Our six-month-old Balinese kitten has a recurrence of cat flu again 
. He first had it a month ago. This time, he has a high temperature, an eye infection, the sneezes and is sleeping all the time. He is still eating and drinking, thank goodness, but he is very underweight.
If he gets another recurrence, the vet will check for other diseases.
I have come away from the vet with a bagful of medicines and a much depleted bank account.
The vet did reassure me that this wasn't life threatening. We are all besotted with this kitten, particularly my oldest son. The other day, DS1 fell asleep during the day and I found him and the kitten tucked up under the duvet, both heads on the pillow 
.
Has anyone else had a cat with cat flu? If so, did it keep coming back? Any tips?
Also, any tips on telling the breeder would be welcome. I chickened out of telling her the first time round, but I really feel I should this time. However, I don't know what to say without sounding as if I'm asking for a refund or blaming her in some way. Also, I'm not sure what she can do about it if her cats are carriers. Does it mean that she shouldn't be selling kittens, or is this just a risk you take when you buy a cat from a breeder?
Incidentally, the only reason we bought a pedigree was because I am allergic to cats and this was one of the few breeds that don't trigger my allergies. Am not particularly bothered whether I have a moggie or a pedigree, just don't want to spend my days sneezing and wheezing.
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The litter tray
Poorly kitten with cat flu.
ToffeeWhirl · 05/06/2013 19:27
Certainly can! Thanks for the tip about the Nutriplus, Mum. I think I do all Seniorboy's grooming these days but anythng is worth a try.
Just realised I didn't thank Melissa for the tip about Olbas oil - so sorry and thank you! I'm going to try the Olbas oil tonight and then, hopefully, it will encourage him to eat more. Am very impressed that you had nine cats with cat flu - and very encouraged that they all recovered.
Mumngran - I used your tip about putting paste on paws with the vitamin paste. Very clever. He licked it all off .
cozie - no reply from breeder yet...
Y'all will have to excuse me for an hour. I need to watch 'Battleship', Haven't seen it for a week.
I can only speak from personal experience, but a decade or more of phoning breeders to tell them cats had come into rescue offered about a 10% chance of getting a positive response.
That is truly sad, and I hope your breeder falls into that category, but in reality many just don't want to know once their kittens have been sold..... the worst 10% just hang up the phone. Most will talk, but not really want to acknowledge that a problem anything to do with them.
When it comes to telling them they have sold kittens with 'flu, the "uninterested" breeders are likely to be a) worried about what that means for their breeding b) worried that word will get out into the breeding community c) won't want to admit liability in case you want a refund d) consider its nothing to do with them - that's why they provide initial cover through PetPlan. ....or e) and most depressing of all, won't actually give a damn.
A few 'breeders' actually do believe that their tiny kittens have "caught a cold", when they show flu symptoms as babies!!!
I really hope, Toffee, that this will not be your experience .....but if the breeder is helpful and concerned, then you will be one of the luckier people.
Oh, that's sad to hear, MumnGran. A friend thinks I should be asking for a refund, but I hadn't intended to do this. She said I had been sold 'shoddy goods', but my kitten is a living creature, not 'goods', and living creatures are unpredictable.
The breeder did provide initial cover through PetPlan, but when the cover came to an end, I changed to a cheaper provider. There is a 14-day waiting period before they will pay for anything and, of course, our kitten got ill then. Now nothing to do with cat flu will be covered. Sod's law.
If the breeder really did know the kitten was ill when she sold him to me, I will find that quite shocking. She knew that we were travelling a long way to get to her and staying overnight (which all cost money) and that we were buying the kitten for my son, who is ill with OCD/anxiety disorder. The last thing he needs is a poorly kitten or, god forbid, a kitten that doesn't survive. He will be distraught if that happens, although I don't now think it will.
Incidentally, DS1 thought kitty had run away yesterday and rang us in a terrible state. He and his grandma, who was with him whilst we were taking our younger son out, couldn't find him in the house, then noticed that the back door had been left open (turned out to have been left open by my younger son's friend, who didn't know that we keep our cat indoors). Eventually, they found kitty hiding under the bed near the open door, trembling. Turns out he is actually terrified of the Big Outdoors.
Kitty's fur looks terribly unkempt this morning . However, he has eaten some Applaws and licked vitamin paste off his paws. I have also managed to get the eye drops in (can still see that third eye lid) and given him his antibiotic tablet. He may have gone off me for a while .
This reply has been deleted
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Toffee .... I would hope that the breeder did not sell you a sick kitten! it was probably quite fine before it left, but (as we discussed, with the herpes virus) the stress of moving to the new home is often enough to trigger a bout.
Have nursed lots of rescues through flu .... and with prompt vet treatment, as you did, and TLC they recover well, and carry on doing well for lots of years
Your kitten has you, and thats what will make the difference!!
Hi Zebra! Yes, the kitten of countless names is very poorly. He won't eat at all this morning - it really worries me. Have tried him on warmed-up Applaws chicken (usually his favourite), two types of kitten biscuits and pieces of ham. He refuses them all. However, he is sitting on my lap, grooming himself, and I think the grooming must be a good sign. But he is so thin .
DS1 is being brilliant at helping me give kitty his meds and spends all day cuddling him. He doesn't know how worried I am about the kitten. He assumes he will be fine, which, I hope, is the case (and I am encouraged by all the reassurance on this thread).
Good news for DS1: his appointment with the CBT therapist has finally come through and starts this week!
Can anyone make sense of this? Kitty has gone up to his food bowls, sniffed at them, then scratched at the floor around them, like he does in his litter tray - as if he is trying to scratch earth and cover something up.
Oh, good, he's started eating. I don't think he likes the Applaws chicken heated up, actually.
Still no word from the breeder. It's making me angry now. She could be on holiday, I suppose...
Just to reassure you, all my cats have cat flu. I take in waifs and strays, all were symptomatic when I got them.
Eldest cat has runny eyes occasionally but never has a serious recurrence although she does wheeze a bit.
Her 4 yo daughter never shows symptoms.
The other 4 yo almost lost an eye to it he was so bad when I found him, he's never had a recurrence either.
The two youngest were very bad when I took them in, bleeding noses, breathing issues, conjunctivitis. They recovered well and are almost a year old now with no recurrences, one of them has a watery eye occasionally but nothing serious.
They can live a long and healthy life with it in their system so try not to worry about the future too much
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