New strain of FCV Calicivirus

[kitytize]

I am going to PM you.

 

[rang_27]

Well mine all went to the vet this morning. Before the vet would give anyone a vacination she asked if I worked at a shelter. When i said yes, she said OK. She stated that it is not recommended for wide usuage in all cats, but rather for those at higher risk. She said because of my work at the shelter my cats are at a higher risk. She also said that one of the vet techs at the clinic lost both of her cat to this. She did say because it is new and was developed on one strain they are not positive it will work for all, but that in my case it is worth doing. Also, this is one of the vacines with a slightly increased risk of side affects including injection site carcanomas. So my vet give it in the rear leg just like every other vacine they give. They have to go back in a month for a booster. So that's the info I got from my vet today.

 

[python]

Thanks for that info. My two kittens are being vaccinated next week along with Lucy and Chico. I'll speak to my vet about this.

 

[rang_27]

Just a quick update. My Maggie did end up having a slight reaction on Saturday night. So needless to say I didn't get a whole lot of sleep. She got the shot around 11 - 11:30 AM & around 8:30 PM I noticed that all the boys were up, but that she was still sleeping. I picked her up & she was warm and she cried a very strange cry. So I took her temp and it was around 104 & she was taking short rapid breaths. So I called the vet & he told me I could give her some Benedryl. He also said that 104 wasn't horrible, but that it would probably be good to try to get it down. I also had to watch for panting, wheezing or her temp going up any more. If that had happend, I would have had to take her to the e-vet. Luckily the Benedryl worked like a charm & she was fine by morning. So when she goes to get the booster I need to give her the Benedryl before hand. I'm not recommending anyone do that. I'm just recommending you know exactly what type of reactions happen and what to do. So 1 out of my 4 had a reaction of some sort.

 

[marti 12]

My son recently adopted a 2 year old cat from a shelter who I had been following for a month.  He appeared in perfect health.  He had been vaccinated.  Within two days he became ill.  We found what looked like a bite on his tail, took him to the vet, got antibiotics and went home.  He became sicker.  Was hospitalized for two days on fluids and tube feeding, also ran a fever of 105.  The bite turned out to be an ulcer, and another small one came out on his nose.

He rallied again and they sent him home.  We kept him isolated from our other cats the whole time in a closed room.  He developed tongue and mouth ulcers and his paws blew up to 3 times their size and wept yellow liquid from the top and got crusty.  By this time the vet started to suspect virulent calicivirus and put him in isolation.  He died a day later.  Because we didn't wash our clothes and hands in bleach, we have another cat who is ill and hospitalized in isolation.  A necropsy was done and the answer was virulent systemic calicivirus, as we had suspected.

This is a horrific disease.  Most shelters have cats that shed the virus.  Vaccination is no protection. If you work at a shelter, make sure your clothes are bleached in hot water to avoid

exposing your cats.  Wash your hands in bleach or betadine.  We did everything right and have one dead cat, one seriously ill cat, and two that have to stay in rooms apart until we are sure they are not shedding the virus.  Not to mention the heartache and thousands of dollars in medical bills.

Here is a new link that might be of help if you are fighting this disease:  http://abcd-vets.org/guidelines/guidelines_pdf/1201-FCV_Guideline.pdf
 

 

[missymotus]

So sorry for your loss Marti, hope your other cat pulls through