Shelters

On Tue 07 Jun 2005 10:02:44p, Philip wrote in
rec.pets.cats.health+behav
nk.net):

"Cheryl" wrote in message
...

Maybe try using KMR (kitten milk replacement formula) rather
than milk. It'll add calories. Since he tolerates milk, he'll
tolerate that.

I saw that stuff at Petco today. I wondered if it might not be a
bit rich for an adult cat.

I had a sick cat with a feeding tube for 2 months and I put some in
his "sick cat mix" for the calorie content. He handled it well
during that time. What happened after wasn't related to the KMR -
he had IBD. At the time I fed him food through a feeding tube with
KMR, he had hepatic lipidosis and it was imperative to get the
calories in him to heal his liver.

Conan was clearly labeled "Stray." I don't need visits from
well meaning strangers. I expected to buy a reasonably healthy
cat. This ain't it. This morning, Conan hopped up on the bed
just as I was coming to .... at about 6:00 AM. Just as I rolled
over and pulled down the comforter, he sneezed ... twice ... the
second sneeze landing a small glob of viscous snot alongside my
forehead. NOT FUNNY. My first coherent thought was this cat
is not staying here much longer in this condition. Apparently,
infected animals are not unusual as evidenced by the shelter's
"no questions" return/exchange policy.

Based on this, my suggestion would be to return him and not get
another cat. I'm sure you mean well, but they do get sick, and they
need someone who will nurse them back to health after their
stressful ordeal. It's usually temporary, and they usually get past
this. Especially an adult cat. Definitely don't get a kitten. If
you think this is bad, kittens require closer monitoring and more
responsibility.


--
Cheryl

"The clever cat eats cheese and breathes down rat holes with baited
breath."
- W.C. Fields

"Philip" wrote
Conan was clearly labeled "Stray." I don't need visits from well meaning
strangers. I expected to buy a reasonably healthy cat. This ain't it.
This morning, Conan hopped up on the bed just as I was coming to .... at
about 6:00 AM. Just as I rolled over and pulled down the comforter, he
sneezed ... twice ... the second sneeze landing a small glob of viscous
snot alongside my forehead. NOT FUNNY. My first coherent thought was
this cat is not staying here much longer in this condition. Apparently,
infected animals are not unusual as evidenced by the shelter's "no
questions" return/exchange policy.



A URI will pass. He will probably be over it in at least a week. If you
honestly don't feel like you are up for dealing with a URI, which is a minor
problem, then return the cat, if this was a no or low kill shelter. If it
was an open admission place, he will probably be put to sleep.

About the KMR: It's fine for adult cats who haven't been eating. Much
better than regular milk.

--
-Kelly

bigbadbarry wrote:

Who do you think I am, just a ameba with a computer. If that's your
final answer then; what good are you to this group.

You haven't been around here long; you don't know what Phil does for
this group. He saves lives and helps people find answers, just on this
group, besides what he does IRL.

A lot of people seem to have some objections to Phil but then when
their cat has some mysterious/horrible illness, he will still help
them. It's all about cats for him, all cats, your cat, my cat, every
cat.

Candace

Candace wrote:

You haven't been around here long; you don't know what Phil does for
this group. He saves lives and helps people find answers, just on this
group, besides what he does IRL.

A lot of people seem to have some objections to Phil but then when
their cat has some mysterious/horrible illness, he will still help
them. It's all about cats for him, all cats, your cat, my cat, every
cat.

Candace

I'm sitting here reading through posts. I start at the top and work
down through the thread. When I get to a little dispute in the post, I
consider this not worth reading...so I keep going down through the
thread pulling out the content...seeing if I can help someone.

There's no way, you read this post.

bigbadbarry wrote:
Candace wrote:

You haven't been around here long; you don't know what Phil does for
this group. He saves lives and helps people find answers, just on this
group, besides what he does IRL.

A lot of people seem to have some objections to Phil but then when
their cat has some mysterious/horrible illness, he will still help
them. It's all about cats for him, all cats, your cat, my cat, every
cat.

There's no way, you read this post.

but I appreciate your optimism.
I say "dispute", that's a nice term for pee pee match.

I be durned if I could get anything useful from Phil.

The 1% he did contribute in this post was like eating crap with nitting
needles in it.

blah...

hikey!

On Wed, 08 Jun 2005 02:02:44 GMT, "Philip"
wrote:


... twice ... the second sneeze landing a small glob of viscous snot
alongside my forehead. NOT FUNNY.



For once I agree with you Fillup .....it would have been funny however
if it hit you in the face.......lol.....lol........lol......lol.....I
know its not kosher to laugh at your own jokes but I just cant
help...lol.....lol.....lol......it.......lol.....l ol.......

Your friend

Brad

LIFE'S JOURNEY IS NOT TO ARRIVE AT THE GRAVE SAFELY IN A
WELL-PRESERVED BODY, BUT RATHER TO SKID IN SIDEWAYS, TOTALLY WORN OUT,
SHOUTING... " HOLY @#$%... WHAT A RIDE!"

"Cheryl" wrote in message
...
On Tue 07 Jun 2005 10:02:44p, Philip wrote in
rec.pets.cats.health+behav
nk.net):

"Cheryl" wrote in message
...

Maybe try using KMR (kitten milk replacement formula) rather
than milk. It'll add calories. Since he tolerates milk, he'll
tolerate that.

I saw that stuff at Petco today. I wondered if it might not be a
bit rich for an adult cat.

I had a sick cat with a feeding tube for 2 months and I put some in
his "sick cat mix" for the calorie content. He handled it well
during that time. What happened after wasn't related to the KMR -
he had IBD. At the time I fed him food through a feeding tube with
KMR, he had hepatic lipidosis and it was imperative to get the
calories in him to heal his liver.

