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[RedwoodsMama]

Poor little Karuna, took him to the vet, my friend came and got us, said she did not want me to "spoil" my surgery, by walking needlessly on my foot more than I needed to. My little guy is so sick, seems he has Cat flu which kittens are at great risk of getting, Even with the first vaccine, he is not protected and is scheduled for is second vaccine on Monday, the 29th, but it does him little good right now.

         With a temp of over 105, stuffed up and runny nose, runny red eyes ,and his chest is wheezing.  iNcubation period is up to ten days, which is a couple of days after he was at the vets. My cats all picked up a virus two years ago while at the vets. One cat, Karl Kat, went in for a treatement, and within 24-36 hrs he was sick, and one by one, all nine of my cats got sick, with Karl kat and April being sick enough to be on antibiotics. My two oldest cats at the time, Aiffa and Lei Lu were the last two to get it and got the mildest form,
         Karuna has ulcers or sores on the back of his throat, and it hurts to swallow, You can hear him wheezing and cats are not used to breathing through their mouths..The good news is that he gained almost a lb since July 8th when first at the vets, going from 2 lbs 12 oz to 3 lbs 10 oz.. He is hydrated, so all I can do is give him supportive care, He is taking Lysine , multivitamin, and trying to keep him warm and out of drafts. I am sleeping on the couch with my foot elevated and him in a big kennel cage next to my head. I warmed up a sock full of rice in the microwave to help heat him up. Poor guy looks miserable. He will continue to take the Clavamox but unless he gets a secondary infection, antibiotics do no good, The vet said hopefully in another couple of days it would run it's course, but she did not even say that "he could die" from this, Kittens and the elderly and immune suppressed have a high mortality rate from cat flu. I have to keep my other cats away, even though they have their vaccines, I don't trust what the vet says, my cats all got sick last time Karl Kat went to that office.

       Karuna is just a baby and only 12 weeks old to be so sick, poor guy has not even been with me one month yet! I wish I knew what else I could do. Has anyone else successfully treated cat flu before with kittens or even older cats? I feel so helpless just listening to him wheeze and his sad sad eyes. I know he feels miserable.  :(Looks like July is not going to be much better than June was...........             RWM

[RedwoodsMama]

My little Karuna is stil very sick and not doing well. May have to take him back to vets or ER tommrow. NOt eating on his own, having to syringe feed him broth since Friday. Fever, runny stuffed up nose, runny red eyes, congested chest. I run a vaporizer with Eucalyptis oil in it all night and swab his eyes and nose with Goldenseal, taking Lysine as suggested by Vet, and not knowing what else to do. Kittens are very suspeptible to this and can die..............

       I also have to keep my other seven cats away, even though vaccinated, this can live in the environment for up to seven days and he could now be a carrier which means his immune system will allways be compromised..so depressing to think I went from a healthy beautiful kitten , one vaccine and now a sick little guy...........................Help. any suggestions or stories of cats getting over this terrible disease.? NO comments means nobody has anything encouraging I guess.                        RWM

 forgot to add this is a long drawn...............................out illness can take up to ten days to get over this is since Friday when fever hit................................

[kat]

You just have to have faith, keep doing what you are doing and wait it out.  Fingers crossed for some improvement over the next couple of days 

[Crewella]

Poor Karuna, my lot all went down with cat flu earlier in the year - they're all adult, and that was bad enough.

I find Hills a/d very good for feeding cats that aren't eating - it's concentrated so they don't need as much to keep them going.  I can also vouch for hand-feeding warm chicken breast - in my experience, if that doesn't temp them, nothing will.

Paws crossed for him.

[RedwoodsMama]

 Thank you to Crewella and Kat for the encouragement and advice. It has been a rough week and painful for both of us. I missed a lot of sleep, staying up with Karuna and around the clock syringe feeding but it is all worth it to see him rally or get better. I went to the vets and not much help there so I was all on my own, Karuna is a fighter and strong so he is getting better bit by bit. He ate all on his own, soft Evo cat food for the first time last night with licking it off my fingers, biting once but that is ok. This morning he ate again crying for food and then I had to rush off to two dr. appts.

             Bad news he gave me Pink Eye, all the time he spent on my left shoulder he sneezed on my face or rubbed his eyes on my face and sure enough I woke up this weekend with red itchy eye that I confirmed before my first post op apt is pink eye so now I have it and some med for it. Then I talked to the vet and they prescribed some eye anitibiotics for Karuna so we can take it together, though his is eye ointment and myne is eye drops. His also cost a lot more than myne! I think another week of this and he should be better. Then it is cross my fingers that none of the other seven get the cat flu.

               Did your kitties all have their cat flu vaccines Crewella? He had his first vaccine but still got sick. I know even with vaccines they can get it, but usually milder. Poor babies. Glad to hear yours recovered. it is a nasty disease and you feel so bad for them, I think Karuna got sick,just to put off his " neuter" of his "cotton puffs" . LOL              RWM

[Crewella]

Glad Karuna seems to be perkier, I'm sure your eye has just come out in sympatrhy for him.  

Four of my five are vaccinated; two of those were absolutely prostrate for days and the other two didn't seem so ill but developed eye ulcers and bronchitis.  The fifth, 18 year old Minnie, hasn't had a vaccination for a few years but funnily enough seemed to come out of it the best (she was vaccinated when younger).

I say my five ...... there was a poor old stray taken into the vets with a broken leg a couple of weeks ago.  They operated on him to save the leg, but he had nowhere to go ........ so he is currently on cage rest in my bathroom.  

[Angela]

Get well for you and your cat RWM. Hopefully there will come some quiet time for you, without worries .

[Will Smart]

Your kitten I so cute! Congradulations.