Phinehas and Malachi health issues - confirmed diagnoses: herpes virus in the eye

[wolflady]

Everything has been going great with the introduction of the new kitten, but last night Phinehas had a little bit of diarrhea. I also noticed some clear "vomit" on the floor in the corner of the room, so the only place I really have to confine him is the bathroom with the kitten.
Initially when I brought the kitten home, it looked like he had a bit of an upper resperitory problem and I called his breeder about it and she said that it's best to just let them work their way through it to help build their immune systems. She said that the baby and Phinehas may even share germs, and that's ok...I should just them them get through it so they will be stronger. This is what she's always done with all of her cats.
So, I just wiped the baby's face with a warm cloth and he otherwise seemed fine. I don't know if this would have caused an issue with Phinehas or not, but when I checked on him this morning there was more diarrhea that looked like had blood and mucous in it and Phinehas was drooling. This really alarmed me, so I called KAK's vet since they are much closer to me than the vet I used to go to. I told them what was going on, and they said that they didn't feel I needed to rush him in so they gave me an appointment at 11am for today.

I'm so worried about Phinehas. Ever since I've had him, he's NEVER been ill. I start thinking about there being an obstruction or something else going on with him because what would cause the drooling and dry heeves? I'm so worried, so any prayers for Phinehas will be much appreciated. :(

[Karen]

Awww, poor Phinman, prayer sent!

[krazyaboutkatz]

Karen, I'm so sorry to hear this.:( I sure hope that he didn't eat some of the cat toys that I gave you.:( I warned you to be careful with the toys that had elastic attached to them so hopefully that's not it. You may want to have your husband look at all of the toys to make sure that nothing is missing or has been bitten off.

Hopefully the vet will be able to diagnose his problem easily and that it's nothing serious. Adobe is a wonderful place and everyone is so nice and caring there. I'll keep him in my thoughts and prayers. Please continue to keep us updated about him. Try not to worry too much and take care. (((HUGS)))

[wolflady]

I don't think he ate anything weird and all the toys are put away unless I get them out to play with him so he couldn't have ingested any elastic. I'll have Sreedhar check anyway, just to be sure.

I really hope it's nothing serious. I have an appointment at 11, so I'm going to go with my husband since he can pick me up here at the office on the way to the hospital. I have never seen Phinehas like this. I sure hope it's nothing serious. He was doing so well just a day ago!:(

[krazyaboutkatz]

Be sure to have the vet to also look at his teeth and gums. If there's a problem there this could also cause drooling. Good luck.:)

[Randi]

Karen, I'm sorry to hear about Phinehas, but try not to worry too much, it may be something the vet can clear up in no time - hopefully! :) Could it be that he needs a diet with more fiber in it?

I'm sending lots of good thoughts to Phinehas, and to you. :love:

[Barbara]

If there is diarrhoea I don't think there is a real obstruction. I would rather think that he shared one germ too much with Malachi and may now have an infection.
I hope the vet sorts it all out and Phinehas will be ok soon.

[wolflady]

Thanks for all your thoughts, guys. I'll be sure to update as soon as I get back from the vet.
**hugs**

[shais_mom]

oh poor guy! i hope he's alright.
keep us posted!

[wolflady]

We just got back from the vet and they think he could possibly have a stress induced colitis!! I've never heard of such a thing, so I hope it's not permanent. It's strange because Phinehas has never had diarrhea before and all of a sudden he does now. The stool sample I brought in showed blood and mucous, but no bacteria that would indicated an infection. They ended up giving him fluids, an anti vomit injection and an injection of anti-biotics. They also took some blood so we can start looking into his stinky mouth issue. I have antibiotics "the pink stuff" which I am to start him on this evening since he's supposed to get it twice a day and he's already had the injection. Poor guy. He was so good. He just purred on the table and let the techs poke and prod him as they needed.
The vet didn't see any concern about needing to seperate Phinehas and Malachi, so Sreedhar has dropped me off here at work and will go home and let Phinehas back in the bathroom with the baby. Cuddling should be ok ;)

[Barbara]

So it's a colitis- and we know our babies are sensitive - even if he likes Malachi it's still a change. And he is already adjusting to this change so I hope after the antibiotics he'll be fine.
Filou had an infection with diarrhoea 4 weeks ago and he is just fine now.
Make sure Phinehas gets very light and high quality food now. Filou started with a food that contained only chicken, chicken broth and 1% of rice and that was a good start for him.
He sends purrs to Phinehas.