Conan was clearly labeled "Stray." I don't need visits from
well meaning strangers. I expected to buy a reasonably healthy
cat. This ain't it. This morning, Conan hopped up on the bed
just as I was coming to .... at about 6:00 AM. Just as I rolled
over and pulled down the comforter, he sneezed ... twice ... the
second sneeze landing a small glob of viscous snot alongside my
forehead. NOT FUNNY. My first coherent thought was this cat
is not staying here much longer in this condition. Apparently,
infected animals are not unusual as evidenced by the shelter's
"no questions" return/exchange policy.

Based on this, my suggestion would be to return him and not get
another cat. I'm sure you mean well, but they do get sick, and they
need someone who will nurse them back to health after their
stressful ordeal. It's usually temporary, and they usually get past
this. Especially an adult cat. Definitely don't get a kitten. If
you think this is bad, kittens require closer monitoring and more
responsibility.
--
Cheryl

Cheryl. I'm going to completely disregard your last paragraph because it
is totally at odds with my ownership of cats ... all but one being from
kitten stage. Sick cats have never been in my experience. The
indoor/outdoors ones years ago would sustain fight damage ... but that's it.
The one Siamese had a lesion on his anus when he got to be about 10-12 yrs
old. Is that just luck? You "professionals" appear to have a lot more
serious health experiences with personal cats in your care than I ever have.

Let's look at what I got. When I picked up Conan, he was very active and
alert. He had been in shelter captivity for 7 days. I brought him home.
After the first 24 hrs he started declining. What happened? He got a
couple of vaccinations and the stress of transport. I WILL find out
tomorrow exactly what shots were administered and when. Is there no
possibility this whole thing is fallout from whatever they injected into him
just before releasing him to me?

Your ideas.

"KellyH" wrote in message
...
"Philip" wrote
Conan was clearly labeled "Stray." I don't need visits from well meaning
strangers. I expected to buy a reasonably healthy cat. This ain't it.
This morning, Conan hopped up on the bed just as I was coming to .... at
about 6:00 AM. Just as I rolled over and pulled down the comforter, he
sneezed ... twice ... the second sneeze landing a small glob of viscous
snot alongside my forehead. NOT FUNNY. My first coherent thought was
this cat is not staying here much longer in this condition. Apparently,
infected animals are not unusual as evidenced by the shelter's "no
questions" return/exchange policy.



A URI will pass. He will probably be over it in at least a week. If you
honestly don't feel like you are up for dealing with a URI, which is a
minor problem, then return the cat, if this was a no or low kill shelter.
If it was an open admission place, he will probably be put to sleep.

About the KMR: It's fine for adult cats who haven't been eating. Much
better than regular milk.

--
-Kelly

I just posted to Cheryl, you might take a look at that post. Conan is not
presenting a "minor problem" here. I bought a can of KMR this evening and
syringed 30-40cc down his throat. How much and how often do you feed this
stuff to an adult? He's also starting to smell a bit like urine all over
but is hind area is dry and he is not leaking where he sleeps. This is new.

I don't want to take him back partly because this IS a high kill shelter.
But through no fault of the cat's, this situation is not one I can live with
indefinitely. As I said to Cheryl, Conan was active and alert until about 24
hrs after arriving home. The shelter DID give him a shot or two along with
chipping him just before releasing him to me. Do you know of any
vaccination that would bring about a URI or a condition mimicking a URI?
*IF* one of the vaccinations he got could bring on these symptoms, then
there is NO WAY I will accept another animal from this shelter.

Philip wrote:

He has not eaten anything for 48 hrs.

He needs to eat badly. Didn't you mention cyproheptadine yesterday? I
thought you said it worked or is that incorrect?

If it did not work, call your vet and ask about one of the
benzodiazipines (valium family). Apparently, if it is given as an
injection, the cat will generally want to eat within a couple of
minutes.

I hope he will eat soon. I am sure the nutrical is helping him but he
needs more.

Candace

"Philip" wrote
I just posted to Cheryl, you might take a look at that post. Conan is not
presenting a "minor problem" here. I bought a can of KMR this evening and
syringed 30-40cc down his throat. How much and how often do you feed this
stuff to an adult? He's also starting to smell a bit like urine all over
but is hind area is dry and he is not leaking where he sleeps. This is
new.

I have no idea about the urine smell.
If he is eating absoultely nothing, I would give him KMR at least several
times a day.
I'm not a vet, and all I have to go on are your posts. To me, what you
posted sounded minor, except for the not eating. Is he still active? Using
the litterbox? If he is lethargic and seems generally unwell, I would take
him back to the vet.


I don't want to take him back partly because this IS a high kill shelter.
But through no fault of the cat's, this situation is not one I can live
with indefinitely. As I said to Cheryl, Conan was active and alert until
about 24 hrs after arriving home. The shelter DID give him a shot or two
along with chipping him just before releasing him to me. Do you know of
any vaccination that would bring about a URI or a condition mimicking a
URI? *IF* one of the vaccinations he got could bring on these symptoms,
then there is NO WAY I will accept another animal from this shelter.



Phil P (if you will listen to him) knows much more about vaccines than I do.
The old HESKA vaccine (a brand of FVRCP vacc) we used up until several
months ago would bring on URI-like symptoms.
Also, if he had a URI brewing, the stress of coming into a new home and the
vaccines, and probably a recent neuter could have caused the URI to surface.

I do hope that you will take him back to the vet instead of back to the
shelter.

--
-Kelly