Poisoned cats??

well we dont know but neither do the three vets. that we took them too. first lethargic then high fever (105.8) one has very swollen paws limping rear legs extreme dehydration. then another came down as the same but sans the swelling then aother sarted to throw up and had a low grade fever. out door cats very well cared for. We tested blood. Cats #1 had 16 k white blood cell count the others in normal range. Wide distribution antibiotics, fluid ivs and some electrolytes plus a few nights in the coolest room of the house. now all within good temp.s 101 - 102 degrees. But cat one still swollen both cat one and two are very lethargic but have shown awareness of suroundings and can vocallize. Cat number three is doing very well and is already outside exhibiting normal behaviour.
Any ideas? we do have one nieghbor that has proclaimed to hate cats and to have threatened to shoot with bb's. We havea confronted her on that and she back down w/ contrition promising it was an empty threat. HAve looked for food laying around the border of prop but nothing.
Any help greatly appreciated. AS is with all tests and meds we are over a thousand dollars so we need to figure this out for humanitarian and finaciall reasons. Thankyou.

MAtt

Stop letting your cats outside. You have a neighbor who has threatened their lives! Whatever is wrong with your cat, you may never know what happened, and it very well may have been your neighbor acting with malicious intent. And she may very well keep doing it until they die, or until you keep them inside so she has no access to them and also nothing to complain about.

I'm sorry to hear your cats are sick. It sounds like they're starting to get better, though! So thats a good thing.

would love to keep them inside. We have five inside already and that is THE limit. these were strays that we adopted form the neighborhood. This place has a tremendous amount of cats. Here in Fl many snowbirds will just leave them here. We spay and neuter monthly all we can find. Anywas. thanks for the reply
Matt

Antifreeze? Tastes very sweet and yummy to animals. People should always hose off driveway after putting any in the car, or if the car is leaking. It is very dangerous.

It sounds from your description that they are making a turn towards recovery, but I would say it is very possible that they were poisoned... If they were I would suspect some kind of insecticide, have they been tested for arsenic? I really hope that this was not your neighbor Good luck

If it were me, I'd contact the local SPCA and tell them you suspect your neighbor poisoned your cats. Ask them to conduct an investigation. It definitely sounds like they were poisoned.

Something about this is pulling at my memory, but I cannot recall exactly what it is.
But something tells me perhaps this is insect/spider/reptile related.

The super weird thing is that all three got sick at once, and that one of them may have realized it was making the other two sick and stopped eating, so got over it much more quickly?

When Zissou was staying at my sisters over Christmas, all three (her two and mine) were found eating a poinsettia all together, and two of them hate each other.

Go around looking for plants etc that look nibbled near your house, see if anyone's garage is left open, etc. Observe your neighbor around the cats when she doesn't know you're looking and see if she does anything suspicious. I would say that seeing her feed your cats would warrant a call to the police after the threats she's made.
Are your three babies all better now????

third cat is fine now the other two ..well we just got back from the E.R. and they are now on steroids and Doxicycline. So far there are seven vets who have been consulting about this and not one has any idea. and they say so. Wonderfully the one who got sick first just ate something today. Frustratingly the second one who's fever broke went up to 104.5 tonight. SO we got intravenous fluids pumped into them and something else I cannot remember right now.
As for plants I am the obsessive gardening nieghbor the one that normal folks finds digging new beds at six am before the heat kicks in. These cats never touch my plants, grown organically, except for the thai lemmon grass.
As for the nieghbor I asked if she had any poisons and fert. out and she said only mothballs ..hence our concern though now the vets say nix on teh balls and more of some possible FIP's or toximosis. But as of now its guess work, the two are in our bed like royalty and we check in on them hourly. thanks you all for such great concern and info . We will keep trying.
Matt

Glad to hear they seem to be improving.
Sorry the vets have no definitive answers though, I know that will drive you nuts in regards to their safety outdoors.

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