[wolflady]

That's true. I didn't get the sense he was stressed, but maybe he was just overly excited which is a form of stress, right? Thanks for the tip on the food Barbara. :) I'm glad Filou is doing better too! :love:
**hugs**

[krazyaboutkatz]

Poor Phinehas.:(I sure hope he'll start feeling better soon. Has he been eating Malachi's food? Since it's a little different from his regular Royal Canin maybe this is what caused his diarrhea. I'll call you tonight to check on him. Lots of prayers and positive thoughts are being sent his way.

[wolflady]

Thanks KAK. I certainly hope he gets to feeling better. He's still pretty much the same. Very lethargic with diarrhea. He loves the red bed you brought over, so that's good. :) I'll give him his first dose of meds tomorrow and hopefully it will help him to feel better. I'll be sure to keep you posted. Please continue to send some healing vibes for Phinehas.:love:

[wolflady]

No improvement with Phinehas this morning. He's still not eating and still has the bloody diarrhea. :( I tried enticing him with some wet food, but he wasn't interested. His medicine says "give with food", but if he's not eating...what do you do? I ended up giving him a dose this morning, because I want to get him on the antibiotics. He wasn't too happy about it and probably half of it ended up on the floor. :rolleyes: I'm just so disappointed. Maybe bringing this little kitty home was a mistake. Phinehas was just fine....never any diarrhea or illness from the day I first brought him nome, and now if this colitis is going to be a permanent thing...it's going to be a nightmare. It's my fault he's suffering now. :(
I don't want to keep Phinehas cooped up in the bathroom, but it's the only room we have to isolate the kitties. My place is small and I don't want to put him in any carpeted rooms since he's leaving diarrhea smears wherever he sits down. :( I've been wiping his bottom, but it's not really helping since it seems he has it leaking out constantly. :(
I swear, I must have bad karma following me around since I never seem to catch a break. My husband is going away for 3-6 months to work a contract job since he hasn't been able to find anything out here for 4 months and we thought adding a friend to keep Phinehas company would be a good thing. Introductions went well, but I guess there was a catch to all that. Why couldn't it have just gone fine and stayed fine? :confused: I wish the universe would just give me a break! I'm so frustrated these days. :(

Prayers for Phinehas are appreciated. :(

[krazyaboutkatz]

Karen, Things will get better just have faith.:) If you still want to borrow the cage that I have please let me know. It's large enough for a small litter box and a bed too. I sure hope that Phinehas will start improving soon. Prayers and positive thoughts are still being sent his way.

[Barbara]

Don't give up yet- it's just the first day. I am sorry for both of you. My vet said that in the case of diarrhoea fasting is recommended. We had Filou fasting for six hrs first time but when it didn't become better we even had those 24 hrs which were extremely tough for him and us. But after that and the antibiotics he became ok.
Sending best thoughts for Phinehas.

[Sonia59]

I just see this thread. We are sending our best thoughts that Phinehas feels better soon. I am sure he will. :)

[cassiesmom]

Dear Phinehas, I hope you will feel much better soon. Paws and fingers are crossed for you!

[phesina]

We are saying our prayers and sending our loving thoughts and healing vibrations along to Phinehas. Suddenly meeting his grandson who has just moved in has probably been a bit of a stress for him!

[krazyaboutkatz]

Karen, have you received Phinehas's blood test results yet? Hopefully they'll be in the normal range. Here's a very good article about colitis that may be helpful to you: http://www.petplace.com/cats/colitis-in-cats/page1.aspx.

The part that might pertain to Phinehas is dietary change or stress or both of these. I know that you put out some fancy feast canned food for the kitten and it was out for quite a while before he ate it. I wonder of Phinehas ate any of this and maybe this upset his tummy since it was out for a while and he's not used to eating it.

I hope he'll recover quickly and that his appetite will come back. If he's bad about taking his liquid medication you might want to switch it to pill form. Some times the antibiotics can also cause diarrhea so you may want to try giving him some plain yogurt. Get well soon Phinehas.

