I'm really worried about my cat's sudden illness

[scroobiuspirate]

Don't know if anyone can help, or if anyone can put my mind at rest?

I took her to the vets yesterday morning, and theupshot of that is that she is now on antibiotics, and she also had a pain relieving jab/plus and antibiotic jab.

The vets doesn't know what's wrong tho. I told the vet that when i had picked her up she cried out, that she seemed to have pain when beinding to eat her food yesterday morning. On examination the vet found noproblems with her respiratory nor any obvious bites, or sites of pain. It's really odd.
I am taking her back tomorrow.

It started on thursday, she just seemed not right. She slept and slept. She did eat a bit. She's wide eyed, scared, slow and like she's totally spaced out.

Normally she's joyful, slinky and vocal, she is a lovely 1 yr old tortie.

I had to give her a tablet earlier, and now she is absolutely terrified, and won't come anywhere near me. I know it's sort of understandable, but i've givenher worming tablets inthe past and she's not acted like this.

it's almost like she has had some sort of trauma, and I am really upset for her.

scroob...don't be so hard on yourself. Yes it is bad luck for you and Pixie but it happens. I lost a lovely little cat, that I called Josh, when he was almost a year old. Little did we know that when we took him on he'd also got FELV - probably from his Mum and carried it until he died just a few months later. We didn't know either that he had it - there are no clear indications that a cat has it till they're pretty ill, other than testing for it.

The CPL test all strays/cats that are given to them that are for rehoming. Not all rescue centres do it.

Like I've said in an earlier post - she will be forever grateful to you for looking after her for the short months you had her and for caring for her right until the end - so many cat owners would never have gone to lengths you went to - to try and help and get her better. Take comfort in that. xx

Dear Scroob, my heart really goes out to you about this. Like everyone says, please don't beat yourself up, this isn't your fault and Pixie couldn't have had more love.

FWIW, we lost our darling Parsley just over a year ago. DS and I both cry over her sometimes and DS sometimes gets sad about her without saying anything. She was quite old, but had been very ill (with a disease that might have been caused by vaccinations - it's not an easy debate at all) and had recovered, then just literally dropped dead, no warning, nothing. We buried her at the bottom of the garden, it was a lovely sunny evening and we all said something about her (sounds grim, but it felt right). We let her brother, who is a creaking gate but hangs on in there, see her body, so he wouldn't look for her, although I think he was quite lonely (after years of warfare, natch).

We got two new kittens in March and although they can never replace Parsley they are much loved and fill the cat shaped hole in the house. Our other old cat now hangs with them.

I have had a lot of discussions with vets about vaccinations due to Parsley's illness. It's just a really difficult thing and even if you'd known about the options, you could easily have chosen not to do so. Our old boy doesn't have them, but had them as a baby, and the kittens have, but I won't keep it up lifelong, I think.

Scroob, I hope this helps. I am so sorry.

thanks for sharing whispy. Now i know why you were telling me about the felv stuff in earlier posts.

dd is very upset tonight. we normally have upset about her shit father, and how he doesn't love her (whole otehr story) so this is one of the reasons i am also distraught.

for her sake. her first pet, wel one that loved her so much. the kid has been cat mad for 4 yrs. Our other cat isn't a loving cat at all, quite a grump in fact. So until we got Pixie, my dd has never had that warm expereince of a cat, but Pixie would Seek her out, sit on her lap, head butt her face. be a pain when dd was on the pc. One thing she did lots of was talking, like a siamese. She was very blinky too. Lots of long hard loving stares of connection and love.

tiger, thankyou. it is so comforting for me to have all you cat lovers here.

had to explain the whole cremation thing to dd, jeez. i made it as simple as poss. she filled in the words i grasped for. like 'yes mummy, bones are very strong' and i was saying ashes, but she said do you mean 'like dust' i just thought, my god this is simple yet difficult at the same time.

it's so hard to not say 'she's gone' without her saying, 'but mummy her spirit must be here' I almost want her to realsie she has gone, totally gone instead of hovering in a kind of 'place' where she is sitting in a sort of never ending phase of grief.
like me.

i said well maybe, we just don't know if we have spirits, but there might be something. all such flakey words.

