Cat Flu Stress and weight loss complications (Possibly FIV)

[Gill (sneakiefeline)]

Poor Mackie and you need a good vet who is not just after your money and puts the cats health first and so difficult with two owners  and is expert with cat illnesses.

Is there anyway you can get the neighbour to go with you.

The vet needs to be able to explain things to you in a good way as you are a patient too, make a list of things to ask and ensure you get answers to all the questions.

Make sure the vet knows that you know that FIV is not a death sentence especially for a cat so young if that is what the tests show, in the mean time you  need something to help Mackie in the short term and know bisolven in the food will help to break up the mucus in the nose but it takes time.

Possible he is not eqating cos he cant smell but its so hard to get a cat eating again. AD diet fed off a finger may help if he will eat it, as its quite smelly, very tastey and used to build convalecing cats up........one tin trial from the vets would be a test. It keeps for 2/3 days in the fridge and can be watered down to.

The stress issue needs to be addressed with your neighbour too

This is all so hard 

[Gillian Harvey]

Gillian, just read your msg. That is so reassuring to hear. Im so glad your little one got better. Has she had any flare ups since? which strain did she suffer from? Herpes or Calici?
Did you ever use L-Lysene by the way?

Gypsy had herpesvirus and she did get flare ups, although they were never as severe as the initial illness. I tried l-lysine, and it did help a bit, I think it helps some cats more than others, but its worth trying. Sadly I lost Gypsy some years ago,  vet thought pneumonia and she didnt respond to any medication  That was about 4 yrs after she'd suffered the initial cat flu, but she'd been quite well during that time, except for the few flare ups so I don't think it was related.

[Tiggy's Mum]

  to Purrs snowday

It sounds like you love Mackie very much so I hope he can get better and that you can come to a solution with your neighbours.

On the FIV front, just touching upon what Moira has said... Before you start testing for FIV I would be certain that your neighbours (the current owners) are aware that FIV needn't be a death sentence as I guess they would have the overiding say about what happened to him, as long as you and/or your neighbours are happy to provide vet care when needed then there's no reason to start thinking drastically about his future if he did turn out to be FIV+. If he was a stray with no access to vet care and no one to look after him then things may be different but it seems that he has one, if not two sets of people that care about him and want him to get him well 

[snowday]

Gillian, just read your msg. That is so reassuring to hear. Im so glad your little one got better. Has she had any flare ups since? which strain did she suffer from? Herpes or Calici?
Did you ever use L-Lysene by the way?

[snowday]

Hi Moira, thanks for the link and the advice! He is around about 4 years old now. Reading through the pages on the link you posted I see what youre saying about it not being a death sentance, I  suppose if you learn your cat has it you are simply more alert and cautious to secondary infections which could prove more serious than a non-suffering cat, is that right? Im so happy your eldest is 16

I suppose I may be overreacting because the vet we took him to originally didnt explain anything to us, it seemed they just wanted us to pay up for the anti biotics and then...'Next'...

Im really learning a lot here though, thanks guys. I guess the main thing is to get Mackie tested and to make sure life is as stress-free as possible which I really hope his owners will agree with me on.

[Gillian Harvey]

he had a slight bleeding from his nose that we and the vet put down to being caused by dry air (from the central heating) and general inflamation from having a runny nose.

 What is pointing me towards believing it could be FIV is that he still has the bleeding nostril that hasnt healed. Am I totally off the mark with thinking it could be FIV or FELV?The symptoms all seem so similar?

I think I'd agree that the bleeding from the nostril very likely could be due to the constant sneezing, runny nose etc that comes with cat flu. Sorry to hear he's worse,  cat flu can be very serious I know, my cat Gypsy went down with cat flu and she was terribly ill, in fact I thought I would lose her  , I had to syringe feed her like your neighbours are doing with Mackie and it was really touch and go, but she did finally start to eat by herself again and the symptoms subsided, but she was ill for abut 4 weeks.

[moira]

Hi Snowdrop.  I am not a vet but do have some experience with FIV as I have 6 FIV+ cats myself. Ailthough there is no vaccination against or cure for FIV it should certainly not be seen as the end of the world and should certainly not, of itself, be a death sentence. It is a a very misunderstood condition, even by some vets. I may  have missed it but how old is this cat? FIV is a lentivirus which means it doesn't kick in until the cat is around 5-8 years old in any case. My eldest is 16+ and going strong. Whether or not this cat has FIV it is unlikely that FIV is at the root of his problems. You may find the information from the Glasgow Veterinary School useful:

http://www.gla.ac.uk/schools/vet/cad/informationforowners/felineimmunodeficiencyvirusfiv/

Whatever the problem is, stress will certainly not help. I hope the vets get to the bottom of the problem.

[snowday]

Gill, heres the link to the thread on testing kits: http://www.purrsinourhearts.co.uk/index.php/topic,36265.0.html 

Gillian, Thats interesting to know, I assumed the vet was referring to any or all of those conditions when they talked about 'cat flu' it seems such a broad term.
His symptoms are really terrible now. They started off a couple of months ago after a fight with a local cat with a running nose and running eye, sneezing occasionally and due to his blocked nose, his breathing was audible sometimes and he had a slight bleeding from his nose that we and the vet put down to being caused by dry air (from the central heating) and general inflamation from having a runny nose.

Having seen Mackie today 3 weeks later and learning that he is no longer eating, his coat is really bedraggled, his breathing has got a lot worse (in the congested sense) he could barely meow at first and was all croaky. What is pointing me towards believing it could be FIV is that he still has the bleeding nostril that hasnt healed. Am I totally off the mark with thinking it could be FIV or FELV?The symptoms all seem so similar?

