Hi

I've found this NG in the hope someone has come across this problem
and may be able to help.

Before I start I have to explain that the cat in question has had
medical treatment, including an hour in an oxygen tent and an
overnight stay in the vet clinic. she is now on steriod treament, but
the vet does not know what is wrong with her and has basically sent
her home to 'see what happens"

Tiddles is approx 2 years old and she adopted my SO on a building site
and came home with him. Unfortunaely it has just started to manifest
that she has 'passengers' and is around halfway through a pregnancy.
On tuesday I saw her playing with something then eating it - she
catches at least one mouse a day and eats the lot - even the guts-
everything. she did'nt come in for supper and SO found her making
'funny noises' in the Garage. I looked at her and her face was swollen
and she had brownish frothy mucous and very pale gums. She was also
hypothermic -her temperature was 36 and it should be around 38. Wed.
morning she was no better and I thought she may have been poisoned as
we are still finding rat poison in some of the outbuildings we
inherited ( we live in a rural property). The vet examined her and
said she did not have signs of rat poising as the warfarin would make
her bleed from the gums and eyes and she had no symptoms. He agreed
she was hypothermic and they kept her in the clinic overnight, with 60
minutes oxygen therapy and intravenous fluids. she perked up this
morning and this was when I was advised to bring her home - it was
that or do further tests, but he seemed to think it was best just to
'see what happens'. the kittens are still in there and are alive . he
thinks she has had an acute reaction to a substance but does'nt know
what.

We have just moved into the property and are in the process of
renovating a bathroom where we found a load of mouse droppings under
the old bath which attracted tiddles who was mooching around. I
mentioned this to the vet and asked if she could have injested Tylenol
(paracetamol) by mistake -if there were some remnants of old pills on
the floor -he reckoned that if she had injested Tylenol she would be
dead by now as it is lethal in very small doses for cats, so would
not even test for it -he said by the time the test came back, if it
was positive she would be dead anyway, if not I'd have wasted $150 on
the test..I have an issue with this vet -i really think he's out of
his depth and probably more used to dealing with cows and horses than
cats but he's the only one for miles.
So, she's back home, face still swollen and i'm trying to get her to
drink or eat but she'll only 'drink' mushed up tuna mixed with water.
It looks like she may be incontinent as she peed in the car on the way
home which is not like her and she looks totally depressed. I've been
on the Net most of the afternoon researching, but like all medical
conditions, you can almsot 'think' yourself into any condition out
there. She's been sent home with cortisone steroid medication
So-has anyone any advice or have seen this before??
Any tips for getting a very sick cat to drink??
If she had something really really serious would the kittens not have
been 'the first to go' ie she would have aborted them??
Thankyou, in anticipation

Clare