all antibiotics stay in the body only 10 -14 days so if there's an adverse reaction you can stop and everything is ok since the cat only got small doses. but with injections and especially one as long lasting as this one you can't take it back out of the body. the site also states that there have been a lot of deaths reported in cats after injections that should not have died and there's also a Convenia recall FB page.
i'm going to call the vet tomorrow to find out why she gave him this med. Spooky didn't have any skin disases or open wounds.
in the end i got only myself to blame for not asking, i just assumed.
after all his years as a stray he'd finally found a furever home but only for a short time. i can't stop crying and keep thinking ..if only
