Jeanne -
the leukemia vac... an acquaintance of mine had 3 indoor cats with no
leukemia vac for the same reason you mentioned. Unfortunately, one got out
and galavanted about the neighborhood for a few days and upon returning,
brought home Fel Leuk with him... and ended up giving it to the other
kitties
. I get mine all vacced for this very reason.. just in case!
Glad Natasha is feeling better!
Stacey
"Jeanne Hedge" wrote in message
...
On Sat, 09 Aug 2003 03:23:36 GMT, "jen.d" wrote:
By shots do you mean vaccinations?
Yes. In the part of the US I grew up in, vaccinations = shots.
OTOH, shots = a lot more than just vaccinations. Pretty much anything
injected into a body (H.sapiens or other) using a needle falls under
the category of "shots" ^_^
Just wondering - they're called that in Canada too obviously, but wasn't
sure if there were shots of any other kind being given (ie: vitamins or
something). The reason I inquire is that I'm just wondering if vaccines
are
absolutely necessary for Natasha? I'd be very cautious giving
vaccinations
to such a senior kitty, particularly with any kind of issue concerning
health (or even if there isn't) since they're so tough on the body even
for
the youngins and past shots should still be active in the system for
years
on end. Many vets don't share both sides of the story. But if you already
know, then never mind 
Thanks to all who have posted here Natasha
Although she's spent most of the day snoozing, she definitely seems to
be feeling better, although not 100% I think. The vet called a bit ago
to check on her (5:30pm on a Saturday?! quite amazing to me!), and
said that it may take 2-3 days just to recover throwing up that much
(regardless of the cause)
Tasha wasn't interested in her food (dry) this morning, so I bought a
few cans of food for her. This is a cat who has never had canned food
in her life, and I thought the change might interest her.
I don't think she's quite sure what to do - she's *licking* at it!
It's quite funny to watch I've taken a fork to it, to rough it up
some, hoping she'll get the idea eventually. But I take it as a good
sign that she is now showing some interest in the food dish (and not
as something to play in)
In answer to a couple questions, yes, Tasha was given fluids several
times Friday to rehydrate her. Also some antibiotics, and I was given
some to take home.
The vet (Dr Grant) actually took time to give me instruction on how to
squirt the liquid antibiotic into Tasha's mouth. It's 1.5 ml, and the
dropper will only do 1 ml at a time.
#1 - do it in two 0.75 ml increments, because it's difficult to fill
the dropper all the way.
#2 - wrap the cat in a towel or blanket first so she won't fight you.
#3 - squirt half of that 0.75 ml at a time, if you don't she'll
probably spit it out and you'll end up wearing it.
Have I mentioned that Dr Grant has a great sense of humor?
Dr Grant also says that a lot of the animals they're seeing right now
are shedding badly. Being August it's the height of summer here, but
summer's been very mild in Illinois this year so I don't know why
anyone would be shedding excessively...
As for the question about Natasha's annual vaccinations, the law
requires she get certain ones, like rabies, so there's no getting
around that. Some vaccinations (I'm not sure which ones) she gets once
every 3 years. Others, such as for feline leukemia, she doesn't get at
all because, being an indoor cat with no contact with unknown cats,
she's very low-risk.
It was decided to not give her any vaccinations yesterday, because of
her being sick. We're going to get her over this, and then see what
the results of the blood retest next week are, before we decide where
to go from there.
I've got all available appendages crossed that this mess is indeed due
to a badly placed (and expensive!) hairball and not something else...
Thanks again everyone
Jeanne Hedge, as directed by Natasha
http://www.jhedge.com
CompuServe Anime/Manga Forum via Your Browser
- IT'S FREE! -
*** http://go.compuserve.com/anime ***