Hello, thought I'd join in here - Pixie is extremely cute and I can't resist. On a more serious level, Mouse has a 'probable' FHV diagnosis which was given when he was about 1 1/2 but the signs and symptoms were all there from when I first brought him home - they just weren't the most common ones of upper respiratory infections, or runny eyes until much later. The diagnosis was made after 3 successive periods of a runny eye which never seemed to present with bacterial infection, and when he was seen by the vet with ocular specialty they saw what they believed were the herpes lesions on his eye.
Why I identify with Pixie other than her being a spotted tabby like my previous cats? I have posted many times about Mouse's oral problems. When I brought him home age 15 weeks I noticed he had quite smelly breath (I described it as meaty). I figured it was probably teething and took no action. Anyway, the breath stayed stinky, I also noticed sporadic coughs and little sneezes but as he never had any discharge or signs of infection I wasn't worried about him (I'd never heard of FHV at that time). He had always been a super-silly and super energetic kitten but gradually he started to get quieter, hid away from me more and more, and started to get more reluctant to play. He had a natural instinct to eat like a piglet but preferred feeding through play rather than from his bowl. I thought this was because he was such a play hound, however as he got quieter he still wanted his food on the move, would only nibble at wet food in his bowl and preferred me to throw biscuits for him to play with then eat. His favourite was stinky freeze dried fish snacks. Crisis hit when he turned away from his fish snacks one day. I finally checked his mouth and his gums were red around the teeth and bleeding a little and I felt this was much worse than kitten teething (now aged about 9 months). Straight to the vet - my poor little mite had stomatitis which in medical / veterinary terms means lesions / ulcers in his mouth. He had developed tonsillitis and the lesions had become infected because I hadn't checked his mouth as well as you have @Pixies Ma . He had a very sore mouth and a sore throat, he had ulcers on his gums, under his tongue and a large one on his tongue. Swallowing and chewing must have been extremely painful. He was given antibiotics and pain medications for this, but worryingly it returned within a couple of weeks of the medication ending, despite our immediately having started him on a strict dental hygiene routine and dental food which he loved. He had 2 or 3 further rounds of treatment to get the mouth ulcers and gum inflammation under control and by the time that settled down it was about 8 or 9 months from the first infection being picked up. My bank balance was not happy but I was relieved he was in less pain. I had a seriously picky eater though, and by this time he would eat only the dental dry diet and only if it was hand fed as a game.... Roll on a couple of months and the runny eye situation started up, and finally the probable FHV diagnosis.
Finally a complete picture started to come together. The vets advised me against going for full testing for FHV as said the false results were high in frequency and they were so confident this was the cause of Mouse's problems so why waste money (which I agreed as had and still have great confidence in them). They said that oral FHV presentation as primary lesion area is rare but that was what had caused Mouse's earlier illnesses. His mouth is still sensitive and he will cough maybe once or twice a day, a few days a month. What tends to indicate he has a slight flare up is the runny eye, and if he hides away and gets a runny eye it will continue for two to three weeks - it does usually resolve at 3 weeks if I support his system with L Lysine (we tried the significantly more expensive anti-viral meds but the flare ups took the same time to subside). The vets also concluded that Mouse probably has a poor sense of smell - and I agree as he struggles to find even stinky stuff right under his nose, his eye sight is definitely not great and possibly not even as good as the average cat for still items. Put this together and you have a cat that only tends to eat strong smelling food that is on the move to catch his attention. He knows where his food bowl is, and it is rarely empty other than when he has pawed and removed all his biscuits from the bowl to the floor
where he can paw the biscuits about before chomping on them, but he prefers to instruct his humans to throw his food for him so he can chase it about. He is tubby but he has 3 humans to pander to his demands (and a tin that holds his daily ration).
Mouse was very sick on and off for the first 1 1/2 years of his life but I have to admit I was really stressed out at that time and figure that made his condition a lot worse, along with me not realizing he was sick early on. Once my life was calmer and I was less stressed this had a very positive effect on him. I think you are in a very good place in terms of your understanding of how your anxieties and worries impact on Pixie. The other thing I think has helped with Mouse is that his immune system as a whole seems to have developed over the last couple of years, and he now only tends to get a couple of break through flare ups a year - they do last for about 3 weeks and that is with the L Lysine support. When ever his little body is fighting the virus he is noticeably less energetic and withdraws and this is what first alerts me to his being unwell. He is usually an extremely sociable cat but this virus makes him feel so rubbish he just wants to curl up in a comfy, quiet spot and have someone occasionally come to give him some snuggles while he tries to build up the strength to beat the virus down. This quiet behaviour and the feeding issues very much sounds like how you are describing Pixie.
