Poorly kitten with cat flu.

[ToffeeWhirl]

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.

Hi Toffee. Glad that you are 'functioning' . You have stayed so strong through all of this.

Firstly the breeder .....I think you have to bluntly email back and request a refund. I am not impugning her at all, but to not offer anything is just a shrug off because you haven't asked. It will go one of two ways ....either she will accept responsibility and refund, or she will say the kitten could have contracted it after coming to you (that's the frequently used wriggle out in this situation!! ) however you are on rock solid ground as there was no cat in the house prior to your baby, and he never went outside.
You may have a fight on your hands ....but I truly hope not.

You have obviously done the research into FIP. Diane Addie is really nice, and would probably take a call from you if you rang to confirm her thoughts on when to re-introduce. The standard advice was always 6 months, but research does move on. That said......erring on the side of caution seems to me to be a very good thing. Also, decent breeders have their kittens welfare as the primary focus, and I suspect will feel happier about allowing a kitten to go to a home where there has been active FIP if there has been a longer interval. Certainly, when you do start to look, I would go armed with print outs of all the latest Addie info!!!!

In the domestic population of cats, many will throw a count if titre tested for corona. It shows that they are mounting an antibody response to exposure to the virus. Cats with really quite high titres can go on to be fine, with the count slowly returning to zero. No-one seems to know why some cats will develop FIP. There are certainly different strains, and cats with an immune response against most strains may fall prey to one particular strain that they have not previously encountered, some strains may be more virulent ...or some cats may, as now seems likely from research, simply be more prone to develop the full blown disease. The thing is, there is no way of telling.

In your shoes, I can understand that wanting to know for sure before buying a kitten, would be the reassurance that you feel you need. You could offer to pay for a titre test on a kitten you choose, Whether a breeder will be happy to have that done is another matter. A good breeder should be happy about it, but would still have a worry at the back of her mind that there could be even a faint chance that there could be corona in their cattery .....so they may be resistant. All you can do is explain the reasons, and hope you have found a breeder with reasonable common sense. (I am sure diary may be able to sound things out ahead of time for you ..... I just don't have those contacts these days)

This is all so rubbish for you right now. I hope this helps a bit.
x x x

cozie - yes, I see you did mention the variation in waiting times. I can see that it's better to be safe, but six months is an awful long time to wait if the virus is dead within a few weeks. I might discuss it with the vet again and find out his reasoning.

We really do want another kitten. Another Balinese kitten. Actually, we want ToffeeKitten back because he was absolutely perfect . Not Siamese because they are not hypoallergenic and I now know for sure that Balinese don't trigger my allergy.

Mum - well, it wouldn't hurt to try, I suppose. The worst that can happen is that the breeder refuses to give us a refund. As for testing a kitten for the corona virus: my understanding is that a negative result may not be accurate and a positive result doesn't mean that a cat will develop FIP anyway. It would be reassuring to have a negative result, but there doesn't seem to be any way to be 100% sure your kitten won't develop FIP. I told DS1 today that it would be like lightning striking twice and I hope that's about right.

That said, I do think we could pay more attention to certain factors when we choose another kitten. There were a lot of cats living together in the breeder's house and that is a risk factor, I believe. And I would pay far more attention to the health of the kitten this time. I don't honestly think our kitten was ever that healthy, but we didn't know any better. He looked beautiful and his fur was healthy , but he when we bought him, but he was always listless and not very playful. Friends who had cats of their own spotted it right away.

And I will take Diary up on her offer of help, too, if she doesn't mind.

Tomorrow, DS1 is going to attempt to go to school again. He was doing so well there before all this happened.

......Actually, we want ToffeeKitten back because he was absolutely perfect.......

That was part of my thinking for waiting the full 6. Just be careful, Toffee. Although there are breed characteristics, they're all different and have their own personalities and foibles. You don't want the family to rush into getting a new kitten and then, perhaps, resent something about him because he's not KS.

(And if you say 'Oh that would be OK - we wouldn't be expecting a new KS' - I've seen it happen. Adjusting to the second cat can be difficult.)

Best of luck to DS1 tomorrow. He's being so brave.

I had to put the bins out this morning and one of the binbags jangled - it was one of ToffeeKitten's toys. Made me cry. (I have thrown away his toys as I am worried about them being infected with the virus, in spite of what I have since read about it being fragile, etc.).

DS1 is not in a good way. ToffeeKitten's companionship and cuddles really calmed him down. Now his worst OCD ritual has come back and he was in too much of a state to go into school this morning. He managed to get as far as the building, but couldn't go in. We have decided to call it quits, disappointing as it is. Hopefully, the school will be understanding and let us try again in September, by which time DS1 will have had more CBT therapy. If they can't deal with this, well, then they are not the right school for DS1 anyway.

You are absolutely right about not rushing into having a second kitten, cozie. To be honest, I don't know how any kitten could live up to KS. But then, I remember thinking that about having my second child and I managed to fall in love with him in spite of that. I know we need to wait and get over this first, though, hard as it is.

Toffee - I was in tears the other morning (on the day KS had to go to the vet) and that's not usual for me with other people's cats, believe me. I think we all went through KS's trials and tribulations here - and how much more so for you and your family who lived with him.

I'm real sorry about DS1. He's trying very hard, I think, but some things are just too much. Getting him to help choose another will likely start a better phase for him when the time comes.

I agree with the other posters and can only add regarding the breeder, he most likely thinks you will just go away and sometimes if you don't ask then things are not offered.

