Scared to death

mindiianajones · Aug 24, 2016

I don't know if this is the right place to put this, but I didn't see any better thread. I'm a lurker of these forums, and this is my first time posting. But I guess, I'm looking for... reassurance? Because I'm scared, and I've spent the passed half-hour crying at my mother. I recently adopted a little kitten that I named Priyanka. She's a beautiful little calico and hyper crazy but so loving. She's been a terror to my resident cat, Samantha, who is seven years old and much too distinguished to deal with kitten nonsense. I took Priya to get her vaccinations June 29th. And then again on the 9th of this month. It went fine, no allergic reactions, and she's been her usual bouncy self. Last Wednesday I discovered a small lump at or near the injection site of her most recent vaccination. It felt soft and not really squishy but not hard. A bit moveable under her skin, I think, from what I can tell. I called the vet, set up an appointment to have it looked at, though they said it's probably just a reaction from the injections. I've been mostly okay. Today, I discovered another larger lump, of the same sort of soft and moveable at the site of her first vaccination between her shoulders. I've been doing the google fu that a lot of us do when we're worried, and everything has been pointing towards ISS. And I am... freaking out. I had to put down my thirteen year old dog a while ago from cancer, and I'm so scared that another pet has it. I don't know if I can handle it. She's the sweetest kitten, and I feel like I've let her down some how. I adopted her, and she's supposed to be safe and happy, and if she has cancer, she won't be. I'm calling the vet tomorrow to see if they can get me in earlier, but I'm so scared of what they're going to tell me. Has anyone else dealt with something like this? What did you do? Did it turn out okay?

kittens mom · Aug 24, 2016

mindiianajones said:
I don't know if this is the right place to put this, but I didn't see any better thread. I'm a lurker of these forums, and this is my first time posting. But I guess, I'm looking for... reassurance? Because I'm scared, and I've spent the passed half-hour crying at my mother. I recently adopted a little kitten that I named Priyanka. She's a beautiful little calico and hyper crazy but so loving. She's been a terror to my resident cat, Samantha, who is seven years old and much too distinguished to deal with kitten nonsense. I took Priya to get her vaccinations June 29th. And then again on the 9th of this month. It went fine, no allergic reactions, and she's been her usual bouncy self. Last Wednesday I discovered a small lump at or near the injection site of her most recent vaccination. It felt soft and not really squishy but not hard. A bit moveable under her skin, I think, from what I can tell. I called the vet, set up an appointment to have it looked at, though they said it's probably just a reaction from the injections. I've been mostly okay. Today, I discovered another larger lump, of the same sort of soft and moveable at the site of her first vaccination between her shoulders. I've been doing the google fu that a lot of us do when we're worried, and everything has been pointing towards ISS. And I am... freaking out. I had to put down my thirteen year old dog a while ago from cancer, and I'm so scared that another pet has it. I don't know if I can handle it. She's the sweetest kitten, and I feel like I've let her down some how. I adopted her, and she's supposed to be safe and happy, and if she has cancer, she won't be. I'm calling the vet tomorrow to see if they can get me in earlier, but I'm so scared of what they're going to tell me. Has anyone else dealt with something like this? What did you do? Did it turn out okay?

Very few vets still inject between the shoulder blades. It is most likely a reaction to the shot and with luck it should start to go away. Please keep us posted on her.

Google can be a cures and blessing and while there is a connection between injections and ISS it would seem the timing her suggests a reaction not cancer. Again I'm not a vet just applying some logic to the situation. I think you are very smart to get her to the vet and let them determine what the cause of the swellings are.

mindiianajones · Aug 24, 2016

One of my friends used to work as a vet tech, and she just told me she'd see stuff like this all the time, and it was always because of vaccinations. She said she never saw ISS in all the time she worked there. She said she's not a vet, too and she could be wrong, but she always gets them with her dog after his vaccinations every year, too. So I'm holding onto that hope that that's all it is. I'll keep everyone updated! She's not even five months old yet, and while I've had her for a short time, I'm so attached to her. She sleeps with me, waits by the door when I get home to see me. I really don't know what I'd do if I got the bad news. Thank you for the logic. It's sometimes hard to be logical in the face of something being wrong with your furbaby, and you need an outside perspective.

zed xyzed · Aug 24, 2016

I agree with @kittensmom still have the vet look at it to give yourself peace of mind

mindiianajones · Aug 24, 2016

Oh, I'm definitely going to get her in tomorrow if I can. The reassurance has been enough to make me feel calmer, but I'm not satisfied either. I want someone to look at her. Thank you!