[Russian Blue]

Sorry this is happening, Karen!:( But stress will bring out any problems in a cat pretty quick. Get out the feliway plug-ins and any other Bach's remedies. ;)

The first thing I thought of was coccidia. When we brought Phoenix home to see if that would help Nakita, Nakita started having diarrhea (with blood) within the first week. When we took the stool sample, it was coccidia.

Here's a better description:
Coccidia (http://www.peteducation.com/article.cfm?c=1+2236+2241&aid=726)

I'm assuming you took a stool sample in?

It was an easy fix. A pill dose each day for a week (if I remember correctly) and both cats were clear.

So, don't worry too much just yet.

[krazyaboutkatz]

Sorry this is happening, Karen!:( But stress will bring out any problems in a cat pretty quick. Get out the feliway plug-ins and any other Bach's remedies. ;)

The first thing I thought of was coccidia. When we brought Phoenix home to see if that would help Nakita, Nakita started having diarrhea (with blood) within the first week. When we took the stool sample, it was coccidia.

Here's a better description:
Coccidia (http://www.peteducation.com/article.cfm?c=1+2236+2241&aid=726)

I'm assuming you took a stool sample in?

It was an easy fix. A pill dose each day for a week (if I remember correctly) and both cats were clear.

So, don't worry too much just yet.

I had also thought of this but I always thought that this was more of kitten/stray cat disease. I gave Karen a Feliway plugin and diffuser and she's had this plugged into the bathroom outlet since Sunday afternoon. When I talked to her she did say that she brought in a stool sample. My old vet told me that stool samples need to be fresh or the fecal flotation won't pick things up even if the cat does have something. I'll be talking to Karen today so I hope that she'll give me a good update.

[krazyaboutkatz]

I just talked to Karen and she said that Phinehas is very alert and has been eating again.:D He and his brother have been staying in the bathroom and his brother really loves him but is still a bit scared to venture out without Phinehas. It sounds like the antibiotics have finally kicked in and he's now on the road to recovery.:) Hopefully he'll make a full recovery quickly and won't ever have any relapses.

[Barbara]

Thank you for the good news :) Hope Phinehas will be fine and can enjoy his new little brother.

[wolflady]

Thanks for everyone's thoughts and prayers for Phinehas. He's not improving too much as of this morning. It seemed he started to feel a bit better on Saturday and yesterday, but I think he was just stir crazy from being locked in the bathroom. I had let him out yesterday because I needed to majorly clean the bathroom. There were stains and smears of all kind and I just wanted to get that all cleaned up. Phinehas seemed happy to be out and just laid in the windowsill most of the day yesterday, but he seemed content. He ate a little, but not much. Today he's back to having no interest in food (even the wet stuff) and still has the diarrhea. I took a bit of faith and left him in the main room when I left for work this morning, so hopefully I didn't make a mistake. He was laying in his big comfy bed which KAK had brought for him, so I just thought he might feel more comfortable there.

They did take a blood draw, but I haven't heard anything back yet. The vet didn't see anything from the stool example except for the blood and mucous which seemed to indicate this stress colitis.

I'm worried if Phinehas doesn't eat, what to do? I was thinking about trying baby food, but his breeder Linda told me that baby food will cause diarrhea in her kitties, so I don't know if that would help or make it worse. I'll see how he is when I get home today, so more prayers needed that he recovers. :(

[Barbara]

The food should definitely not be too fat or too human- so no baby food.
Of course having to stay in the bathroom is stress as well :(
Did you ask your vet whether it would make sense to give him no food for a day?

All good wishes for Phinehas and you.

[krazyaboutkatz]

Karen, I'm sorry to hear this.:( Yes, maybe fasting him for 12-24 hours might help him. I'd also ask if maybe the antibiotic could be causing him to have diarrhea. I'm really surprised that you haven't heard anything about his blood work yet. When I took Storm in I found out later the same day. I'd definitely be calling Adobe in the morning to ask some more questions and hopefully get some answers. Phinehas remains in my thoughts and prayers.

