# Trying to hold it together



## dejavu (Jun 23, 2010)

Last summer, my cat went missing and never returned home. We gave it time but finally had to conclude that a coyote must have caught him. It tore me apart and I still miss him.

I later adopted two kittens, and they are about half grown now. They've been wonderful companions and I have kept them inside, so I wouldn't have to go through that tragedy again. But, it appears I may have to anyway. One of them has been sick for a week, and the antibiotics didn't help and his fever has stayed at 105. The fever by itself is bad since it's held on so long, but the vet is now thinking he doesn't just have an infection but instead something viral. After this next round of antibiotics, if he doesn't improve, the vet said it doesn't look good. To top it off, if it's viral, my other kitten is at risk too.

I'm trying to hold it together but I'm so angry and sad right now. I'm afraid to go on google and type in my kitten's symptoms, because they'll no doubt get me stories of a person's cat before they died. So I thought I might describe them here and see if anybody has had a cat go through this and come out the other side.

He has been sick about a week, with a fever most of that time. He has lost weight because he isn't eating or drinking much, and he goes into a dark room a lot of the day to sleep. His fur is very greasy looking and his third eyelid is pretty much always halfway covering his eyes. He purrs when I pet him, though, and will eat if I give him tuna. He gets up to scratch at his post and walk around sometimes, too. Anybody seen this illness before?


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## NotedBook300 (Sep 24, 2011)

My family had a kitten with similar symptoms, but yours seems to be doing better than ours (ours rarely ate and didn't ever get up to do anything). It didn't take too long before she died, but yours sounds like he's hanging in much better. 

Conscious living things often aren't too off from each other. Like humans, cats have to have a will to live to press on. Also like humans, some cats are stronger than others. The purring and the scratching are probably good signs that your cat's will to live is fairly high. I hope everything works out well.

That being said, brace yourself. Nothing is certain.


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## KateMarie999 (Dec 20, 2011)

You should take your cat to a vet. Like NOW!

Reread and realized you did. Well i guess you could quarantine him. Keep him in one section of the house where the other kitten won't catch what he has.


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## Tristan427 (Dec 9, 2011)

Don't lock him in one room now, that could cause him to stress out and reduce chances of recovery. I recommend getting a separate litter box for him, and put that in your room and let him sleep in there at night. Get them separate water bowls too, and separate food bowls. Ask the vet if it is okay to give him a bath to clean his fur, that might make him feel a little better. If he isn't on fever reducers already, ask the vet for some. 

Try to get him to eat and drink more. If he refuses to eat, do your best to get him to drink. Don't force him, just maybe set him down by the food and water. He might just be too sleepy to walk over there. Pet him often, and tell that vet to do his job better. It sounds like he is guessing. He would know it is viral if he just did some freaking blood work. Whenever vets do a half ass job I just wanna punch them in the face. 

I know how to raise and nurture kittens, I have raised two litters of Persians in the past. So I have an idea of what I am talking about, though I am no expert.


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## dejavu (Jun 23, 2010)

Thanks for all the advice, guys. It's been a stressful week. Since the antibiotics did nothing for my kitten, we decided to take him to another vet for a second opinion. That was Tuesday. That vet said they would keep him and do blood work to try and figure it out. Unfortunately, we had a major storm, so the power was out and he was getting no care at the vet...so we had to transfer him again yesterday.

They have him on an IV so he can get fluids, and he is eating, so all that is good. Other than that, though, it hasn't been encouraging. He's maintained his fever of 105 all this time and the blood work told them nothing. They did an x-ray to see if he had some kind of obstruction, but he didn't. They don't know what's wrong. :sad:

I'd like to bring him home so I can at least give him affection, but I can't keep him hydrated the way they can. I'm very worried.


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## Tristan427 (Dec 9, 2011)

dejavu said:


> Thanks for all the advice, guys. It's been a stressful week. Since the antibiotics did nothing for my kitten, we decided to take him to another vet for a second opinion. That was Tuesday. That vet said they would keep him and do blood work to try and figure it out. Unfortunately, we had a major storm, so the power was out and he was getting no care at the vet...so we had to transfer him again yesterday.
> 
> They have him on an IV so he can get fluids, and he is eating, so all that is good. Other than that, though, it hasn't been encouraging. He's maintained his fever of 105 all this time and the blood work told them nothing. They did an x-ray to see if he had some kind of obstruction, but he didn't. They don't know what's wrong. :sad:
> 
> I'd like to bring him home so I can at least give him affection, but I can't keep him hydrated the way they can. I'm very worried.


Well, perhaps his immune system is naturally weak and simple things can get him sick? He knows you love him, but if things a turn for the worse ask if you can stay at the vet with him for a while. 

Be sure to give some extra attention to the cat you have with you at home. We had two cats at one time, the father and mother of the two litters we raised. The father had a heart attack from a condition he had since he was a kitten, and the mother mourned. She stopped eating, started using the bathroom wherever she wanted. Meowed late at night over and over. The vet said she was mourning pretty bad. The father was a great cat too. As she was having the kittens he was licking her head, he licked the kittens and cleaned them. He even cuddled with her between kittens and after she had them. He played with the kittens too. All that amazed the vet. 

So if they were really close, be sure to watch the one you have with you at home.


