Robin very ill help

Along with multiple other questions for Robins recent vets, I asked if there were any chances his tear duct was blocked and was always told no.

Latest vet says it is blocked in fact and that a specialist is needed to sedate him and flush it out.

Given the answers are all so different I'd like to hear any other stories on blocked tear ducts and the success or lack of on flushing them out.

ThNks!!!

How do I know when to syringe feed? Robin has a cone of shame. I have used a large syringe to feed him canned mixed with water. First time I got in 10 mg (?). Last time was a few minutes ago and I sloppily got in 25. He was in the animal hospital and was told he fed well, but that was 1/4 can of food and I guarantee you he ate 1/3 of even that.

He perked up both feedings. First one was 8 one second was 10:45 on following meds. His next meds are 4:30 am. How much should I feed him? His feedings are 50:50 Sheba and water.

I did trim his cone by one inch as he is making NO efforts to scratch his eye. He has two bowls of water (one a fountain) and one raised plate of dry food.

Oral syrige smeasure in volume like ml, not mg which is a measure of weight. 10 ml of food is a good amount for one feeding IMO. Go slow wtih each feeding so your cat has a break in betweeen squirts of food. If you can, aim for a normal amount of food at the usual lmeal times. If your cat won't finish all of the food, try again later. Have you tried adding FortiFlora to the soupy mixture? That usually helps make food more appealing.

Thank you, LTS3. I did add the fortiflora (or something similar) and was very happy to see the light bulb moment when the yummy food hit his tummy.

For now he seems to be eating on his own, but pretty much only the Whole Earth Farms. I will need to purchase more; with his being so ill I was unable to get to the store. Still, I have Sheba and will syringe if I have to.

Water he took quite happily, and I'm glad I did that because both times he really perked up.

What a nightmare this has been but at the moment his eyes are responsive and shockingly clear, he shows interest in his surroundings. He does seem restless which I suspect is nausea, likely from the Convenia shot. So thank you for the syringe info in case that is needed again. (Should I continue to syringe him both water and food just to be sure?)

Screenshot from Sat morning.

Dammit he just vomited pretty much everything that he had eaten since 7-8pm.

Did I over do it? 9 ml (?) plain water; then he ate a few tbsp of dry. Then 2 palm sized amounts of watered down wet food.

He was sleeping and comfy next to me on the sofa, only getting sick when he flipped to his back and twisted his torso.

It's the first time he's thrown up since being coming home last night. How long before I syringe again or should he only be eating watered down canned?

Hello again, I have taken a picture of the bloodwork taken from Robin 3-4 days ago. He was dehydrated so I understand that much, but I don't understand much of anything else.
This bloodwork was taken as soon as he was brought in, before any meds or IVs were given.

I'd love an explanation from somebody who knows what they are looking at.

Robin seems like he might be getting sick again. His ears are hot, and he has not pooped since Saturday. He's peeing tiny bits; I am syringing water. He is eating canned but drops dry out of his mouth. I have yet to see him drink. His right eye is weeping again. Last time his eye began this, he was in shock within 48 hours, and I will NOT let that happen again.

He has not thrown up today but his energy seems to be flagging a little again. He sees the vet Friday though I may bring him in tomorrow if I get a bad feeling again. His appetite seems good, but he's favoring wet food (good). Like I said, he's not urinating as much as he should, not nearly, but his bladder feels normal (I think?). He doesn't flinch when I press that area nor is he in any apparent bladder distress.

Can your vet give anything for the nausea?  I had to syringe feed a very sick kitty last spring.  She was very nauseous from medication and the vet was able to give her some nausea medication.  This helped a lot. 

I syringe fed watered down cat food and aimed for about 1/8-1/4 can at a time (5.5 oz can).  I also used some of the vet AD food as it is very tasty.  I also made bone broth that was very easy on the tummy and very nourishing.  I gave straight bone broth for awhile and then transitioned to mixing bone broth and wet cat food.  I would feed her 3-4x a day. 

I found it helpful to play around with different sized syringes.  The large feeding syringes were too difficult to manage and put too much food in her at once.  I opted for using small medicine dispensing syringes.  They only help 6ml at a time, but were easier to manage.

I also made a bib out of a paper towel.  I just cut a hole and put it over her head.  I had towels all over me too.  I read that if you weren't covered in food when you were done, you weren't doing it right!!!  I also had warm wet wash clothes to wipe her up as I went. 

