More on Charlie

Well, the good news is that Charlie took to his litter box great and
he's now pooping and peeing like a pro. So, cute to see him hop in and
out of it.


I don't know if I mentioned it in my previous post, but we adopted a
siamese mix a week prior to Charlie. His name was Blue and he was 4
mos. old. He died after 5 days with us. The shelter said it was an
upper respitory infection. They gathered that diagnosis from my
symptoms of a goopy eye and cough.

Charlie was only at the shelter less than 24 hrs. I bought him new food
and water bowls and washed out the litterbox with antibacterial soap.
My cousis is an animal control officer and she has been helping me. She
told me that respitory infections have a 10 day incubation period.

I noticed Charlie started with a sneeze last night. Now today he has a
clear, runny eye and now he has started with a runny nose. I am going
to call my vet ASAP in the AM for some antibiotics.

I guess what I am looking for is reassurance that Charlie will be OK
through the night and I am doing what's best by calling the vet as soon
as they open. I love this little guy so much. I can't stand another
heartbreak.

Thanks for listening.

P.S. We have come to the comclusion that Charlie *is* a ragdoll, not a
siamese/himalayan mix.

Megan & Charlie Cat

A&A's Mama wrote:
Well, the good news is that Charlie took to his litter box great and
he's now pooping and peeing like a pro. So, cute to see him hop in and
out of it.


I don't know if I mentioned it in my previous post, but we adopted a
siamese mix a week prior to Charlie. His name was Blue and he was 4
mos. old. He died after 5 days with us. The shelter said it was an
upper respitory infection. They gathered that diagnosis from my
symptoms of a goopy eye and cough.

Charlie was only at the shelter less than 24 hrs. I bought him new food
and water bowls and washed out the litterbox with antibacterial soap.
My cousis is an animal control officer and she has been helping me. She
told me that respitory infections have a 10 day incubation period.

I noticed Charlie started with a sneeze last night. Now today he has a
clear, runny eye and now he has started with a runny nose. I am going
to call my vet ASAP in the AM for some antibiotics.

I guess what I am looking for is reassurance that Charlie will be OK
through the night and I am doing what's best by calling the vet as soon
as they open. I love this little guy so much. I can't stand another
heartbreak.

Thanks for listening.

P.S. We have come to the comclusion that Charlie *is* a ragdoll, not a
siamese/himalayan mix.

Megan & Charlie Cat


Got Charlie into the vet this am and he looked pretty good. No ear
mites, no fever. His eye wasn't running this morning. They gave him
some IV fluids just to be safe and started him on Clavlox (sp?)

My baby is sleeping now. Thanks for your messages.

Megan & Charlie Cat

On Tue 07 Nov 2006 09:31:51p, A&A's Mama wrote in
rec.pets.cats.health+behav
roups.com:

I don't know if I mentioned it in my previous post, but we
adopted a siamese mix a week prior to Charlie. His name was Blue
and he was 4 mos. old. He died after 5 days with us. The shelter
said it was an upper respitory infection. They gathered that
diagnosis from my symptoms of a goopy eye and cough.

Charlie was only at the shelter less than 24 hrs. I bought him
new food and water bowls and washed out the litterbox with
antibacterial soap. My cousis is an animal control officer and
she has been helping me. She told me that respitory infections
have a 10 day incubation period.

I noticed Charlie started with a sneeze last night. Now today he
has a clear, runny eye and now he has started with a runny nose.
I am going to call my vet ASAP in the AM for some antibiotics.

I guess what I am looking for is reassurance that Charlie will
be OK through the night and I am doing what's best by calling
the vet as soon as they open. I love this little guy so much. I
can't stand another heartbreak.

In addition to the incubation period, some of them can live outside
of the host for long periods of time, so recurring infections can
keep happening, plus many times stress brings on symptoms long
after the initial symptoms have gone away. Some of these kitty
virii go latent, and can reappear throughout their life.

My 2 year old littermates had recurring cases of FHV (herpes virus)
for a long time after coming here at 9 wks old; they kept infecting
each other. Antibiotics rarely ever helped. Eye ointment helped
some for the goopy eyes, but looking back, not for long, either.
Vet also had me give them small portions of antihistamine tabs to
help dry up their noses. Extreme sneezing can cause bleeding, so
don't be too alarmed if you see blood droplets in the flying snot,
but it is something to watch for. L-Lysine is the best suggestion;
up to 500mg 2x per day and continue it well past health
improvement. Some cats have the need for this supplement for life
whenever there's a flare-up.

The most important thing here is making sure the baby continues to
eat enough. Supplement failing appetite with meat baby food (check
the label - NO ONIONS) and let kitten eat off a spoon or your
finger, or if he won't do it on his own, watered down canned kitten
food *gently* force-fed with a needleless syringe; gently so baby
doesn't aspirate liquid into lungs. Make sure baby doesn't get
dehydrated, and watch for diarrhea because changes in food can
cause GI disprupt.

I'm so sorry Blue went to the Rainbow Bridge so young. They can go
downhill so fast when they're babies. Good luck with Charlie!

--
Cheryl

On Tue 07 Nov 2006 09:31:51p, A&A's Mama wrote in
rec.pets.cats.health+behav
roups.com:

I guess what I am looking for is reassurance that Charlie will
be OK through the night and I am doing what's best by calling
the vet as soon as they open. I love this little guy so much. I
can't stand another heartbreak.

Hi Megan. I posted a follow up to your Charlie post, but I forgot one
thing that I think is extremely important. Never allow a vet to
vaccinate your kitten when he is sick. Some will. It boggles my mind,
but they will. Maybe they think you won't come back when they're
well, but I've had to tell vets to not vaccinate yet.

I just read your follow up that he's much better today. I'm so glad.


--
Cheryl