Congratulations to the new addition! Baloo is quite the handsome man.
Lots of
to you and Gary for your kitty compassion!!
Lots of
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Welcome the 9th member of our family... Baloo
- Thread starter ldg
- Start Date
YAY Baloo
He is such a gorgeous boy and he is so lucky to have you and Gary
He is such a gorgeous boy and he is so lucky to have you and Gary
What a lucky, handsome guy!!
He reminds me a lot of my LP!
What a lucky boy he is to have found you!! He's a pretty boy. I've never heard of lung worm... what are the symptoms and how is it treated?
- Thread Starter Thread Starter
- #26
Lung worm - the only symptoms are a cough that sounds like a URI. If you hear it, you're wondering if it's just a hairball, if it's bad, you're thinking URI? And if it's really bad, you rush to the vet because you think it's pneumonia. The other symptom is like with round worm, they eat a lot but don't gain weight - only you don't get the round belly.
If it goes untreated, it can kill them. They basically drown when their lungs fill with worms.
Poor Flowerbelle was so bad off when we first rescued her, the vet that discovered the problem said she had maybe a day or two left before she would have drowned.
The ONLY way to get it is eating slugs or snails. And cats cannot pass it to each other like round worm, they can only get it from the host.
We've had a lot of slugs around here the past couple of years.
In fact, when Flowerbelle was discovered with lung worm, it was the first recorded case in the county in at least 20 years. Now it's quite common.
It can be detected in poop. The treatment is a shot of ivermectin, so basically if we hear one of the ferals coughing a couple of times and it sounds a little "wet," we take them in for a shot if it's been two weeks since they had revolution applied.
Of course.... we can only get revolution on two of them at this point.
But when they get sick enough, knock wood, we've been able to trap them. (In fact, we're usually able to crate them. Somehow, they know they need help, no matter how feral they were).
We've only had one injured feral we simply could not help.
That was Tabby, earlier this year. She broke her leg or sprained her ankle or something. It nearly broke our hearts.
But whatever it was, she healed up just fine, thank goodness.
If it goes untreated, it can kill them. They basically drown when their lungs fill with worms.
The ONLY way to get it is eating slugs or snails. And cats cannot pass it to each other like round worm, they can only get it from the host.
We've had a lot of slugs around here the past couple of years.
In fact, when Flowerbelle was discovered with lung worm, it was the first recorded case in the county in at least 20 years. Now it's quite common.
It can be detected in poop. The treatment is a shot of ivermectin, so basically if we hear one of the ferals coughing a couple of times and it sounds a little "wet," we take them in for a shot if it's been two weeks since they had revolution applied.
Of course.... we can only get revolution on two of them at this point.
But when they get sick enough, knock wood, we've been able to trap them. (In fact, we're usually able to crate them. Somehow, they know they need help, no matter how feral they were).
We've only had one injured feral we simply could not help.
wow, that sounds horrible, I can't believe I've never heard of it. I'm glad you were able to save Flowerbelle in time.
- Thread Starter Thread Starter
- #28
So are we.
It is one of those stories that would be funny if it hadn't been so serious. But we were still new enough to rescue that when she was released from the hospital we didn't run through the checklist. And one of the things they hadn't done was check her poop in a microscope before sending her home with us. She had a bad cough - but she had a URI and herpes. She was home.. 2 days? when Gary said he wanted a 2nd opinion.
So we found a new vet and took her. He listened to her chest, and at first thought she had pneumonia, or perhaps really bad asthma. The xray looked like she had no room for air in her lungs.
But they were really puzzled by the xray, as it wasn't clearly anything. But he continued the exam, and used a little tool thingy to get a poop sample so he could look at it under the scope, and came running in the exam room all excited, and said to Gary, "you have GOT to see this!" He'd never seen a poop sample as packed with parasites as hers was. He'd also never seen that parasite. Several other vets got involved and they pulled out all their books, and finally figured out what it was. And that explained the xray.
Poor little baby had survived by eating slugs. It was just heartbreaking.
Why THESE kitties outside would be eating slugs, I don't know. They have both wet and dry food and so many little critters to hunt - heaps of field mice around here, and lots of crickets....
So we found a new vet and took her. He listened to her chest, and at first thought she had pneumonia, or perhaps really bad asthma. The xray looked like she had no room for air in her lungs.
Why THESE kitties outside would be eating slugs, I don't know. They have both wet and dry food and so many little critters to hunt - heaps of field mice around here, and lots of crickets....
Oh, Laurie. He is GORGEOUS and I agree with Carolina that he may have some BSH or AM SH in him.. shorter wider head and face, orange eyes! Bless you for helping him!!!Originally Posted by Carolina
Oh wow, look how beautiful and regal he is!!
Those orange eyes and thick coat reminds me of a British S. Hair... Gorgeous little boy!!
Congrats on the new baby mom and pap! I know you must be most proud!
Edit - we have lungworms around here, too. Blech!!!