So another email, when you feel up to it, maybe along the lines of that you have been reading a lot about FIP in kittens and most breeders refund if the kitten catches it within the first year and considering the amount you spent on purchasing him and then vet bills, she should bloody well take some responsibility and kindly consider giving you a refund

It will take a good bit of time to get over losing toffeekitten, tbh I had a cat that was mine when I was your DS age, she was with me all the time, not a pedigree just a tabby I had her until she was 2/3 yrs old and then she vanished, (parents search everywhere roads etc and came to conclusion she has been cat-napped) it took me a long time to get over that I used to stand at my bedroom window willing her to come home and I cried a lot over losing her.

Almost 30 years later and I still think of her.

I cried a bit too that day.

Oh, cozie, that's very touching. You were there on my very first thread, when I was worrying about looking after a new kitten, so I'm not surprised you felt personally involved.

DS1 and I were actually looking at the Balinese and Siamese website together yesterday, but we just kept spotting KS lookalikes. Even if we could have another kitten straight away, we would be hopeless because we'd be comparing the poor thing to KS all the time. We have to accept that this particularly perfect and sweet kitten has gone, but there will be another different and sweet kitten living here one day.

This has hit DS1 so hard. He needs the summer to get over it. You are right that getting a new cat will start a better phase. In six months' time, it will be my birthday and I know what I'll be asking for .

DS1 was cheering himself up with YouTube clips of cats this morning. made us smile.

Show him \link{\this } to watch. (I knew the owners of the kitten.)

I will do. Aww, so sweet.

Those are divine - we had a cat who used to like watching "One Man & His Dog", he'd spend ages batting the sheep with his paws and would walk round the TV to see where they'd gone. Our current kitty is a fan of motor racing - I think he goes into a bit of a trance after a while!

I'm not surprised DS is struggling, it's a big thing to take in at any age. I don't know what would help, but do feel for you all so much - I hope things ease up over the summer.

Toffee I've just read this entire thread in one go. I just wanted to say how sorry I am for you & your family's loss, and it was heartwarming to see how much you loved and cared for your kitten.

I see you've been looking at Balinese and Siamese, have you looked at en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tonkinese_(cat) Tonkinese? They are a crossbreed (recognised breed though) of Burmese x Siamese and they are very very pretty.

oops I fail at links :)

Frosty - he'd spend ages batting the sheep with his paws and would walk round the TV to see where they'd gone.

And thanks for your kind words.

Also, Chuff - I can't believe you've read the whole thread in one go . I only wish it had a happier ending. Thank you for the suggestion about Tonkinese: they look gorgeous, but don't appear on my trusty list of hypoallergenic cats, so I won't risk one. My Balinese kitten didn't trigger my allergy at all, so I will stick to what I know.

I suggested to DS1 that we take him to a local animal sanctuary later this week and he was very enthusiastic. The centre rehomes dogs and cats, but also has birds, small furry things, donkeys, etc. The visit will distract DS and, hopefully, cheer him up. DH worried that it would be like 'rubbing his nose in it', but I had an instinct DS would react well.

Yesterday, DS2 asked me if we are having a funeral, so I have discussed the idea with DS1 and he is thinking about it. That might also help him. We could plant a rosebush or something in the garden for ToffeeKitten. If we do it in a few days time, the photobook should have arrived and I can give that to DS1 afterwards.

Just a very very stray thought for mulling over, Toffee. Many animal sanctuaries welcome volunteers, mainly for scut work, but that might be the sort of thing DS1 would enjoy/manage to do from time to time - mucking out cages, filling feed bins, that sort of thing.

I don't know whether DS1 would be of an age to do it (a la dreaded health and safety policy at the sanctuary) but it might be worth an ask or keeping your ears open just in case?

Funnily enough, I had the same thought, cozie. The animal sanctuary don't accept volunteers under 18, but they do a one-day event this summer for 13- to 18-year olds where they help look after the animals; I'm going to mention it to DS1, but his anxiety issues will probably prevent him from joining it. Worth a try though. Maybe he'd do it if a friend went with him.

He might enjoy that, actually. A one-off, no obligation day. Productive but with nothing riding on it - less likely to be tense-making.

Is he talking about KS at all?

Yes, we talk about him together, cozie. It's comforting to share our memories.

I have just had an email from a breeder I contacted months ago, offering me the email address of another breeder who has seven Balinese kittens available. How poignant. I had to explain why I couldn't accept her offer.

This evening, I had an email from ToffeeKitten's breeder, promising to refund the money. Seems she is doing the decent thing.

That's something at least - have a chat with Diary about it, maybe?

How are the family, in particular you and DS1, doing? (I've been thinking about you all.)

PS - I don't know whether you saw but tiggyhop \link{http://www.mumsnet.com/Talk/the_litter_tray/1802948-Worried-sick\posted} today and she also lost a cat recently to FIP.

We're ok, thanks. DS1 loved the photobook and I have put up photos of ToffeeKitten in several rooms. I find the photos bittersweet, but watching videos of him is too upsetting.

DS1 and I have unnerved DH by discussing the possibility of getting two kittens next time ("Twice the cost and twice the vet bills!" as DH said). We thought they would be company for each other. Also, I think both of us want to ensure we never have a cat-free house again.

Am in touch with Diary, thanks.

How are you? And how is Seniorboy?

Oh, I hadn't seen Tiggy's post. Poor love. Will go and read.

We're well - and Seniorboy is as fine as the heat allows. (Surprisingly, he doesn't like it as much as a nice, even, 20 degrees under his fleece in winter. No winning with them, eh?)

It must be tough wearing a fur coat in a heatwave though. I'm glad he's ok.