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## dejavu (Jun 23, 2010)

Tristan Rhodes said:


> Well, perhaps his immune system is naturally weak and simple things can get him sick? He knows you love him, but if things a turn for the worse ask if you can stay at the vet with him for a while.
> 
> Be sure to give some extra attention to the cat you have with you at home. We had two cats at one time, the father and mother of the two litters we raised. The father had a heart attack from a condition he had since he was a kitten, and the mother mourned. She stopped eating, started using the bathroom wherever she wanted. Meowed late at night over and over. The vet said she was mourning pretty bad. The father was a great cat too. As she was having the kittens he was licking her head, he licked the kittens and cleaned them. He even cuddled with her between kittens and after she had them. He played with the kittens too. All that amazed the vet.
> 
> So if they were really close, be sure to watch the one you have with you at home.


That father cat sounds like he was unbelievably sweet to show such affection towards the other cat and the babies. I'm sorry you lost him, that kind of cat is very rare.

My other cat is his sister, from the same litter as far as I know. I got them at the same time and before my boy went away to the vet, the two had never been separated. Yet she seems to be reveling in her new found single cat-dom, rather than missing him. She was harassing him while he was sick at home, too. It's possible that she will miss him after a while longer. In any case, I've been spending lots of time with her.

I've considered that there might be an immune system problem. I've heard that pure bred cats are more prone to sickness (no idea if that is true) and he is half Ragdoll, half Maine ****, so he's close to pure bred. I dunno. I will definitely go and be there with him if he gets any worse.


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## Tristan427 (Dec 9, 2011)

dejavu said:


> That father cat sounds like he was unbelievably sweet to show such affection towards the other cat and the babies. I'm sorry you lost him, that kind of cat is very rare.
> 
> My other cat is his sister, from the same litter as far as I know. I got them at the same time and before my boy went away to the vet, the two had never been separated. Yet she seems to be reveling in her new found single cat-dom, rather than missing him. She was harassing him while he was sick at home, too. It's possible that she will miss him after a while longer. In any case, I've been spending lots of time with her.
> 
> I've considered that there might be an immune system problem. I've heard that pure bred cats are more prone to sickness (no idea if that is true) and he is half Ragdoll, half Maine ****, so he's close to pure bred. I dunno. I will definitely go and be there with him if he gets any worse.


Thanks, and I lost him a few years ago. Though at times I still miss him.

That's unusual, how she is fine with it all and how she was harassing him.

I think the opposite might be the case, but I dunno. The cat I have now is a ragdoll. The kitten we kept died a full grown cat a few years ago, he had swallowed something and there was an obstruction. We didn't have money for the surgery, and the vet said even with surgery the outlook wasn't too good.


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## ChloeCat (Jun 2, 2011)

If you really want to bring him home, you could give him subcutaneous fluids yourself. (You put a needle in his skin and let some fluids run in. They slowly absorb from the subcutaneous space into the blood stream.) The vet can set you up with the materials you need (bag of saline solution, needles.)
Cats form hierarchies, the cat you have at home may be feeling relieved not to have any territorial issues with the other cat. This is sometimes a problem for purely indoor cats, since they can't go outside to get more space if they're in conflict. I also believe animals are extremely sensitive to and pick up the human emotions within the household, so going outside allows them to vent any emotions they may have picked up.
On the other hand, there are of course risks if they go outside, as you know. I recently lost my adored 8 month old kitten who was hit by a car. I couldn't keep him inside, as my other lovely cat is used to going out and starts vomiting if kept inside. She also seemed quite pleased to have all our attention initially after we lost him, but I think she's feeling lonely lately. 
I really sympathize, and I hope your kitten gets better soon.


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## dejavu (Jun 23, 2010)

We picked him up today. The vet said she doesn't know what is wrong, she's tested for everything. He doesn't have feline luekemia, feline AIDs, or FIP. Nobody knows what has caused the fever, and it's been raging for three weeks now. :sad:

So yeah, we picked him up and brought him home...I guess to see if he gets better or not over time. The vet recommended a specialist but my parents would have to help me pay for that and I'm unsure if they will.

Bringing him home hasn't been great. He's been gone less than a week, but he and his sister apparently hate each other now. Whenever they get within feet of each other, a hissing match starts. I don't get it. I don't think enough time has passed that they could forget each other. I think she may also be trying to claim everything in the house because he finally settled on going back into his carrier to sleep. Besides that, he doesn't look good, and he's been whining a lot. But, he is still walking around, he still eats, drinks, and visits the litter box, and scratches on his post.

All I can do is hope that he can fight whatever he's got.


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## ChloeCat (Jun 2, 2011)

About fever of unknown origin in cats - 
webvet.com/main/2008/06/06/fever-cats


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## dejavu (Jun 23, 2010)

I guess the other vets were wrong--he has FIP. We got a consultation with the specialist and he gave us some meds that may give him better quality of life, and maybe let him live for another few months. If he doesn't take to the meds, he may have only a few days. If so, and he continues to deteriorate, he suggested we put him down.

I'm heartbroken right now. :sad: He's just a baby and he's so sweet. The vet who tried to check his heart today said she couldn't hear it because he was purring too loudly. I've never had a cat with a nicer disposition.

Thank you all again for your support. Since you've all shown concern and listened to me while I sought out help, I thought I'd post a picture of him, of when he was still healthy.









His name is Samson and he's the cream-colored one, cuddling with his sister in the pic.


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