[wolflady]

It seems like Phinehas is having his ups and downs. Today he seems to be having an "up" day. He was waiting for me at my bedroom door when he heard me stirring this morning, which is what he would usually do when he's feeling good. I opened the door and let him in and he purred and meowed, so that's definitely good improvement in behavior.
He even ate some treats before I left for work, so I'm glad he ate something. I don't think he ate anything at all yesterday, so I'm hoping he's on an upswing here. There wan't much in his litterbox though, so maybe that's because he didn't eat or drink anything? I hope that's it and not that he's gone somewhere else. :( He's always been a good cat about using his box, so I hope it's just because he didn't really put anything in his tummy yesterday. I'll probably let Malachi out of the bathroom when I get home tonight since he seems ready to come out. I was just hesitant to do so with Phinehas not feeling well since Malachi kind of latches himself to Phinehas whether Phinehas wants it or not! LOL

[Barbara]

If he didn't eat anything that will be the explanation for nothing in the litterbox. And it's a good sign: you know that cats use most of the water out of their food so the longer he doesn't go the drier it should be. We hope next time he's back to a nice tootsie roll;)

[krazyaboutkatz]

Thanks for the good update.:) I tried calling you but I guess you're not home yet. I hope he'll continue to do well from now on.:)

[wolflady]

Phinehas definitely seems to be better in the potty department and he's been eating and drinking. The latest thing now is he's gagging...a lot. He's been sneezing a bit, so I wasn't sure if the gagging comes from him having mucous in his throat or something else. He seems interested in playing with the laser light and he looks fine when he's active, but when he tries to curl up in his bed, he starts having these gagging fits. I just wish he would get better. I don't know if I should bring him into the vet for this or just wait it out another day or so. :confused:

[krazyaboutkatz]

I went over to Karen's today to see her two cats and to try to take some pictures. Poor Phinehas.:( He looks like he's lost some weight and he seemed very congested and stuffed up. He also gagged a few times like he was trying to cough something up. Can cats get post nasal drip?

Karen made an appointment for him for tomorrow at 12:30pm which was the earliest that the vets office had. My vet was already booked up so she'll be seeing a different vet. It looks like Phinehas has a bad case of an URI which the new kitten probably brought into the house. He's been taking amoxycillin since last Thurs. but it just doesn't seem to be doing the trick.:(

He is eating and drinking and he will play but he's not as energetic and vocal as usual. Karen said that he also had more diarrhea today.:( I told her that the antibiotics may also be causing this. I gave her some probiotics that I've giving Starr so hopefully this will help him. I hope that the vet will be able to help him feel better and that he'll finally recover from this nasty bug. I'll be keeping Phinehas in my thoughts and prayers.

Just as a precaution, I took off my clothes when I got home and I changed into clean ones. I also wiped down everything that I had brought over to Karen's with clorox disinfecting wipes. I sure don't want to bring this bug home with me. Please send some positive vibes to Phinehas. Thanks.:)

[Catty1]

Prayers that poor Phinehas will be better soon!

I recall having to be on antibiotics for 3 months straight a number of years ago - and I took my yogurt caps in between doses of erythromycin. It worked!


Hugs and kisses for Karen and her baby. :love:

[wolflady]

Thanks for everyone's continued prayers for Phinehas. I took him back to the vet today for a re-check and he still didn't have a temperature and his lungs sounded fine according to the vet even though he sounds congested to me. They took some more blood and did a blood panel and everything came back normal (just got a call back from the vet about that), but they did seem concerned about a heart murmur and recommended that he get a heart ultrasound to check it out. :( I'm still worried about him since he's never had any problems before and now all of a sudden he does. He's still not as active as he usually is and pretty much has just been laying in bed all day. :( They did give him more fluids today and also they took his blood pressure. Poor guy, I sure hope he's going to be ok. :( His heart ultrasound is scheduled for Wednesday with KAK's vet who specializes in cats.

[krazyaboutkatz]

Thanks for the update Karen. I'm so glad to hear that his blood work is normal.:) Hopefully his heart murmur isn't anything to worry about. Both my Sunny and Sky have slight ones and Dr. Boltz said that we should just keep an eye on them to make sure that they don't get worse. I'm so glad that you'll be seeing her. You'll love her.:) I'll keep Phinehas in my thoughts and prayers. Please try not to worry and take care. (((HUGS)))

[Barbara]

Sending all my best wishes to Phinehas- there has been good news up to now so we hope all will be clearing up soon.

