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- Feb 12, 2014
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Please help. I need some advice as soon as possible if anyone has any insight.
Gus my 16 year old cat who's has issues in the past with fleeting bouts of acute/chronic pancreatitis that self corrected after months, and hasn't caused issues in 4 years.
I live in part of the U.S. with a big Covid explosion and we're only allowed out for essential errands. For the past month, I've been fighting the worst cold/bronchitis I've had in my life, which could easily have been covid based on my symptoms, but our city wasn't testing well at the time. This is relevant because, even though I'm doing better now, I'm still feeling kind of crappy and I definitely don't want to give this to anyone else—especially if it's covid. Further, even if that is not what I have, with my lungs still being so beaten up by the "bronchitis," I definitely do not want to get covid on top of this. (I also have autoimmune issues.)
This morning I woke up to a little pile of saliva type vomit where the cats usually sleep. I didn't know if it came from Gus or his sister, but they're both acting fine, so I shrugged it off since it's not abnormal to find these occasionally.
As the day went on, Gus was his normal relatively sociable self, I saw him trying to eat some plastic off of a variety pack of canned cat food we recently purchased from Amazon (this is not the first time he's attemped this week). Ordinarily this is not the type of food they eat, but we decided to purchase some to have on hand since we're all isolated and we didn't know how long their dry food would last. He's eaten bites of it fine for the past week, so I don't think it's likely to be that.
As the day went on, he threw up bits of the wet food one time, and then, a few hours later just now, he threw up barely digested dry food.
(Looking at the packaging on the cat food, it doesn't look like he could have eaten that much plastic, if any. The missing piece is only about 1.5 inch across.)
I started to notice him acting more touchy and lethargic, whining when we tried to handle him.
He was pawing at his ears a LOT today. To my embarrassment, he does have incredible waxy buildup in his ears that I try to manage as best as I can, but he is such a sensitive cat that manhandling him too much since him into a panic. It's heartbreaking to watch, so I don't clean them as often as I should.
I took his temperature, and it was 100.5, so no fever (though in my mind, his ears felt warmer than normal; my husband disagrees).
I grabbed some (probably expired by now) veterinary miconazole drops from my cabinet, and swab the inside of his ears with some of it dampening the swabs. He struggled and hated me all the more since he already felt crummy, then had his temperature taken, then going through this.
I also gave him about 1/2 tsp of colloidal silver just because I didn't know what he's sick with, and that can't hurt him.
At this point, I decided to try Cai our vet's office, knowing that even though we would not be able to go in, she might be able to walk me through some options. She's out of the office and won't be back in until tomorrow. They took a message.
In the meantime, he's moping around and acting whiny and in minor/moderate pain, and I am beside myself.
On top of this, my brother, with whom I'm close seems to have come down with covid, and is having a rough time of it tonight, on quarantine at his house, trying to decide if his lung symptoms are bad enough to go to the hospital.
So I am at my stress limit. I'm not sure if the way Gus is feeling is because of potentially eating a small plastic, new wet food, a recurrence of this semi chronic pancreatitis we haven't experienced in years, or if it's somehow possible severe ear infection can be connected to nausea and vomiting. Oh, and looking back, I used a Steramine spray (used by veterinarians often to clean kennels and such, and effective against covid) last night to sanitize my entryway floor after setting delivered groceries down, but I went back with water later to make sure any remaining reside was now dilute, but what if it wasn't and he licked his paws and has been poisoned?
I'm just... so... anxiety laden, and I don't know what to do. Any other situatin and we'd be at the emergency vet RIGHT NOW, but I can't risk getting anyone else sick or anyone getting me sick (or leaving sick germs on my cat that I could later catch from him if someone else brought him in).
The vet is supposedly calling be back tomorrow, but in the meantime, any ideas on what we might do or even which "why is he puking and feeling crappy" scenario seems most likely?
The meds we have on hand that could potentially be safe for him if needed: miconazole drops, prednisolone (his sister's), and flagyl (Rx of mine from last year i only took two of because of bad side effects).