Maybe something will happen which can make a connection for your DD (sorry, I am sure you have said how old she is, I guess 4 or so?). On the night Parsley died, both DH and I "felt" her lying on our bed - she didn't do this every night by any means. I said it, then DH did - and we didn't feel it after that, but it was like P was saying that she was still there somewhere. I did find this very comforting (and honestly I am the last person to go for this sort of thing) and maybe you will find something like this that your DD can grasp.

dd is 7, but been thru so much with her dad, coming and going and being an arse, that i know she is feeling such a loss, with Pixie being a constant.

we were only at the animal place last week, visiting the cats. chatting to a coule who were looking for a cat. telling her about Pixie,a dn how lucky we were. There were 4 kittens in the pen Pixie was in, (can't belive it was only january) and we took a picture of them, and it was the wallpaper on my phone. how strange is that.

Plus i had a few moments, before she got ill, in the week before, when i just thought 'oh god don't let anything happen to her god'

maybe we will have a connection. thankyou xx

the stangest thing too is I ever feel like it's as if she was never here. Like i never had a cat called Pixie.

god, i am muddled up. x

DS is 7, it is an age when they think a lot about these things. He wanted a lot of information about P - what had happened, where exactly did she die, etc etc. I gave him as much as I could and let him see her too, but some questions are impossible to answer and some too distressing. Hope all goes well, Scroob, x.

me and dd have talked about Pixie's body, saying it will go to the cat place. She knows the cat place (crem and garden of remembrance) as we pass it often. She even said, on saturday, 'if Pixie dies mummy she can come here'

scroob love to you and DD.
i had two boys from the same litter, one was a big brave cat and the other very timid.

the brave one was found dead in my road 2 years ago and the vet didnt know what happened to him . i still miss him. however what i wanted to tell you is that the timid one has changed so much and is a different cat from when he was with his brother.
more vocal and will stay in the room/house when we are here.

scroob...have you considered getting another kitten/cat? I think it would help your DD enormously, and you. Whilst you will never forget Pixie I'm sure she'd want you to both be happy again it may help you both to have something to focus on again....

hi

not sure yet. we have our other cat atm, who is never in and hard for us to 'love' as she is really not bothered. This was the reason we felt the need for another pet, and hence got Pixie, or Pixie got us.

I have to get the other cat (not naming as don't want give too much away in RL) tested before i can think straight.
My dd isn't doing too well today. Nor me.

I am so sad for you.

My cat has just walked across the table and sat on the chair next to me.

I just ignored her as I couldn't bare to think of her dying and walking across the table is fine with me. (DH would tell her off but I let her get away with loads more than he does.) just like with the human children .

Would it help to make a special cat album up with photos of Pixie so you can both look at it when you need too?

scroob....email me (please!) on [email protected]

Thanks.

Hi scroobius and dd. Reading your thread again has got me thinking about my little cat more, and just missing her special ways. I think we will get some kittens though - I know they won't replace her in any way, but I just miss the cat presence in our home, and I love all cats so I know I will love them too. We won't get them straight away, however, as I would like a little time to think about Coral clearly before new cats are really here!

Hi scoob - sorry only just caught up with the thread again.

I have always been in practices that recommend the leukaemia vaccine as a standard since the vast majority of cats are cats that go outdoors and potentially come into contact with other cats - therefore risk of fighting, therefore risk of leukaemia transmission if a cat is a carrier. For us it seems a common sense approach and the costs of vaccinating a cat for the standard flu & enteritis is only a few £ cheaper than including a leukaemia vaccine too. Personally I believe that if a practice does not do it as standard that they should advise of the existance of the vaccine and allow the client an informed choice. I also believe that rescue centres that do not vaccinate for it for cost reasons should also advise new owners that there is another vaccine they may wish to look into. I suspect however they think they will home less cats that way as people look at the expense involved and don't take them...hardly a good home perhaps then though so should this matter?! However, these are just personal opinions, not enforceable legally.