[wolflady]

Thank you for the continued thoughts/prayers for Phinehas. He's still not himself and I'm really hoping he gets better soon and that the heart ultrasound doesn't reveal anything bad.

Poor Malachi's left eye started watering a whole lot last night and it looked a bit red, so I am wondering if he scratched it or if his gooey eyes are coming back. I swear these guys are starting to go in cycles! :(

[wolflady]

Poor Malachi's left eye is really red and inflamed and watery and gooey. Poor little thing! He just looks so pathetic. I left a VM for KAK's vet about this if there was something I could do for him and wait till tomorrow when I go in with Phinehas or if I should bring him in today since I can't quite tell if his eye was scratched or if it's part of the URI my kitties are sharing. I stepped away from my desk and when I came back I had a VM back from Dr. Bolz's assistant Hannah saying I could probably get an appointment for today. I left another VM to find out when.
Fingers crossed that poor Malachi's eye will be ok!

I swear! I can't catch a break! :(

[krazyaboutkatz]

Karen, I'm sorry to hear this:( but I'm glad that you'll be able to see my vet today. Hopefully it's nothing serious. I'll keep both of them in my thoughts and prayers.

[Catty1]

I hope they just both have a 'bug' that can be cleared up. URI's can go back and forth.

Phinehas may have had the murmur for some time - many cats have them and live fine lives.

{{{{hugs}}}} and best of luck at the vet's!:love:

[Barbara]

Oh no! That is just too much. Let's hope the vet gets it fixed.
Sending all my best wishes to both sweet patients.

[GILL]

The CREW sends thier best. We hope that it is nothing to bad and your kids get over this soon.
We are sending all our prayers.

[wolflady]

Thanks everyone! :) Malachi goes in today at 4pm. I will also discuss with the vet about scheduling his neuter surgery. Poor little guy! ;)

[cassiesmom]

Oh no! That is just too much. Let's hope the vet gets it fixed.
Sending all my best wishes to both sweet patients.

What Barbara said goes for me too!

[wolflady]

Malachi is back home with Terramycin ointment for his eye. It turns out he has a strain of chlamydia :eek: which can cause swollen conjuctivae and discharge from the eye - but other than that he seems fine. Still eating, drinking and playing. When she said that I was like...WTF? How can a cat get chlamydia...isn't that what our doctors test for during our annual female exam?? :eek: LOL It's a different strain and she said it wouldn't be likely that it's contageous to me unless I rubbed his goo in my eye (yuk, which I won't LOL) and then I'd get pink eye. She said it could transfer to his other eye when this one clears up, so I can just apply the ointment if that's the case. Poor little baby, just looking at his eye makes mine water! Hopefully Phinehas won't get it, but I am taking him in tomorrow for his ultrasound and I can talk more about it then. I hope everything goes ok and we can get these vet visits behind us...not to mention the fortune I've shelled out! :eek: Thanks for your thoughts and prayers for my babies! :love:

[krazyaboutkatz]

Thanks for the update. I'm glad that it's only his eye that's infected and that it's an easy fix. Hopefully Phinehas won't catch this too. Yes, I've heard of cats getting chlamydia and I think that the FVRCP shot is supposed to help make sure that they don't get this if I remember correctly.

You might also want to call the breeder to let her know that some of her cats might be carrying chlamydia. At least he doesn't have the herpes virus which never really goes away. How did you like my vet? I hope that everything will go well with Phinehas tomorrow. I'm still keeping him in my thoughts and prayers.

