Vet help! Mystery cat illness...

[Sarah CB]

My two cats are about 7 months old and are brother and sister. I've already spent about $400 at the vet trying to figure this out.

 

1. Cleo started limping suddenly. We don't know why. I took her to the vet in case she thought it might be a fracture as we were leaving for our vacation the next day (with cats). Vet thought it likely wasn't a fracture as she was walking on it better the second day.

 

2. While camping, Cleo got worse and worse. Very sore and didn't like to jump down off the bunk to use the litter. She slept all the time, didn't want to be bothered and didn't play. She was still eating and drinking, but I'm not sure if she was eating and drinking as much as before. Tony was fine.

 

3. Took her to the vet and ran a huge battery of blood tests. They were stumped but thought it might be an infection because of the high white cells in the blood count.

 

4. Cleo began taking antibiotics. Almost immediately she cleared up and began playing and interacting again. No more limping. Unfortunately, the antibiotics had a bad effect - her ears turned pink and got dry and she began itching her head - to the point where it ended up raw and bleeding and all of her hair went away on her temples.

 

5. Took her to the vet again at home. They gave her prednisone to bring down the inflammation. That helped. She stopped itching and her hair grew back.

 

6. Tony started limping. He stopped playing, started sleeping all the time and was generally sore and shaking. Took him to vet. Vet was stumped. She wanted to run a feline lukemia test and also test for toxoplasmosis and something else. I asked for antibiotics as that had helped Cleo. She didn't think they would help but was willing to give it a try.

 

7. Tony is much better. He's active, he's not limping and not shaking. Happy cat.

 

8. Cleo's ears are looking pink and dry again. She's started scratching her head again. What is going on? She's got a bit of nasal discharge and her eyes occasionally have discharge but not a whole lot.

 

Any suggestions? The vet is stumped. I've googled all over the place and haven't figured anything out. I *really* don't want to spend more money to have them tell me they don't know what's wrong with my cats. I just want my cats to be happy and healthy.

 

Any help for a direction to start looking into would be appreciated.

 

Sarah

[DragonflyAcademy]

Could she have Lyme Disease?

[Unicorn.]

First things I would try; change their litter, and food. Might be a problem w/ their litter-starting off as an allergy. I would also add an omega rich cat food to their diet. Cats actually need some variety in their diet, unlike dogs who can eat the same stuff all the time. Extra fish oil might help w/ the dry ears. Also, make sure you don't have any toxins that they might be getting into. Cleaning supplies, detergents, etc. Basically make sure your home is baby proofed for them. hth and hope whatever it is clears up soon.

[gingersmom]

I hope the furry kids are feeling better soon. My beloved Pickles died at 5 (she got sick when she was 4) She had a rare disease (FIP) that was probably transmitted to her at birth by her mother.

 

Hope you find out what it is soon.

[Sarah CB]

First things I would try; change their litter, and food. Might be a problem w/ their litter-starting off as an allergy. I would also add an omega rich cat food to their diet. Cats actually need some variety in their diet, unlike dogs who can eat the same stuff all the time. Extra fish oil might help w/ the dry ears. Also, make sure you don't have any toxins that they might be getting into. Cleaning supplies, detergents, etc. Basically make sure your home is baby proofed for them. hth and hope whatever it is clears up soon.

 

Thanks. We just offered an alternative litter today and they both chose it over the box with the pine pellets. Maybe I'll switch out the pine pellets completely and just offer the clumping sand.

 

The eat Evo: http://www.evopet.com/products/default.asp?id=1704

 

It's high in fish oil. In terms of changing food - do you mean brands or flavours? They were eating the turkey one and we switched over to the salmon about a month ago. They get some variety with the wet food - they ate a lot of Evo wet food in the beginning, but now they are having Medi-cal wet food and we had a few others in between (depending on what was available in which store).

 

I'll take a look around the house and see if there is anything they may have gotten into, but off the top of my head I'd say it's pretty baby proofed...

[Sarah CB]

Could she have Lyme Disease?

 

My first inclination would be to say no as they're (mostly) indoor cats and I've never found a tick on either of them. Plus, it would be a pretty high coincidence for them both to get this at the same time. When they are outside they are in an enclosure and the floor is concrete and there are no trees overhead, so it wouldn't be a place I would expect to find ticks. But, the symptoms do overlap so I'll definitely mention this to the vet.

[Sarah CB]

I hope the furry kids are feeling better soon. My beloved Pickles died at 5 (she got sick when she was 4) She had a rare disease (FIP) that was probably transmitted to her at birth by her mother.

 

Hope you find out what it is soon.

 

Thanks. So sorry about your kitty :( I do hope we find out what's wrong soon.

[Sparkle]

How about mange? Probably not too likely, but a possibility?

[Laurie]

You could try googling "limping kitten syndrome".

[Unicorn.]

Thanks. We just offered an alternative litter today and they both chose it over the box with the pine pellets. Maybe I'll switch out the pine pellets completely and just offer the clumping sand.

 

The eat Evo: http://www.evopet.com/products/default.asp?id=1704

 

It's high in fish oil. In terms of changing food - do you mean brands or flavours? They were eating the turkey one and we switched over to the salmon about a month ago. They get some variety with the wet food - they ate a lot of Evo wet food in the beginning, but now they are having Medi-cal wet food and we had a few others in between (depending on what was available in which store).

 

I'll take a look around the house and see if there is anything they may have gotten into, but off the top of my head I'd say it's pretty baby proofed...

 

Flavors. For instance, mine can only eat one brand, and it's made w/ brown rice and chicken. (I have one that can only tolerate this brand on a regular basis. He won't even eat canned food.) Every couple of weeks though, I buy the same brand, but w/ salmon, just for the different nutrients.

 

I hope you get some answers soon. For your sake and theirs!

[specialmama]

You could try googling "limping kitten syndrome".

Interesting, Laurie! Here's a link.

[lisabelle]

Wow. At first I thought the suggestion to google "limping kitten syndrome" was an attempt at humor or a bit of snarkiness, but there really is such a thing. Very interesting!

[WishboneDawn]

She wanted to run a feline lukemia test and also test for toxoplasmosis and something else.

 

Did they run those tests?

[Sarah CB]

Interesting, Laurie! Here's a link.

 

I did actually come across this when I was googling and I mentioned it to the vet...it may be what we're dealing with but I'm not sure.

 

It is a virus, which means that antibiotics wouldn't make it better. Antibiotics have made both of my cats better.

 

But, one of the links I read about the cat flu said that it can lead to secondary infections, so if the cat doesn't get better in a few days (which neither of mine did) then it's likely that they have a secondary infection and antibiotics would help.

 

If it was the flu that developed into a secondary infection and was fixed with antibiotics, then why is Cleo scratching her head again? And why the discharge from her nose and eyes?

 

I wish going to the vet wasn't so expensive. We haven't run the additional tests yet because the vet really has no clue and is just shooting in the dark and I've already spent hundreds of dollars testing their blood. I don't mind paying for something if it seems like they actually have a clue...but not just to randomly rule things out.