Maybe I should call this the distemper journal for awhile, because I will be concentrating solely on keeping these cats as healthy as possible.
I have to operate on the premise that my home is invaded with the virus. It isn’t “contained” upstairs as I had hoped. It is everywhere. I feel when I am walking around town like Typhoon Mary so contaminated. It’s not a good feeling.
Last night when I went to bed, it was with tears in my heart. I didn’t think that Bentley was going to be alive this morning. He was dispensing poo out his rear end like a poo faucet. It was a spigot, I couldn’t turn off.
I was lying on the couch early this morning. I have Bentley in the living room- elevated off the floor in a rather large cage. I heard him use the litter box! I smiled in the darkness, distemper kittens usually don’t make it to the litterpan in time. I flung myself off the couch and turned on the lights waking Mike in the process. I removed the blanket over the cage and saw some formed stool in the pan- not all the way formed- but there was some! I looked back into the end of the cage and Bentley was eating!
He is passing some blood which is expected in cases of distemper. It is bright red which is a good sign and there isn’t that much of it to raise the alarm bell. He seems to have that warrior in him.
I went out and bought every cat food (canned) known to man. I will give him some of each until I find the one that tempts his taste buds. Until then, he will get between 30-50 ml of subcu three times a day. he has a pet fountain in the cage, but has not touched any of the water. I wonder what it is about this virus that makes these cats so thirsty, yet they cannot drink?
I know the lesions adhere to the soft tissue of the lining of the stomach and start working their way through the tissue to gain access to other parts of his body. I can only do my best and hope it is good enough to keep this kitty of courage in this world and get him past this dreadful disease.
I did find out yesterday if I paint the upstairs- that will help to stop the virus because it is planted into the drywall. i need to see if I can come up with enough funds to do that although my fear is going upstairs will bring the virus back downstairs with me no matter how many bleach steps I set up on the stairs below..sigh…like I said, Typhoon Mary
A typhoon might wash everything away. No doubt you meant to refer to Typhoid Mary.
Do you care what color walls get painted, or is the intent just sealing everything up?
If the latter, put a “want” on Freecycle or Craigslist and see who has partial cans of indoor paint to give away. Go to Lowes or Home Depot and ask if they have any mis-matched paint to give away – a custom color that came out wrong.
Purrs for the cats and kittens, and for MaryAnn the painter.
I did mean Typhoid Mary- I am so brain dead right now, I couldn’t remember the reference right. Thanks for the head’s up on the paint. I know it isn’t that expensive to buy a few cans of paint- but the priority right now is keep the vet bill from spiraling out of control and try to find the right stuff to keep Bentley here- although right now, I would say he is about ready to check out. 🙁
Hang in there, Bentley. A lot of kitties and beans are pulling for you.
As for the thirst, I read once upon a time that with rabies the victim wants to drink, but it hurts like heck to swallow. Maybe distemper has a similar effect.
A for what its worth note: if you have or can get/rent a pump sprayer (for applying insecticide and the like) you could use it to hit the walls and floors hard with bleach. No guarantees, but it couldn’t hurt. (although you might wind up with the colors bleached out of everything)
Judy’s comment reminded me of something Amazon has. Crystal at Daily Dose of Dogs set up a ‘wish list’ on Amazon.com. As a charity, you may attract a number of people to it. You list different things you need that can be found on Amazon, and people buy them for you and send them to you. It seems that simple – if you can attract notice to it. I’m sure Crystal wouldn’t mind talking to you about it; she’s already received gifts through it. It wouldn’t hurt, once it’s set up, to have it mentioned on the Cat Blogosphere site, and to have it shown in your side-bar.