Cats and salmonella poisoning: possible?

I would be grateful if anyone can offer help.

I have just put down the evening meal and my cat (6 months old) didn't
eat a single mouthful (quality canned food that he normally devours).
He has gone to sleep beside the fire, looking very drowsy. He has slept
since 5pm when he came in after three hours of playing outside. I have
just noticed that his third eye-lid is closing very sluggishly, and
moving reluctantly from being about one-eighth closed.

He's plainly ill.

I can't imagine why. His twin brother is in fine spirits.

The only thing I can think of is that three days ago I found him playing
with a dead greenfinch (he had it tightly in his jaws between tossing it
around).

Now, my neighbours have been throwing birdseed on one piece of ground
outside their living-room window for the past year and they recently
told me they were puzzled that they were finding lots of dead
greenfinches round their property. I let them know that some healthy
wildbirds carry salmonella and that from December to March particularly
it can be transmitted to faeces and rotting food in feeding areas which
are not being regularly cleaned and disinfected with bird-friendly
disinfectant. (Of course, the ground on which they have been throwing
birdseed for the last year must be crawling with salmonella and it has
now to be either disinfected or the top three inches of soil needs to be
removed.) Anyway, the point is that my cats are finding all these
greenfinches that have recently died from salmonella. (The twin found
one today: I wonder if he will come down ill in three or four days'
time.)

Can oral contract with salmonella make a cat ill?

If so, what needs to be done? (Tomorrow's Sunday: my vet is closed all
day.)

Thanks.

Nell.

in article , Nell at wrote
on 2/5/05 5:20 PM:

I would be grateful if anyone can offer help.

I have just put down the evening meal and my cat (6 months old) didn't
eat a single mouthful (quality canned food that he normally devours).
He has gone to sleep beside the fire, looking very drowsy. He has slept
since 5pm when he came in after three hours of playing outside. I have
just noticed that his third eye-lid is closing very sluggishly, and
moving reluctantly from being about one-eighth closed.

He's plainly ill.

I can't imagine why. His twin brother is in fine spirits.

The only thing I can think of is that three days ago I found him playing
with a dead greenfinch (he had it tightly in his jaws between tossing it
around).

Now, my neighbours have been throwing birdseed on one piece of ground
outside their living-room window for the past year and they recently
told me they were puzzled that they were finding lots of dead
greenfinches round their property. I let them know that some healthy
wildbirds carry salmonella and that from December to March particularly
it can be transmitted to faeces and rotting food in feeding areas which
are not being regularly cleaned and disinfected with bird-friendly
disinfectant. (Of course, the ground on which they have been throwing
birdseed for the last year must be crawling with salmonella and it has
now to be either disinfected or the top three inches of soil needs to be
removed.) Anyway, the point is that my cats are finding all these
greenfinches that have recently died from salmonella. (The twin found
one today: I wonder if he will come down ill in three or four days'
time.)

Can oral contract with salmonella make a cat ill?

If so, what needs to be done? (Tomorrow's Sunday: my vet is closed all
day.)

Thanks.

Nell.


He really needs to see a vet if the third eyelid is closing. It could,
however, be a multitude of things. The bird need not be a source and may be
coincindence. Hope you can get him in.

Oh my how awful.

Perhaps if you had not allowed the cat to go out of doors you would
know more about what it has eaten and why it is ill

Beverley

On 2005-02-05, Nell penned:

If so, what needs to be done? (Tomorrow's Sunday: my vet is closed all
day.)


Are there no emergency vet clinics in your area?

When I call my vet after-hours, the line is transferred to a local emergency
clinic that's open all night and on weekends.

--
monique, roommate of Oscar the (female) grouch
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Eros was adopted! Eros has a home now! *cheer!*

wrote:
Oh my how awful.

Perhaps if you had not allowed the cat to go out of doors you would
know more about what it has eaten and why it is ill

Given that we have no idea what the illness is, nor whether it arose
through something the cat ate, those are some pretty shadow puppets
you're making...

Steve.

Thanks Monique and Steve for your sympathetic comments.

When I posted the message it was very late at night, on the Satruday.
Of course, first thing on Sunday morning I checked the kitten as soon as
possible (he was worse and there was blood on his stool) and so I tried
the vet's number. The call was diverted and within 45 minutes the
animal was seen. He had a high anal temperature but nothing was wrong
with the internal organs. Some kind of poisoning had occurred. Kaolin
fluid injected by mouth was prescribed, three times a day, and he was
given an injection to help him keep it down and stop any retching.
Unfortunately the injection didn't work and after every syringeful of
pink kaolin went down, a few minutes later up came an orange-brown
fluid. I think this, however, managed to eject the toxins or poison, or
whatever, from his belly. All Sunday he slept, listless, on death's
door. Monday morning his head turned with watchfulness and he began to
drink water and take kitten biscuits. He currently has diarhoea but he
is up and about a lot of the time and clearly definitely improved. He's
on the mend. Thank heavens.

