She is being rushed to the vet as I type by Mike. I have to go to work in about 20 minutes or I would have taken her. Her temp spiked last night rising to 105.6! No believing what I was reading, I tried 3 other thermometers on her and they all read into the 105 degree mark. 🙁 I am so sad-of course it has to be on a Sunday when the vets are closed. I hope Mike can find Ben- I told him what door he would have to knock on to get his attention. I don’t know if Foster will come home or not- Ben is now feeling that this is distemper which means that the virus I had here over three years ago might still be in the house regardless of how well I scrubbed and threw things away. I am shutting down to kittens now. It has nothing to do with the fact that I am emotionally and financially tapped. This has to do with the feeling that I am now running a kitty death camp. 🙁
Feral Cat Behavior
Blogging about feral cats and life in general
We found your blog doing a search for how to help a feral cat that was found in our backyard. She’s not eating and seems to have diarrhea. We believe it may be parasites. The emergency vet that we tried tonight wanted over $400 to knock her out and give her a ton of needless tests. We left with the promise that she would be OK for tonight. She and her brother showed up in our yard, a suburban area, along with their mother back in December of last year. The mother was TNR’d and eats daily in our yard since her release. The kittens were just trapped, fixed, ear-tipped and microchipped last week. We have them very separate from our regular cats, who were all rescued or found somehow. We had the same problem as you today. No decent vet open on Sunday. We’re taking the little feral girl, Mindy, to our vet tomorrow first thing. We have tons of problems and even just by doing something good – we’re constantly having strokes of bad luck. We’ve saved animals and keep wondering why this is happening to us. We’re so tired of these vets over-charging. They’re not in their business because they love animals, they just see dollar signs. Anyway, my husband and I understand. Cats seem to gravitate to us. Including some dogs which were found on the street which, thankfully had homes (not dog people) – and, of all things, an injured bird which died in my hands on the way to an emergency vet. It’s gotten to the point where when we drive anywhere – I keep my eyes fixed off roads and back alleys. I close my eyes anywhere at all that I feel a cat could even possibly be. They somehow keep finding us, even in our own backyard! It’s too bad that great people who just want to save animals and care for the ones they already have keep getting punished. So, know that at least someone out there understands you and thinks you’re trying to do something good.
I have to say that I have vets who have given me meds at no charge. Done “mercy killings” at half price, and cut me some deals when it comes to the cost of care. It is just with the sheer number of kittens recently moving through here- it has been tough. I am supposed to call my vet in the morning and find out how foster is or if she is even still here. he seemed to think it premature to put her to sleep as she doesn’t look like she is suffering. I didn’t want her brain to cook while I was at work.
I am sorry you are surrounded by vets who don’t care. ER clinics are expensive because they usually have top-notch vets and techs that work during hours when they should be sleeping. I hope they find a cause for Mindy’s inappetite and diarrhea. Please keep me informed if you can-
Thank you for your response. We hope everything is going well with Foster.
Mindy died yesterday morning. We got her to the regular vet ASAP on Monday. Bloodwork showed an unheard of white blood cell count of 1000 as well as toxic plasmosis. A normal white blood cell count for a cat is apparently 10,000 and a low one would start at 3,500. Her spay surgery helped everything along apparently, but she would have been extremely sick otherwise anyway.
Although we didn’t know her for that long or that well, we feel like we have lost a child. Feral didn’t matter to us. We were going to do everything we could to save her within reason of her not suffering.
After one night on IV fluid, the doctor took it out the next day and the poor baby bled to death. They promise us that she didn’t know what was happening. Blood results only came back after she died otherwise we may have had to put her to sleep.
We are sick over this. If I sound dumb, incoherent and illiterate, please forgive me. My husband and I are just trying to still digest everything. We had no idea that what we thought was a simple, treatable parasite would be this.
She didn’t have any of the bigger diseases (Feline Aids, Feline Lukemia) per the lab work, but her brother, Morris, will, of course, be in his own room for quite some time. He only has hookworms at this point thanks to his stool sample. He gets meds for that and then, if adjustable, he gets several bloodworks of his own down the road, per the doctor. We were told that he could be perfectly healthy and that siblings don’t have to share what Mindy had.
Morris seems very healthy. He eats and drinks his water well. He seems content for the most part. We think that he might be adjustable. His room is huge and has a great window that looks out into a big yard where we feed his mother, Lady. He’s living in a cat hotel basically. We’re spoiling him as much as our many other cats that live in the rest of the house. We want him to be healthy.
Unfortunately, our local ER vets are recent UPenn grads who aren’t experienced yet. They want to run every needless test to cover themselves. Our regular vet’s office has one vet there that, so far, seems the most qualified and caring out of the others. Your cat has to basically get sick when he is on staff that day. Not so easy. We live in NJ, by the way, and have been through quite a few vets before getting to this one.
Thank you for listening. I’m sorry if I’ve rambled. Just trying to process everything.
Again, good luck with your own little ones. We hope they’re healthy and safe and that you can keep your sanity through it. It isn’t easy for those of us that seem to be chosen for this sort of thing.
Be well,
Shar (& Don)
-on twitter as: Shar_Howe
I am so sorry. I know a lot of people would say they feel your loss. I know it personally. I have turned away from conventional meds right now and am giving Foster holistic measures. I have him on GSE, Vitamin C a holistic nasal drop for extreme sinus infections all with the advice of a holistic vet. I can just see the liquid pouring from his nose and he struggles to breathe, yet he is eating and drinking. I don’t know at this juncture what to do next. My vet is encouraging me to let him die a natural death so that a necropsy can be performed. I won’t let him suffer- if he stops eating and drinking and becomes lethargic- I will put him down.
Again, i am sorry that Mindy died, but I am thankful she died in the care of someone who actually gave a damn. So many cats don’t even have that. There will be a candle in my window tonight for MIndy. I am sure Franklin and Twirl will meet her on the path and escort her over the rainbow bridge.
I just read about Foster and am truly sorry. You did everything you could for the poor thing. This is horrible for you and I’ll say prayers for you in your healing. And to bless you and yours as well.
Your sentiment about Mindy was beautiful. I love the thought of a candle in the window for a lost soul. I’m going to do this as well, for Foster & Mindy.
I believe that they are in a much better place with no more pain or suffering. I hope that they visit us, so that we can heal, too.
Bless you again. Thank you for your kind words and support. It means a lot.
I’m so sorry again. I told Don and he wishes you well, too.
Thank you for being an angel to these creatures.