kittens mom · Aug 24, 2016

Ask your vet for adjuvant free vaccines for your cat. The ISS is tied more to the older vaccines that contain one. Purevax by Merial is the only one I know of and discuss the current recommended vaccine schedule with your vet. The merial adjuvant free cost more but it buys you a little piece of mind as does the 3 year vs every year vaccination schedule after 1 year.

mindiianajones · Aug 24, 2016

Thank you for the tip! They said since my cats are strictly indoor cats that they'd likely only really need to get their rabies vaccine from here on out as administering vaccines that they don't necessarily need since they won't be going out into the woods and around other animals and cats could up their risk for cancer. So I'll ask about that for the rabies vaccinations.

kittens mom · Aug 24, 2016

mindiianajones said:
Thank you for the tip! They said since my cats are strictly indoor cats that they'd likely only really need to get their rabies vaccine from here on out as administering vaccines that they don't necessarily need since they won't be going out into the woods and around other animals and cats could up their risk for cancer. So I'll ask about that for the rabies vaccinations.

Brilliant it sounds like you have a good vet.

mindiianajones · Aug 24, 2016

Haha aside from vaccinating my cats between the shoulders which from everything I hear is an out of date practice. :\

kittens mom · Aug 24, 2016

mindiianajones said:
Haha aside from vaccinating my cats between the shoulders which from everything I hear is an out of date practice. :\

That I don't understand and would discuss with your vet. In one breath she wants to limit vaccination and then she injects between the shoulders. She may have had a specific reason.

mindiianajones · Aug 24, 2016

I'm definitely going to bring it up. With this scare, I want to know why that technique was used, whether the news is good or bad.

mindiianajones · Sep 2, 2016

SO AN UPDATE: Kitten is okay according to the vet. They checked her on Tuesday and said it's probably a reaction to the vaccinations as they told me over the phone. They did say if they are still there a couple months from now (which seems a long time to wait for something like that) to bring her back in because it'd likely need to be removed. Fortunately, the first lump I found has disappeared, so I'm hoping the second, larger one will go the same way. She's has no change in energy or appetite. Still the craziest, underfoot kitty she has been. I did have a vomiting scare last weekend and was thinking the worst, but it stopped that same night and my mother thinks it might be the bacon she gave her as a treat. I've called off giving her any more people food treats for the time being. So I've calmed down! In my worry over finding out if something was wrong with her, I forgot to ask my vet why they gave her shots between her shoulder blades so I still have no reason for that, but I am considering switching vets. I just don't feel comfortable with this vet anymore, unfortunately. It only takes once to lose faith in a care provider, sadly, and I'm not willing to risk my babies health no matter what the reason. I didn't particularly like that my "exam" only lasted about five minutes, in which they located the lump, squeezed a bit, and that was it. No other full check over of the rest of her body. So I'll be checking around and asking some other nearby practices where they administer their vaccinations. Thank you for the support and reassurance I got on that initial post! It was really a help!

Primula · Sep 2, 2016

You said she's over 4 months old? A vet definitely should spend more than 5 minutes per visit. For one thing, every time you take a cat to the vet they must check the cat's teeth. Doesn't take long, but it must be done. Have your kitty fixed if she's not already fixed.

mindiianajones · Sep 2, 2016

She would be five months old today, actually! And yeah, I definitely expected to be there for a lot longer than I was. It wasn't even like they were particularly busy either if that were a decent excuse which it isn't. I was in and out in a total of ten-fifteen minutes after I bought some more flea medication for them. The vet spent more time talking to me about flea solutions than the actual lump. (I don't know how the nasty buggers got into my house, but I can't seem to get rid of the *******s.) So I'm really not impressed, but getting her fixed is definitely next up on the agenda.

Primula · Sep 2, 2016

She definitely needs to be fixed. She will start howling very soon once her hormones kick in. Surprised she has not gone into heat already. Give her a bath with Dawn washing liquid - that will get rid of the fleas.

mindiianajones · Sep 2, 2016

Oh, I know she does, and she will be. Thank you for the tip for the fleas! I'll give it a go.

Scared to death

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Kittens life was lost to a negligent veterinarian.

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Kittens life was lost to a negligent veterinarian.

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Kittens life was lost to a negligent veterinarian.

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Kittens life was lost to a negligent veterinarian.

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