Cat with swollen neck glands.

Forest isn't feeling well.

He ate hardly anything on Saturday and nothing at all on Sunday and spent both days sleeping. I kept syringing a little water into his mouth every hour or so to stop him dehydrating. I managed to get him to take about 30 ml of soft food with the syringe too.

I noticed he has a hard lump in his neck, close to his jaw bone.

Took him to the vet first thing this morning. The vet drew some fluid out of the lump and said it isn't cancer, but he's not sure what's causing his symptoms. Forest has been prescribed antibiotics and anti-inflammatory tablets for the next 10 days. The vet also gave me some more soft food to syringe feed him with, but told me to bring him back if he doesn't start eating by himself within the next 48 hours.

Here's the thing: My vet doesn't speak English but from what he said and from what is written on Forest's notes he has "Feline glandular enteritis." I've Goggled this and keep coming up with Parvovirus. My vet knows how many cats I have, so I'm sure if it was FPV he would have told me to keep Forest away from the other cats.

Does anyone have any idea what else might cause appetite loss and swollen glands?

His gland is only swollen on the left side.

He is lethargic, but able to jump down from his bed to use the litter box and is drinking water by himself.

No vomiting or loose stool.

No fever.

Passing a usual amount of urine, but hasn't pooped since Thursday evening.

If anyone has any ideas that might put my mind at ease I'd be very happy to hear them.

Thanks.

I've never heard of swollen neck glands as a symptom of Panleukopenia (parvo).  Is he running a high fever? 

Maybe your Vet didn't mention your other cats because if that's what he suspects, he figures they already have been exposed.  BUT aren't they all vaccinated against it?  Let's just hope that's NOT what Forest has

I'm guessing you've already seen this article and well familiar with this disease, but in case you aren't, or for anyone else reading this thread, here you go:  http://www.thecatsite.com/a/feline-distemper-panleukopenia

Thanks for replying @mrsgreenjeens

No, he has no fever at all which is what makes me think it might not be FPV.

The other cats have all been vaccinated but the wilder ones just got the "Feral Package" when I first TNR'd them, blood test, vaccine and spay/neuter. So for some of them they've only had one vaccine and that was about three years ago.

He does seem a little better today. He's looking much brighter and he ate some of his wet food on his own.

Maybe my vet didn't mean "glandular enteritis" as a diagnoses, maybe it was just a description as he doesn't know exactly what is wrong.

None of the other cats are sick and I think if any of them had been exposed to FPV Forest would be the last one to be affected as he rarely goes out. The rest of the cats spend a lot of time in their enclosure and one of them is able to climb out. There are very few other cats in this area. I've only ever seen two ferals in the past two years, so I think the odds of them picking anything up are quite slim.

Fingers crossed.

Quick update on Forest.

He's much better now and is eating almost his normal amount. He finally pooped after 5 days! Even though he doesn't have a fever or any other symptoms, the lump on his neck is still there. He has another few days worth of medication to take. I'm thinking of calling the vet again if the lump doesn't start shrinking once they're all gone.

I've been trying to find some natural yogurt to give him as a probiotic but I can only find the sweetened, fruit-flavoured kind. Is there anything else I can give him? 

You can give him any human probiotic - I give my guys the same ones WE take...I just open the capsule and mix some into their wet food.  BUT, it's ok to offer them fruit flavored yogurt as long as it isn't artificially sweetened.  Plain is best, but just make sure there is no fake sugar in there. If you can't find plain, maybe the kind with the fruit in the bottom, and just don't stir it, so it's mostly plain at the top?  Do they have Activia brand over there?  I know that at least contains Live Cultures in it, which is what you want, although I think  most yogurt has it.  Or how about kefir.  Can you find that?  Again, no fake sugar...that's the main thing.

Glad he's doing better

Hi @mrsgreenjeens  Thank you for the advice and sorry it took me so long to respond to your last post. I've only just noticed that this thread had an unread post on it.

I managed to get some of the Activia yogurt so I'll start giving him a teaspoon full of that every day. It's been hard to get him to eat this week because it's been so hot. Most of the other cats have lost their appetite too, but he is having at least one big meal at night and a few mouthfuls of this and that throughout the day.

There is still a little lump on his neck, but it's much smaller than it was.