[wolflady]

Oh I hope it's an easy fix. It actually looked worse this morning and he didn't seem as active *sigh* When I went to put the ointment in his eye, I couldn't even find his eye the conjuctivae was so swollen! :eek: I really really hope I don't have to keep bringing my cats into the vet. I'm already financially unstable and this is getting really really expensive. All I want are my kitties to be healthy. :( Now I'm almost regretting this because maybe I should have waited until after my Ireland trip to bring a new kitty home! :( I hate to think it's my fault they are now suffering. I'll probably ask Dr. Boltz about Malachi when I bring Phinehas in today. I just hope she doesn't find something to be concerned about. I don't think I can afford much more. :(

[katladyd]

My Ming's vet bills get so expensive, my vet has set me up a payment plan. He get urinary blockages from time to time that keep repeating. He has been blockage free for 3 weeks now. Still, I know how expensive vets can be. I "only" owe about $1,000 on my account. She is real good about it, though. I even get his meds on credit. I pay her between $50 -$100 per month. Maybe your vet can do this for you.

[wolflady]

I started a new thread for Phinehas about his condition which can be found here: http://petoftheday.com/talk/showthread.php?t=150586 :(

[wolflady]

I'm about ready to have a mental breakdown. Why can't these guys get better? I was hoping Malachi was on the mend, but he's looking worse and even had bloody discharge from his eye! I've shelled out over $1000 during the past 2 weeks at the vet and don't know how much more I can afford. I left a message for the vet about Malachi's eye and if I should just wait it out or if I needed to bring him in again. I have no experience with chlamydia in the eye and I just hate to see him so miserable, but I'm really at my wit's end. My husband is working a contract job in Indiana because we needed to do something to help our financial situation and that's stressful enough, but with me being alone and these cats having health issues with no end in sight I just feel like I'm going to lose it.
Sorry, I just needed to vent. :(

[Catty1]

wolflady - here is a link to info on the chlamydia that Malachi has: http://www.future-of-vaccination.co.uk/conjunctivitis-cat-chlamydophila.asp

The link mentions an oral medication in addition to the eye ointment. But don't stress - read the info and ask your vet about it.

{{{{hugs}}}}

[krazyaboutkatz]

Karen, I'm sorry to hear that you're so stressed out and that Malachi's eye doesn't look any better.:( I've had cats with eye infections but I don't remember them being this type and their eyes usually start looking better in 2-3 days. From reading Catty1's link it sounds like Phinehas should also receive medication at the same time as Malachi so that he won't get this too.

Did you ask my vet when you should start noticing some improvement? Did she give you her e-mail address? If so I'd also e-mail her because she only works from Sun.-Wed. I sure hope that you won't need to bring him into the vet again. I'll keep him in my prayers too. Please take care.

[wolflady]

Tracey, does Rachel check her email on the days she's not working? It seems she's going to be off through the 15th, so I did send her a mail this morning asking if there is anything else I should do for Malachi. His eye was swollen shut this morning so I couldn't even get the ointment in :( and it looks like it's spreading to the other eye now. *sigh*

edit: I just got an email from Rachel and she's going to call in some new meds for Malachi. She didn't seem to think he needed to come back in (thank goodness), but said if I was worried I could bring him back in. I figured I'll try the new meds first to see if we can get his poor little eyes cleared up. I've never had a kitten and he's so small that I'm just freaking out.

[krazyaboutkatz]

Tracey, does Rachel check her email on the days she's not working? It seems she's going to be off through the 15th, so I did send her a mail this morning asking if there is anything else I should do for Malachi. His eye was swollen shut this morning so I couldn't even get the ointment in :( and it looks like it's spreading to the other eye now. *sigh*
Yes, she has in the past when I've e-mailed her. I'm sorry to hear about Malachi.:( You might want to call Adobe and speak to a vet tech about this and let them know what's going on. He might need to be put on pills instead. I sure hope that he'll get better soon.

[wolflady]

I emailed Rachel again this morning to see if it's typical for the eye discharge to be bloody. :( Poor Malachi. I feel so bad for him. I can tell his eye bothers him and he wiggles out of my grasp when I try to do the warm compress on his eye. I've started him on the new meds that Rachel arranged for me, but so far no improvement. I know it's only been one day, but why can't I get even just a little ray of hope that he's going to be on the mend? :( Why does it seem to be getting worse and worse?:confused:

[Don Juan's mom]

Prayers for Malachy. We'll ask St. Jude, St. Francis and Goddess Bastet to put in a good word for the little guy.

Liz
Don Juan
Zerlina

[krazyaboutkatz]

Karen, I'm sorry to hear this.:( Hopefully his eyes will start improving soon. Prayers and positive thoughts are being sent his way.