Gus my 16 year old cat who's has issues in the past with fleeting bouts of acute/chronic pancreatitis that self corrected after months, and hasn't caused issues in 4 years.
I live in part of the U.S. with a big Covid explosion and we're only allowed out for essential errands. For the past month, I've been fighting the worst cold/bronchitis I've had in my life, which could easily have been covid based on my symptoms, but our city wasn't testing well at the time. This is relevant because, even though I'm doing better now, I'm still feeling kind of crappy and I definitely don't want to give this to anyone else—especially if it's covid. Further, even if that is not what I have, with my lungs still being so beaten up by the "bronchitis," I definitely do not want to get covid on top of this. (I also have autoimmune issues.)
This morning I woke up to a little pile of saliva type vomit where the cats usually sleep. I didn't know if it came from Gus or his sister, but they're both acting fine, so I shrugged it off since it's not abnormal to find these occasionally.
As the day went on, Gus was his normal relatively sociable self, I saw him trying to eat some plastic off of a variety pack of canned cat food we recently purchased from Amazon (this is not the first time he's attemped this week). Ordinarily this is not the type of food they eat, but we decided to purchase some to have on hand since we're all isolated and we didn't know how long their dry food would last. He's eaten bites of it fine for the past week, so I don't think it's likely to be that.
As the day went on, he threw up bits of the wet food one time, and then, a few hours later just now, he threw up barely digested dry food.
(Looking at the packaging on the cat food, it doesn't look like he could have eaten that much plastic, if any. The missing piece is only about 1.5 inch across.)
I started to notice him acting more touchy and lethargic, whining when we tried to handle him.
He was pawing at his ears a LOT today. To my embarrassment, he does have incredible waxy buildup in his ears that I try to manage as best as I can, but he is such a sensitive cat that manhandling him too much since him into a panic. It's heartbreaking to watch, so I don't clean them as often as I should.
I took his temperature, and it was 100.5, so no fever (though in my mind, his ears felt warmer than normal; my husband disagrees).
I grabbed some (probably expired by now) veterinary miconazole drops from my cabinet, and swab the inside of his ears with some of it dampening the swabs. He struggled and hated me all the more since he already felt crummy, then had his temperature taken, then going through this.
I also gave him about 1/2 tsp of colloidal silver just because I didn't know what he's sick with, and that can't hurt him.
At this point, I decided to try Cai our vet's office, knowing that even though we would not be able to go in, she might be able to walk me through some options. She's out of the office and won't be back in until tomorrow. They took a message.
In the meantime, he's moping around and acting whiny and in minor/moderate pain, and I am beside myself.
On top of this, my brother, with whom I'm close seems to have come down with covid, and is having a rough time of it tonight, on quarantine at his house, trying to decide if his lung symptoms are bad enough to go to the hospital.
So I am at my stress limit. I'm not sure if the way Gus is feeling is because of potentially eating a small plastic, new wet food, a recurrence of this semi chronic pancreatitis we haven't experienced in years, or if it's somehow possible severe ear infection can be connected to nausea and vomiting. Oh, and looking back, I used a Steramine spray (used by veterinarians often to clean kennels and such, and effective against covid) last night to sanitize my entryway floor after setting delivered groceries down, but I went back with water later to make sure any remaining reside was now dilute, but what if it wasn't and he licked his paws and has been poisoned?
I'm just... so... anxiety laden, and I don't know what to do. Any other situatin and we'd be at the emergency vet RIGHT NOW, but I can't risk getting anyone else sick or anyone getting me sick (or leaving sick germs on my cat that I could later catch from him if someone else brought him in).
The vet is supposedly calling be back tomorrow, but in the meantime, any ideas on what we might do or even which "why is he puking and feeling crappy" scenario seems most likely?
The meds we have on hand that could potentially be safe for him if needed: miconazole drops, prednisolone (his sister's), and flagyl (Rx of mine from last year i only took two of because of bad side effects).