Bobcat Fever / Cytauxzoon Felis (ticks)

basscat

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This is the condensed version.  I'll try to come back in a few days with the gut wrenching long version.
Two year old Tabby laid around and for sure didn't eat or drink anything Tue or Wed.
Thur and Fri (three vets diagnosed Cytauxzoon Felis).  Temperature 105 degrees.

Injection of imidocarb dipropionate on Thursday at 4:00pm.
Injection of something to help hydrate him Thursday at 12:00 midnight.  Just under the skin, not an IV (found out later that a fluid IV at that time would have killed him)
Started on Azithromycin and Atovaquone and 1000mg Coconut Oil orally Thursday at 12:00 midnight.  (continued every 8hrs for 10 days).  Washed those down with 5cc water.
Injection of Metacam Friday at noon to help with pain and get fever under control. (cat with high temp won't eat, and cat must eat)
Saturday at 12:00 noon, added 500mg Monolaurin. Continued every 8hrs for 5 days. (washed that down with 5cc water)

After five days, went to two a day on the coconut oil and monolaurin.
At seven days, went to one a day on the coconut oil and monolaurin.
After 10 days continued with just the Azithromycin since we had some left over.
14 days, returned to vet for follow up injection of imidocarb dipropionate.

He would make just few laps of PetAg Mature cat milk supplement immediately after medications on Saturday.
Sunday he would eat three or four TEENY TINY pieces of raw ground turkey immediately after medications.

Each day after, he would either eat a few more chunks of turkey, or take a few more laps of the vitamin milk supplement.

He made it through and is doing good now.
There's lots more to this story. Why we did what we did and when.   But, that's for another day when I have more time to tell the whole story.
And no, he didn't get this from Bob. That wasn't possible, and it's been confirmed...just to be sure.
 
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mrsgreenjeens

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Can't wait to read the details of this story.  And HOW he got his nourishment.  I'm not really seeing that is this quick and dirty version. 
 

margd

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I'm so glad he pulled through!  
 It sounds like it was a very close thing.  I'm looking forward to the long version as well.  
 
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basscat

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4:00pm Thursday:  1st vet took his temp, 105 degrees, looked him over, said Bobcat fever, shot of imidocarb, and gave me some azithromycin to give orally once a day for 10 days.  Said he was leaving and would be gone for 10 days and to bring him back in 10 days for an imidocarb follow up.  Most cats survive, AND....Good Luck.

I was in my car headed home at 4:10.  Wondering what the hell just happened.  Isn't Bobcat Fever bad?  I've heard about it on the evening news. If it made the evening news, it must not be good.  "Good Luck" ???  (who says that???).
WHAT???? 

Bobcat Fever from just a quick look? 
 
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basscat

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Get our sick little boy back to the house.  Get on-line and start doing research to see what this is all about (since our vet seemed to be in too big of a hurry to tell us much of anything).  Finding almost NO good news. 
And about an hour into reading everything I can find, he starts throwing up and foaming at the mouth while laying on his side. He can no longer stand up and, in tears, we are realizing our vet has just guessed at his diagnosis AND has prescribed a drug that has shown very little success AND....There IS a known better treatment available.

I convince myself that the foaming at the mouth is because of him throwing up.  And that the throwing up may be due to one or both of the injections our vet gave him.  And I want a 2nd opinion, NOW.

One clinic (3hr drive) was mentioned several times in my research.  Supposedly they see Bobcat Fever A-LOT and know how best to treat it.  Just came with good reviews that "This is THE place".  
I look up their website and reviews are mixed. 
(this is the THE place, saved my cat!) or (my gosh the fees are INSANE!)

I chose to believe the good reviews.  I really had no choice.

We got there at 9:00pm Thursday night and were headed back home at midnight with Atovaquone (the better drug to be administered with the Azythromycin that we already had).

BUT....during that three hours?  There are no words.....