[RedHedd]

Oh poor baby! That does not sound good. Do keep us posted.

[Medusa]

Goodness, I'm sorry to read about Malachi's eye and I do hope that you vet is able to give him (and you) some relief soon. Keep the faythe. :)

[wolflady]

I ended up calling Adobe and they wanted me to bring him in for an emergency recheck (which was double the cost of a regular appointment) since they were concerned about the blood but were apparently all booked up with scheduled appointments.
His eye looks terrible, you can't even see his eye because the membrane is so swollen. They put an e-collar on him because perhaps he had scratched his eye which caused the bleeding. This seems like a really serious case of who-knows-what (originally they thought it was chlamydia, but now they're not so sure and they're treating him for everything), so now we're going to also be putting the poor thing on 2 types of anti-viral medications (which also costs a fortune :( ) along with everything else he's taking. I have to pick those up at a compounding (??) pharmacy tomorrow. They also wanted me to schedule a recheck for an animal eye specialist since we couldn't even tell today if his eye is damaged. :( God, I swear I feel like a made a huge mistake bringing him home. I just wanted to do something nice for my Phinehas since I'm gone all day and orientals are such social cats and crave companionship. I thought it would be easier when I go on vacation for him to have a buddy. I just don't understand why this is all happening...:( :(

[jenluckenbach]

Oh my, this is all so sad. I don't even know what to say except I do know how it feels when everything goes wrong at once. :(

Hang in there, when this is all a distant memory you can go back to just having fun with your babies.

{{{{{{{HUGS}}}}}}}

[krazyaboutkatz]

Karen, I'm shocked to hear this latest bad news.:( After I talked to you last night I felt sure that his eyes would get better very quickly.

In the back of my mind I was thinking that if you had to bring him in again I sure hoped that you wouldn't have to be referred to an eye specialist too.:( I went through this with Ziggy and I had to travel quite a ways and it was very expensive. Luckily her eye turned out to be just fine.

I'm surprised to hear that you have to go to a compounding pharmacy to pick up his meds. I've had meds compounded at Adobe before so I thought that they could compound just about everything.

I'm so sorry that everything is going wrong all at once with your cats.:( I can relate to this because I went through so many things with poor Starr. Things will eventually get better. I'll call you tomorrow. Take care. (((HUGS)))

[krazyaboutkatz]

I just wanted to give you an update on both Malachi and Phinehas. I went over for a short visit today and Phinehas is pretty much back to his normal self.:) He did have a some clear discharge which then turned into a white pale yellow color in his left eye. Hopefully it's just some residual effects from his URI.

Malachi looked miserable.:( He's being kept away from Phinehas in the bathroom. He's a conehead now and both of his eyes are now infected. He most likely scratched one of his eyes because it's so red looking but at least it's open now. I gave Karen my smallest cat sack that I can't use any more so that it'll be easier for her to give him his eye drops and other meds. I helped her give him a pill and his eyes drops and he's very feisty and wiggly so the cat sack helped a lot.

Malachi has an appointment on Mon. with an eye specialist to make sure that his very bad eye isn't damaged from scratching. Hopefully it's okay. Depending on the diagnosis, he may not have to take all of the meds that she now has for him. She'll also ask about Phinehas's eye and if she still needs to keep them separated or for how long.

I sure hope that this is the end of bad health issues for these two. I'll be taking care of them in early March while Karen's in Ireland for 10 days. She sure deserves to have a nice relaxing vacation. Please keep both of them in your thoughts and prayers. Thanks.:)

I also forgot to mention, that Karen took Phinehas's pulse rate 3 times while I was there and you take it for 6 seconds and then add a zero on the end of your count. It was 9, 10, and then 11 which would be 90,100, and then 110 for his pulse rate. Hopefully this is within the normal range. She said it was between 180 and 200 when he was at the vets the other day.

[Barbara]

Thanky our for the update- I am glad to hear at least Phinehas is better- however poor Malachi sounds miserable.
Paws and fingers keep being crossed for these two sweet boys.

