Blind Sick Cat

[Sammos]

Hello,

I'm on week 5 of caring for a feral cat that went blind from an illness that we still don't know. I'm posting in this thread to see if you may know what's happening so I can maybe get him the help he needs. I would love more than anything for him to survive this. I took him to the vet a few days after he was in the house. She checked him for leukemia and FIV–both negative. She said because of his nystagmus she thinks it's a systemic infection that will kill him. She didn't have much hope for him living 10 days.

6 weeks ago, I noticed he was exhibiting odd behavior and starting to struggle to find the water dish, carefully walking, but bumping into things. I brought the cat in and it's been an adjustment period for both of us. Besides being fed he had zero interactions with humans prior. He is a very small male cat. He is blind (reacts to light sometimes, but behaves totally blind), his pupils react to light, has subtle bilateral nystagmus, a very wobbly and unsteady gait, will only eat around his feral cat friends, wets himself, and will poo when prompted or when I'm holding him just out of the blue, has white worms in his stool. He has been on clindamycin 1ml for 4 weeks now and been given two doses of dewormer. I also started him on CBD oil (for animals) and was doing homeopathic drops for eyes. I thought he was going to die recently because he was rejecting food and not getting up to pee and only pooing when stimulated. I took him outside so he could say goodbye to his feral friends and that's when I discovered he'll eat, but only around them! This was a few days ago. He's now eating three times a day outside with his group, which makes me think there's still hope for him. When he was at the vet he was only checked for the two things because the vet didn't think bloodwork would tell us much. She also had very little hope of his survival. Has anyone ever experienced anything like this? I feel lost searching forums trying to find out. It could be toxoplasmosis, FIP, or any other systemic viral infection. I'm not sure if the clindamycin has helped anything and I don't want to give up on him.

Thank you for taking the time to read this and hopefully have some answers! Floof and I appreciate it

 

[Sammos]

He's 1.5 years old!

 

[FeebysOwner]

Hi, So sorry about what is going on with your little guy. IMO, without more testing to try to narrow down possibilities, all the vet is doing is guessing.

Maybe some information in this article (see link below) might give you an idea of what other tests you could discuss with the vet that might help get to the bottom of this.
https://www.petmd.com/cat/conditions/neurological/c_ct_nystagmus

 

[fionasmom]

I had a cat years ago, a street rescue who went blind from cryptococcus but his health also declined and seizures were present. It sounds to me as if your boy definitely has hope and I think that you need to cut your losses with this vet and find either a cat only vet or try to get him to a referral hospital. I have found that while this sounds like it could be expensive, getting the right advice the first time is much better than the vet fannying around and getting no where.

I am always suspicious of vets who do the obvious (clindamycin) and then tell you that if that one thing did not work it is basically over. Some of them seem to think that they are saving the client time and trouble, but that might not be what the client would want if someone would actually work with them and their animal. You are very kind to have helped this poor cat.

 

[mrsgreenjeens]

I agree with fionasmom that I would look for another Vet. I would think the first think they would do with a sick cat would be to order blood work unless the owner refused it.