The Dr took blood, confirmed the diagnosis, said a bunch of stuff that sounded good (later I realized she must have memorized one of the articles I found on the internet).   I think she spent more time typing up a cost estimate for what we owed so far, plus, what else we would owe if she started fluid treatments and release him back into our care in a few hours.
Then she mentioned "hospitalization, full care" and ask if this is something we were interested in?  We said YES! Money is not the issue, we want to save our baby!
So, she headed back to make a revised estimate.
Sent an employee back with that estimate to explain it to us. 
   Now, after looking at the 1st estimate that totaled $600.  All I saw was an itemized list of $20 to $70 items that I KNEW added up to $600, but....really?? I'm paying every time an employee walks past my cat on their way to the bathroom.  BUT if that's what it takes, so be it!
   The employee had the revised estimate and it was around $1200 and took two pages of itemization to get there.  And, she wanted to know that if our baby crashed, IF we wanted to spend $150 to try and revive him?
THAT may have been the turning point.  OR, it may have been when the employee said she'd seen a couple of cats survive.  (a couple??  a few?? YOU ARE SUPPOSED TO BE THE BEST!!??). 
OR, the turning point may have been when we realized (it was explained to us) that this was a "after hours emergency clinic".  AND, we would need to pick up our baby at 6:00am and take him to a nearby normal hours vet, which would hospitalize him there, during the day. And we would pick him up there at 5:00pm and bring him back to the night clinic where he would be hooked back up to IV's and hospitalized there for the night.....back and forth for maybe 10 days.

That's $1000 a night. $600 a day. TWO 6hr drives per day.  For maybe 10 days.  (and you've seen a couple of cats survive?).  So that 60% survival I've been reading about is somehow different than reality?
   We were shocked, dead tired, stressed, and devastated.   No longer had any trust in this clinic.  Thanked them for what they had done, and for the drugs, paid them $500 and headed home at midnight to say our goodbyes.

On our way out the door, one of the girls said "Good Luck"....................
 
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msserena

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do you have regular cats or did this happen to your bobcat? I'm glad you found the other drugs, I was gonna paste a link to a great page I found but it sounds like you might have found the same one.

I've never even heard of Bobcat fever so this is a lesson to all cat owners!
 
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basscat

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One Bob, One Tabby.
And NO, this is NOT a bobcat story.  (however, all things considered, would this be called "Irony"???)
   
Bob is a kitten and has never had a tick on him and never been anywhere to get a tick. Had him tested to be sure.  The vet was concerned about our bob getting it from our tabby.
There are wild bobcats in the area, and a few stray cats from time to time, and dogs.  Mostly deer, raccoons, squirrels, possums, a bear, several foxes.   All of which love the pond.  As does our tabby. He LOVES that pond and spends most of his outside time in the same place all the wildlife frequent.
We assume this is where he most likely got it.  Probably an infected tick off of a deer or some of the other wildlife.

This is nothing to take lightly.  I mean, if it's television news worthy, it's bad.  And the way it spreads through urban neighborhoods has little to do with an actual bobcat being within 50 miles of you. And it's the last thing you think would ever happen to your baby.
HOPE is where you read there's a 60% chance of survival. 
But,  The reality is that's NOT 60% of the cats diagnosed.   That's 60% of the cats "accepted" in particular study.  And those cats got the utmost in preferential treatment and the very best care imaginable because they were part of a "study".
Something most of us simply can't afford. 
We think they key to our cat's survival was:
1) We caught very early.
2) Maybe a combination of the "not-so effective" drugs, PLUS the "more effective" drugs, and "MAYBE" the holistic drugs (monolaurin).   It wasn't a "this treatment" thing.  It turned out to be an "every treatment possible combined" thing.  Took his temp twice a day making sure it didn't hit 106 or 95. 
3) Johnny on the Spot EVERY and PRECISELY 4hrs with medication, Hydration, and Food.  (AND an attempt at nourishment almost every two hours).  Kept him confined in a bedroom at 70 degrees.
4) Young very healthy cat.
5) Combination of three Vets and us getting darn lucky with OUR decisions regarding these three vets and their recommendations/instructions. 

Three vets and Two of them I could ring their necks.  HOWEVER, I'm certain all three had something to do with his survival. 
NOTE on temperature: We had some Metacam and planned on using it ONLY if he was in pain, or his temp hit 106 or 95.  Then be at the vet as soon as they opened.
He hit 97 once and we wrapped him up in towels out of the dryer.  Took his temp 30 minutes later with a different thermometer and it was 99.   (1st thermometer was a high-tech 2 second readout) (2nd thermometer just stays in place for quite a while and beeps when it's done). 
 