If it takes hand feeding to get her to eat, then hand feed her - she is a cat, she will probably be a total diva whether you pander to her willingly or not, but for sure she will be stronger and healthier and in a better place to beat what ever is bringing her down if she eats well. Pixie is very lucky to be living with someone so attentive as you. Your most recent visit to the vet sounds promising in terms of their listening to you, and not rushing in to antibiotics or anything that might put more of a strain on Pixie's little body so keep doing what you are doing, and hopefully you will see her start to blossom very soon (but not to get as chubby as Mouse is). If Pixie still seems to have a reluctance to eat and swallow, when you talk to your vet it's worth asking if they have checked her throat as well as her mouth and teeth.
Why I identify with Pixie other than her being a spotted tabby like my previous cats? I have posted many times about Mouse's oral problems. When I brought him home age 15 weeks I noticed he had quite smelly breath (I described it as meaty). I figured it was probably teething and took no action. Anyway, the breath stayed stinky, I also noticed sporadic coughs and little sneezes but as he never had any discharge or signs of infection I wasn't worried about him (I'd never heard of FHV at that time). He had always been a super-silly and super energetic kitten but gradually he started to get quieter, hid away from me more and more, and started to get more reluctant to play. He had a natural instinct to eat like a piglet but preferred feeding through play rather than from his bowl. I thought this was because he was such a play hound, however as he got quieter he still wanted his food on the move, would only nibble at wet food in his bowl and preferred me to throw biscuits for him to play with then eat. His favourite was stinky freeze dried fish snacks. Crisis hit when he turned away from his fish snacks one day. I finally checked his mouth and his gums were red around the teeth and bleeding a little and I felt this was much worse than kitten teething (now aged about 9 months). Straight to the vet - my poor little mite had stomatitis which in medical / veterinary terms means lesions / ulcers in his mouth. He had developed tonsillitis and the lesions had become infected because I hadn't checked his mouth as well as you have @Pixies Ma . He had a very sore mouth and a sore throat, he had ulcers on his gums, under his tongue and a large one on his tongue. Swallowing and chewing must have been extremely painful. He was given antibiotics and pain medications for this, but worryingly it returned within a couple of weeks of the medication ending, despite our immediately having started him on a strict dental hygiene routine and dental food which he loved. He had 2 or 3 further rounds of treatment to get the mouth ulcers and gum inflammation under control and by the time that settled down it was about 8 or 9 months from the first infection being picked up. My bank balance was not happy but I was relieved he was in less pain. I had a seriously picky eater though, and by this time he would eat only the dental dry diet and only if it was hand fed as a game.... Roll on a couple of months and the runny eye situation started up, and finally the probable FHV diagnosis.
Finally a complete picture started to come together. The vets advised me against going for full testing for FHV as said the false results were high in frequency and they were so confident this was the cause of Mouse's problems so why waste money (which I agreed as had and still have great confidence in them). They said that oral FHV presentation as primary lesion area is rare but that was what had caused Mouse's earlier illnesses. His mouth is still sensitive and he will cough maybe once or twice a day, a few days a month. What tends to indicate he has a slight flare up is the runny eye, and if he hides away and gets a runny eye it will continue for two to three weeks - it does usually resolve at 3 weeks if I support his system with L Lysine (we tried the significantly more expensive anti-viral meds but the flare ups took the same time to subside). The vets also concluded that Mouse probably has a poor sense of smell - and I agree as he struggles to find even stinky stuff right under his nose, his eye sight is definitely not great and possibly not even as good as the average cat for still items. Put this together and you have a cat that only tends to eat strong smelling food that is on the move to catch his attention. He knows where his food bowl is, and it is rarely empty other than when he has pawed and removed all his biscuits from the bowl to the floor
Mouse was very sick on and off for the first 1 1/2 years of his life but I have to admit I was really stressed out at that time and figure that made his condition a lot worse, along with me not realizing he was sick early on. Once my life was calmer and I was less stressed this had a very positive effect on him. I think you are in a very good place in terms of your understanding of how your anxieties and worries impact on Pixie. The other thing I think has helped with Mouse is that his immune system as a whole seems to have developed over the last couple of years, and he now only tends to get a couple of break through flare ups a year - they do last for about 3 weeks and that is with the L Lysine support. When ever his little body is fighting the virus he is noticeably less energetic and withdraws and this is what first alerts me to his being unwell. He is usually an extremely sociable cat but this virus makes him feel so rubbish he just wants to curl up in a comfy, quiet spot and have someone occasionally come to give him some snuggles while he tries to build up the strength to beat the virus down. This quiet behaviour and the feeding issues very much sounds like how you are describing Pixie.
If it takes hand feeding to get her to eat, then hand feed her - she is a cat, she will probably be a total diva whether you pander to her willingly or not, but for sure she will be stronger and healthier and in a better place to beat what ever is bringing her down if she eats well. Pixie is very lucky to be living with someone so attentive as you. Your most recent visit to the vet sounds promising in terms of their listening to you, and not rushing in to antibiotics or anything that might put more of a strain on Pixie's little body so keep doing what you are doing, and hopefully you will see her start to blossom very soon (but not to get as chubby as Mouse is). If Pixie still seems to have a reluctance to eat and swallow, when you talk to your vet it's worth asking if they have checked her throat as well as her mouth and teeth.