Unfortunately there is no "standard" recommendation for leukaemia vaccination in the UK. The WSAVA produces some vaccination guidelines about core and "optional" vaccines, but feline leukaemia falls under their "optional" category - basically because these guidelines apply worldwide and in some places there is no problem with this virus (same as for example rabies vaccination)

So, what to do. Well, I would if in your shoes write to the vets who did not mention the vaccine to you, and also to the rescue centre and let them know your thoughts about things. With the vets I would suggest that you request that they change their policy and either make the vaccine standard, or at least advise owners as routine that it exists and allow them a choice. With the rescue centre I would suggest that you ask them to consider more testing of at risk cats in the first place, and to routinely vaccinate for leukaemia as well. Presumably as with most rescue centres you paid a "donation" for your cat when you got her and they could reasonably put this recommended donation up to account for the extra costs. At the very least they could at least inform new owners of the lack of leukaemia vaccine if they do not choose to do it there.

I have worked closely with the cats protection league in the last 18 months and as a cat rescue charity I have nothing but praise for their efforts. They have clear and very sensible veterinary policies in place in my opinion, including testing of high risk individuals, and standard leukaemia vaccines. Perhaps if you (or anyone else reading) is looking for a new cat in the future you would consider them as a charity to use. Certainly if anyone wants to give money to such a charity I would feel very comfortable recommending their work to you.

Regarding cremation - I would personally have an individual cremation done if you can afford it. Burial at home is one way to have them back, but there are risks of the site being dug up by foxes and that can be absolutely soul destroying if it happens. My own old dog who I lost early this year was cremated and I had her ashes back and scattered them where she loved to be. I like to know she is back with me but I didn't have the worry of digging holes. The only other option is to have a standard cremation but then the pet crematorium would keep the ashes there - usually they have a communal garden for these.

Hope that helps
BG

By the way, just to clarify the cats protection do not test every single cat, only ones that are considered at risk - that does however mean a large number are tested, and they will have clear notes with every cat for rehoming and should be able to advise you of any testing done or not done.

BG - I work with the CPL and yes they do test cats for FELV. Whether or not they test every single cat I would not know but they test the majority of them. I did not say they test every cat that comes into their care but it is a pretty routine test for them to carry out.

also recommend CPL - they're very good

The woman at the place I got Pixie, said they had had talks about the vaccine, and about testing, and that they had not been able to do it for financial reasons. I stressed to her that i wasnot looking to blame anyone, i just needed to know why they don't, and I said maybe people need to know this exists.
She was very sorry about Pixie. She said they always test cases the feel are at risk, ie those with obvious signs of illness, or cats, especially Toms that come in with fight wounds. I guess they do as much as they can.

They charge £65 for a cat there. Yet they are a one of charity, and a small one at that.

I would not have swapped having Pixie, and i know she had so much love and fun from us.

Maybe it will put life and death and problems into perspective more for dd. her problems with her dad, may become less significant for a time, and her inner strehgth will be challenged in a new way.

I am not sure about ringing the 2 vets i dealt with for the jabs. I may in time write to them.

Jasmin, our other cat is lookiong for Pixie at the moment. another cat, the same age as Pixie has been in our garden all morning, sniffing aournd for her. They used to play like hooligans.

The sun is shining today, very different from yesterday, it was cold and stormy.

I went for coffe with some friends this morning, this had been arranged for about a week. I am glad i did, cos i got to blub and release.

The place you got Pixie from should, at the very least, have told you that these awful illnesses exist and that you could have been informed of their existance, the blood test and the vaccination. It wouldn't have cost them anything to have told you and given you the chance to have found out about it rather than find out the very hard, sad way.

I didn't know about it until I lost my cat to it when he was just under 12mths old. I am going back years - probably about 20+ years ago and it wasn't as widely known about then. Now it is a very routine test and very available vaccination.

You and DD will be ok. As each day passes it will get easier. xx

whispy wisp i replied to your email request.

I have also now posted pics of pixie on my profile.

xx

I have just looked at your photos. Pixie was very beautiful. The way she was lying next to your DD is very special.

You sound as if you are feeling a tiny bit better today. I do hope so.

thankyou. she was beautiful.

up and down today. angry. doing lots of reading about feline leukemia.

finding lots of people, well posts on forums of similarly affected situations and dear cats.

missing her terribly tho.

english patient, i know i will end up with another little soul who needs a home. it's just a part of me, wanting to love and give a cat a chance.

This will make me ask a lot of questions about feline leukemia when I get any more cats.

Have a good evening.