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msserena

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Ok so this is a regular cat. I read the part about the 60% chance when taking that 2nd medicine, the one you guys have now. I guess the 1st one is a bit older. If you go back to the place that administered it, you could give THEM a lesson they very much need. So the kitty is at home now? I guess basically it's just giving him medicine & letting it work in his body. the waiting game really sucks!
 
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basscat

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Story continued:
Got home from the 2nd clinic at 3:00am Friday Morning.  Set up a bedroom with litterbox, food, water, lots of towels for him to lay on. (he loves fresh towels).   He was in bad shape. We just tried to make him as comfortable as possible.  And tried to get some sleep.

On my way to work, I stopped by a local vet (3rd vet).  Asked him if there was a way that I could get ahold of him over the weekend in case our little boy was at the end, in pain. 
He said yes, and...WHY?  
(I gave him the story)
He said..."Bloodwork"?   I told him the emergency night clinic took blood and said some things I didn't fully understand and I had no idea if we had any paperwork or anything. (I was almost sleep walking).
He said...I WANT TO SEE THE BLOODWORK.  Bring your cat down here, It costs $35, and I need to do bloodwork so that I know what's what.  AND, bring me all the paperwork you got from either of the last two vets so that I know what's been done and when.

An hour later he was showing us HIS bloodwork results -vs- the night clinics results (I did have those and didn't know it). 
  He pointed out the good, the bad, and the IMPROVEMENT, and that his blood work machine was the same as the night clinic used.
Pointed out the 1st vets injections and singled one out and said "THAT injection is why he threw up and was foaming at the mouth Thursday evening".
Pointed out the night clinics fees were insane, but, he's glad they gave him a fluid injection under the skin. And glad they didn't give him an IV of fluids which they wanted to do.  (showed us something on the bloodwork and explained that a fluid IV at that time would have killed him).
He also tested him for FeLV/FIV and that he didn't have either. (which meant he had a better chance of survival).
Explained to us that a fever is good because that's a cats immune system trying to do it's thing.  BUT, there's a fine line between fever and eating.  Said a cat with a high temp, feels bad, and that cat won't eat. And a cat that hasn't eaten in a few days MUST eat.  (at this stage, eating is more important than the cats own immune defenses, AND...The medications should be doing their thing).  He said, right now, it's more important to reduce his temperature and get him to eat something.
So, he gave him an injection of something to reduce his temperature.
And he told us that he stood a very good chance of making it because of the improvements in the bloodwork comparison.  "Stay the course and call me ANY TIME day or night if anything changes for the worse. If not, call me Monday morning and give me an update".

I left there and went on a state wide hunt for Monolaurin.  Found some and began that in between his prescribed medicine times. 
To begin with, I couldn't find Monolaurin, so I got some 1000mg Coconut Oil Capsules.  Began those Friday at noon by sucking the oil out of the capsule with a syringe. I would then suck up .5cc of that cherry flavor Azithromycin into the same syringe.  (three times a day).   That didn't go so bad, he tolerated the coconut oil and azithromycin pretty well. 
 
 
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basscat

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Ok so this is a regular cat. I read the part about the 60% chance when taking that 2nd medicine, the one you guys have now. I guess the 1st one is a bit older. If you go back to the place that administered it, you could give THEM a lesson they very much need. So the kitty is at home now? I guess basically it's just giving him medicine & letting it work in his body. the waiting game really sucks!
Oh, no....He finished his medicine on the 16th. Today is the 26th and he has gained back 1.5lbs since the trip to the 1st vet. 
He's going a little bonkers, stir crazy, because we won't let him outside.  But, he's back to eating and drinking his normal amount of food.

You read about the two different treatments (medicines). 
Old method was Imidocarb.
New method is Azithromycin and Atovaquone.
Holistic stuff I've read about is Monolaurin and maybe (cats claw, black walnut, wormwood, cloves). Or a combination of those tinctures. 

What's strange is that the 1st vet gave him Imidocarb AND Azithromycin. 
The night clinic said we needed Atovaquone, and told us it would take about an hour because they had to "make it"??  (I don't know??)
My assumption is that the 1st vet just didn't have any, and it may not be all that easy to get?
 
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msserena

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ok so medicine is all done, he is on the mend! glad to hear it. yeah if there are ticks all over, I wouldn't let any animal outside, YOU don't want some disease either.
 
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