I will ensure either his owners or if not, I arrange for a test so that we all know the severity. Its going to be so difficult to try and communicate the imprtance of keeping his life as stress-free as possible as I know all they want to do is take care of him too-I dont want them to think we just want him back for selfish reasons.

Re his lack of appetite, he even turned his nose up at tuna today (that we ran to get believing that he had been sleeping rough for weeks!) which would have been unheard of in the past. He loves his food, he was a big boy (5.6 kg) its so disturbing to see him shrunk down. Our neighbours are literally feeding him via a drip as I understand it with a syringe.

[Gillian Harvey]

Both Herpes and Calici are cat flu viruses, so it is correct to call it 'cat flu'. Knowing which of the cat flu viruses is causing the symptoms doesnt really make much difference to treatment, although there are some things that work better for one or the other, and symptoms differ slightly, both cause upper respiratory symptoms.

Stress can definitely cause symptoms to worsen and cause 'flare ups', particularly with Herpesvirus. Cats with cat flu symptoms tend not to eat due to bunged up nose, so you could get your neighbours to try and tempt him with food that has strong smell, like pilchards etc.

I'm not sure why you suspect FIV/FeLV?

[Gill (sneakiefeline)]

Could you post up the link to the blood test kit cos think that sounds a bit dubious and nor sure vets would be willing to use.

Sending lots of 

[snowday]

Thank you both for your helpful replies.

Gill, You're right, I'm about to get into contact with his owners to urge them to have him tested (or allow us to arrange him to have tests) for FCV/FIV/Feline Herpes and now after doing more research, FELV. I think I'll also explain how much we care about Mackie, and offer to look after him-its funny, I just assume they must know how much we love him and would love to take care of him 24 hours a day, but maybe we just need to be crystal clear.

I'm frankly quite shocked that neither vet has really suggested the possibility of the FCV/Herpes/FIV or even Feline Leukemia as being potential dangers. I assume his owner's vet (different to ours) hasnt tested for it as our neighbour didnt mention any of the more dangerous strains to us today and is still talking in terms of 'cat flu' generally. Maybe this is due to the testing costing a lot of money or something (?) Ive come across a very useful thread on the forums here about where to purchase a blood test kit to provide the vet with to save costs, so that may prove very useful.

I'll also be sure to mention that the vaccination could cause flare-ups too, as it might be best to avoid that altogether at the moment based on Mackie's condition at the moment, so thanks for that tip too Dawn

Thankyou once again for your replies, I really appreciate the wisdom and support.

 

[Dawn F]

stress can bring flu out in a carrier - one of mine is a calici carrier and can't be vaccinated because that makes him flare up as well

[Gill (sneakiefeline)]

Definately stress can bring back cat flu and he should be vaccinated and am surprised that neither vet has mentioned this.

Only a blood test will show if he has FIV and that really needs to be known. It would also show if he has calci or is a carrier but stress will do this cat no good at all.

As you are on talking terms with your neighbour........do you use the same vet?

It maybe that he is stressed by children and if you dont have any thats why he seeks out your house.

It just could be his 'home' is just too noisy.

It sounds like you and your neighbour need to sit down over a coffee and see if you can agree what is best for this boy.

Maybe an offer by you to help her find a new cat???????? and fpr you take on this boy permantently as he has shown that he wants to be with you.

[snowday]

I'm posting here for some advice on a very awkward situation.
Our neighbour's cat (Mackie) has been visiting us for the last year and made us his permanent home.
Just before Christmas he became very poorly with running nose and eye and after some research on here we suspected cat flu/feline herpes, after taking him to the vet diagnosed cat flu prescribing a 7 day course of anti biotics.

Shortly after finishing the course his symptoms had not gone away. As we were nursing him through this time, a dispute began with our neighbours/his owners who decided that after all this time we should stop letting him into our home and that they wanted him to return to their home and live with them permanently.

We were heartbroken, but respected their wishes as they have rightful ownership despite him having lived with us permanently for one year. As far as we knew, they were going to lock him in their house for 3-4 weeks and had bought feliway to help him refamiliarise himself with their other cat and to help him readjust to his surroundings.

Today,after being let out for the first time he has turned up at our window having lost a lot a significant amount of weight and with a severely blocked respiratory system. His condition seems to have worsened quite dramatically, so much so that it looked like he'd been out in the cold for days which was really distressing to see. We were so concerned, we contacted our neighbour immediately.

It turns out that our neighbour had only just let him outside for the first time in 3 weeks, and was very shocked that he had immediately come to our house literally within minutes.

They went on to tell us that over the last three weeks, he had stopped eating and they had to administer food to him with a syringe. He had been very very poorly indeed despite their vet prescribing anti-viral drugs and eye drops. According to them, the state he was in now was the best he had been in the whole time they had kept him at home and they believe he is finally starting to recover.

We are in no doubt that he is being well-cared for, but after more research on our part we're more than a little concerned that the stress caused by the dramatic change of environment and routine is what has worsened his condition in every way and prompted the weight loss. Its very clear that our home is his preferred place to be and has been for the last year. He has always been very happy with us, possibly because our neighbour has another cat and young children. When our neighbour came to collect him, he was very distressed about having to leave again.

Our main concern now is that him revisiting us and then being immediately locked inside at our neighbour's home is going to create more stress for him and therefore reactivate the virus and cause him more pain while he is already extremely weak and vulnerable. Any advice is gratefully received as we feel completely powerless to help him and wouldn't be able to forgive ourselves if anything happened. Can anyone please confirm that how stressful a house move can be for a cat with severe cat flu, and could this situation have caused him to stop eating?

N.B Both vets who have consulted him use the term 'cat flu' - we are under no illusion that this is just a cold, and could be feline herpes or worse, FIV. And are particularly worried as our neigbor hasn't had him vaccinated for either condition.