Thank you! I had used the big syringe and yes, it was too much. He's eating well enough with encouragement but water, not so much.

I requested antinausea meds and was told "they don't do that", that they only do shots.

I'm really frustrated. His eye is beginning to run again. Just my opinion but I think antinausea with the clindamycin should have bee the way to go, as Convevia is only labeled for skin infection. He sees the vet on Friday and is stable for now so I guess I'll take what I can. He's sleeping next to me and his snoring is very loud, which to me says "not good".

He's eating 1/8 cup dry and maybe 1/2 of a 5 oz can of wet (much more wet than dry which is totally unlike him), and also Nutrical (just started).
Is pedialyte needed at this point or can I use plain water?

Is it odd that to me the lysine gel seems to have restarted the weepy eye? Vet insists even though I pointed out latest research doesn't indicate it works. I was told "stay off the internet".

This is true, latest studies are showing no solid evidence that lysine actually helps.

I personally have always felt this due to my own experiences with it in rescue.

Can't hurt, but didn't seem to help.

Covenia is NOT the appropriate antibiotic. Jeez.....

Now he needs a probiotic, covenia removes all gut flora, good and bad, so it must be replaced to get his tummy back in balance.

A regular oral antibiotic is what he needs, whether clavamox, clindamycin, erythromycin, etc. depending on what it's for.

Water is fine if he gets enough regularly, otherwise he needs pediolyte still.

Not sure what is actually wrong anyway, you don't mention it, only his runny eye and a cone.

I'm glad you've had some improvements--especially his appetite, that sounds pretty decent--despite the snoring and runny eye. Here's hoping there's more improvement before Friday.

It's really too bad your vet told you to stay off the Internet: I guess that newer research is controversial but that attitude's a little condescending! (We had somewhat similar conversations with our previous cat's last vet: she knew next to nothing about raw food and wouldn't believe Rad Cat was complete food. Ugh.)

In case anyone's interested, here's the research/article and here's a news article that includes some angry vet comments. I was glad I saw Anne's post about that research right after our vet's office had suggested lysine for Edwina when she had a few days of light sneezing that we suspected was probably related to her post-shelter URI a couple years ago. When the symptoms are as minor and mild as hers were, I'd much rather not use anything unless there's good evidence it will help.

The kitty I did the syringe feeding with was on clindamyacin.  It's what made her so nauseous.  My vet did give me nausea pills.  They are usually given to dogs so I had to cut the pill into fourths, but it worked very well. 

I have a kitty that has chronic herpes outbreaks.  I used lysine on him for years and did notice it kept the outbreaks at bay.  After reading about long term lysine use, I decided to stop.  I still wanted him on something for an immune boost.  I now use Vetriscience Vetri-DMG Immune Health Dog & Cat Liquid Formula.  My cat has not had an outbreak since.  I first purchased this from my vet and now order it from Amazon or Chewy.com

 I can tell you how to read the report, but not necessarily what ALL the results mean, but I used to be a lab tech so I can figure out most of these charts.  The letters down the side indicate what is being tested.  The figures outside the blocks on the left side represent the lowest limit of normal, and the figures outside the blocks on the right side represent the highest limits of normal, and the black marks inside each block visually tell you if the result is low (left column), normal range (middle column) or high (right column).   In addition, on the left side of the report, any items out of normal range are surrounded by black squares.   This makes it easy to scan quickly and focus in on anything that isn't inn normal range and see if it's high or low before reading the numerical results. 

The first group tested was the white blood cells.   WBC is White Blood Count, and the letters underneath show the "Differential" count, i.e. what kind of cells were seen under the microscope (there are many kinds of white blood cells).  According to this, total white blood cell count was normal (it's often low if they have a virus and high if they have a bacterial infection).  The proportion of the types of white cells was generally normal except for three types: lymphocytes were a little low, monocytes were high, and neutrophils were a little high. 

Neutrophils are the "first responders" in the immune system and can be produced in large numbers by the bone marrow in response to any number of stressors like bacterial infections (they are the main constituent of "pus" in an abscess for instance.)  The monocytes are part of the policing system that clean up after the battle but if they find any continued infection, they call in the neutrophils.   So it makes sense that these two are high together if something is going on.  Other things that can cause them to rise are stress, inflammation, allergies, or even steroids.  The lymphocytes are the ones that develop and carry immunity, and this case they are a little low which might indicate his resistance is down.  Other things that can lower the lymphocyte count are steroids and FIV.  It already shows that your cat tested negative for FIV (and FeLV, the leukemia virus, and Heartworm) which is handwritten on the paper at the lower right. 