Nell.

"Nell" wrote in message
...
Thanks Monique and Steve for your sympathetic comments.

When I posted the message it was very late at night, on the Satruday.
Of course, first thing on Sunday morning I checked the kitten as soon as
possible (he was worse and there was blood on his stool) and so I tried
the vet's number. The call was diverted and within 45 minutes the
animal was seen. He had a high anal temperature but nothing was wrong
with the internal organs. Some kind of poisoning had occurred. Kaolin
fluid injected by mouth was prescribed, three times a day, and he was
given an injection to help him keep it down and stop any retching.
Unfortunately the injection didn't work and after every syringeful of
pink kaolin went down, a few minutes later up came an orange-brown
fluid. I think this, however, managed to eject the toxins or poison, or
whatever, from his belly. All Sunday he slept, listless, on death's
door. Monday morning his head turned with watchfulness and he began to
drink water and take kitten biscuits. He currently has diarhoea but he
is up and about a lot of the time and clearly definitely improved. He's
on the mend. Thank heavens.

Nell.

Have you been able to determine what he got into??? I'd be frantic to find
it. Glad he is doing better.

On 2005-02-08, Nell penned:
He currently has diarhoea but he is up and about a lot of the time and
clearly definitely improved. He's on the mend. Thank heavens.

I'm glad he's doing better. It's unfortunate you don't what caused the
trouble, though =/

--
monique, roommate of Oscar the (female) grouch
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Eros was adopted! Eros has a home now! *cheer!*

Karen wrote:
Have you been able to determine what he got into??? I'd be frantic to find
it. Glad he is doing better.

Yes, I'd love to know. On Sunday morning I took the vet a piece of his
stool covered in the blood and she put it their fridge/freezer for
possible analysis in case he didn't improve. She has it still, but, you
know, time, money, and resources, so tomorrow morning, provided he's
still on the mend, I will let her know that it needn't be sent away.

One charming thing is that yesterday afternoon I was crossing the
car-park at the supermarket when all of a sudden a voice cried out,
"How's puss?" It was the vet. She'd leapt out of her car, engine still
running, and rushed over to me. When I got home I found she had earlier
left a message on my answer-machine to find out how he was doing. If
only some doctors were as concerned about US as this wonderful vet is
about this little cat!

I think I have decided that as wonderful as it is to let the cats leap
delightedly round the garden after each other, the possibility of them
picking up a decaying corpse or nibbling at something poisonous is too
great, so, unfortunately their time out is going to have to be limited
and closely watched, at least until they are big strong cats. A pity:
they'll hate being trapped indoors come the summer. We're a quarter of
a mile from the nearest road, surrounded by grazing land, so from all
other points of view, it is ideal for cats. But, at the end of the day,
you have to be reasonable, don't you. You can't keep your kids locked
inside for fear they will have an accident outside. You have to take
the risk.

Nell.

"Nell" wrote in message
...
Karen wrote:
Have you been able to determine what he got into??? I'd be frantic to
find
it. Glad he is doing better.

Yes, I'd love to know. On Sunday morning I took the vet a piece of his
stool covered in the blood and she put it their fridge/freezer for
possible analysis in case he didn't improve. She has it still, but, you
know, time, money, and resources, so tomorrow morning, provided he's
still on the mend, I will let her know that it needn't be sent away.

One charming thing is that yesterday afternoon I was crossing the
car-park at the supermarket when all of a sudden a voice cried out,
"How's puss?" It was the vet. She'd leapt out of her car, engine still
running, and rushed over to me. When I got home I found she had earlier
left a message on my answer-machine to find out how he was doing. If
only some doctors were as concerned about US as this wonderful vet is
about this little cat!

I think I have decided that as wonderful as it is to let the cats leap
delightedly round the garden after each other, the possibility of them
picking up a decaying corpse or nibbling at something poisonous is too
great, so, unfortunately their time out is going to have to be limited
and closely watched, at least until they are big strong cats. A pity:
they'll hate being trapped indoors come the summer. We're a quarter of
a mile from the nearest road, surrounded by grazing land, so from all
other points of view, it is ideal for cats. But, at the end of the day,
you have to be reasonable, don't you. You can't keep your kids locked
inside for fear they will have an accident outside. You have to take
the risk.

Nell.

I would really suspect a plant over a bird corpse. Do you know what all
plants you have in the garden? You could check it against toxic to cats
plants.