The next group of results have to do with the Red Blood Cells (RBC) which are the ones that carry oxygen in the blood.  All of that is really normal,  The elevated HCT (hematocrit, or packed cell volume) is a result of being dehydrated, and the low MCHC is a result of that also, since the MCHC is calculated using the HCT.  So that shows your cat is not anemic and was a little dehydrated at the time.

The next two are normal, meaning the platelets are fine and there are no clotting disorders.

The next group is all the blood chemistries which check the function of the liver and kidneys and the chemicals that they put out, or do not put out if they are not functioning properly, and as you can see, ALL of these are within normal limits, which is good news.

So that''s about all I can tell you about your lab work.  I hope that has been helpful to you.  When you read the actual number results and compare them with either the low or high number for that test, you can see that even the ones that are low and high are not terribly off, and time will tell if he is just coming down with something or if he is recovering from something. .  It's good that he is going for wet food because that's what he needs.  Dry food is actually dehydrating to cats; in the wild, their prey is about 72% water!  If he was dehydrated, his stool was also dehydrated, so not pooping and peeing is a side effect of that.  Keep encouraging him to drink (tuna juice diluted with water is a good treat)and let us know how he is doing.

How is Robin today?  Did you end up taking him back to the vet?   

Unfortunately I don't know how to interpret the blood work numbers you posted but someone (forget who  ) posted these two links awhile back.  Maybe they'll help?  

http://www.petplace.com/article/cat...g-blood-work-the-biochemical-profile-for-cats

http://www.allfelinehospital.com/blood-work-explanation.pml

As I was typing this, Red Top Rescue's post came in so I don't know if these will add much, but just in case, here they are....

Thank you, Red Top Rescue and Marged, for answering quickly. It's good to know his numbers aren't terribly worrisome, but it begs the big question: can these results be seen in toxoplasmosis, and how and why did he go downhill so quickly last Friday?

Robin sees the regular vet on Friday morning.
I'm considering removing all dry but a few pieces, afraid he might stress if he sees its all gone. Do you have any ideas why he eats if I put the canned in my hand but doesn't seem interested if it's on the plate? Might it hurt to lean down?

He's sleeping next to me right now. He looks comfortable but his nose is very noisy again, and his eye is tearing. However no obvious third lid (thought I saw it earlier for a second when he woke up) and pupils seem ok. He does seem a little sensitive to bright light. And oddly, he purrs a lot now. I'm worried it could mean pain bc this happens at night on the bed when h normally is just sleeping. He did get sick today on dry food (just a little).

Just keeping an eye on him and hoping the vet has a *real* answer or at least a plan of action when I see her; I need to ask for a referral to a feline opthomologist, too.

Robin says hi! I dont dare try to make dinner [emoji]10084[/emoji]️[emoji]10084[/emoji]️[emoji]10084[/emoji]️[emoji]10084[/emoji]️


I guess I'll pass updates as needed.

Sending lots of healing vibes your way.

 

Missey said:

HI!  I think I might have a remedy for your kitty.  I used colloidal silver on one of my cats.  Even though it was his ear, it still healed. His ear was having a bloody discharge and then developed a buldge which really had me very worried.  So, I took the advice of a friend of mine, and he gave me some colloidal silver he had prepared (9ppm strength).  He said just spray it in his ear about three times a day, and it should heal.  I was not sure what to think about all of that, but I figured, it would not hurt to try it.  So I did.  I was so surprised!  My kitty's ear healed in about a week!  
You can find it in health food stores, but it can be expensive.  But I say, I would rather spend about $25 on colloidal silver, then spend $500 at the vet.

Click to expand...

I'm not trusting colloidal silver on anything this serious.

@misterwhiskers  , I am praying that Robin is feeling better real soon.  I just read tonight how he has been sick the last couple of days and want you to know Speedy and I are thinking of both of you.  

I'm adding my wishes that Robin gets better soon. Keep us posted.

I'm reading about eyes and FIP. It's making me nervous.