[wolflady]

Thanks all for keeping up with this thread! :o I did have an appointment with the eye specialist today and I ended up bringing Phinehas in too, because his left eye is starting to look like Malachi's did in the beginning, so things got worse since KAK's visit. *sigh* The doctor was able to confirm a diagnoses, which does give peace of mind. It turns out that Malachi and Phinehas both have the herpes virus in the eye, but at least I don't have to keep them seperated anymomre. :( Malachi has it worse than Phinehas, but since we caught Phinehas early I hope we can nip his in the bud. At least I can discontinue a couple of the meds for Malachi since we know what it is he has. Phinehas has his own set of eye drops now. I really really hope this will be the end of the vet visits. As it is, I already have too much month left at the end of my money with all the visits in the last two weeks alone. I'm closing in on $2K right now which is very very stressful. I've had to most of it on CC since I just don't have the funds to manage this. :( Please pray that with this confirmed diagnoses and set of meds my boys will be on the mend and I can finally try and de-stress myself!

[katladyd]

I know how you feel. I've almost got $1,500 in vet bills paid off now. It's only taken me 3 months to do so :( I hope you and your boys can take a break from the vet for awhile. I'm sending your two precious boys all my good thoughts and hugs!!

[Catty1]

wolflady - have a look at the first link here. The second is more for special stuff, but it won't hurt to hold on to the link!

http://www.carecredit.com/vetmed/whycc.html

www.imom.org

[krazyaboutkatz]

Karen, I'm so sorry to hear this.:( I know that the herpes eye virus will come out when cats are stressed and unfortunately there's no known cure for it. Many people have been using L-Lysine and this helps to keep it under control. I know that you have the L-lysine gel in the tube so I'd start giving this to both cats. They also make a powder form that could probably be added to canned food.

I copied this from a link about herpes eye infections in cats:
Just wondering if it is safe for a cat to be on
L-lysine for a long time or perhaps for the rest
of her life? I have tried to take her off it and
her runny eye and sneezing seems to come back, so
she really needs to be on this. I would rather
this than antibiotics that she has tried without
success.

Thank you.

Tina B
Vancouver Island, BC, Canada

L-lysine is a naturally occurring amino acid. It inhibits the replication of herpes virus.

In cats, herpes virus is not sexually transmitted. It is a highly contagious and extremely common cause of upper respiratory infections, or URIs. URIs are marked by eye discharge, squinting, sneezing, and and sinus congestion.

Almost every cat on earth is infected with feline herpes virus. Infection is lifelong. Feline herpes virus does not spread to people.

Most cats are able to suppress herpes virus with their immune systems. However, some cats suffer chronic or recurrent URIs as a consequence of infection with herpes virus. These cats may benefit from dietary supplementation with L-lysine.

L-lysine is a natural part of proteins. Adverse effects from long-term administration of L-lysine are extremely unlikely. If you feel that your cat is benefiting from the amino acid, I see nothing wrong with giving it for long periods. It is certainly safer than long-term antibiotics. And, since antibiotics do not treat herpes virus, L-lysine may also be more effective.

Hopefully their eyes will clear up quickly and I'm glad that they can be reunitied again.:) I'll keep both of them in my thoughts and prayers. You take care too. (((HUGS)))

[krazyaboutkatz]

I went by Karen's place today and I dropped off some left over L-lysine that I had been using on Pearl. Malachi eye's look so much better.:) One of Phinehas's eyes looks bad and was almost closed.:( It didn't look very bad on Sat. so it sure has gotten worse.

Malachi is now out of his e-collar and he's so happy to be able to be with Phinehas again.:) They were both cuddling together in the bed that I had given to Karen. She put a heating pad in the bottom of it and they love it.:) Karen also received some L-lysine in powder form to try on them so hopefully both of them will get better and feel better soon.:)

[Medusa]

Goodness, I'm sorry to read this but now that you know what's going on, hopefully things will improve quickly. Prayers are continuing for you all. Keep the faythe. :love:

[critters]

I know you're concerned about $$, but you might want to consider a third eyelid flap on a particularly bad eye/s. Simply, the cat is knocked out and the eyelids are pulled together to be a natural bandage on the eye/s. 3 eyes have been saved with it here because they were all better when the TEF was released.

Polly's herpes never clears up--just better and worse. Everybody else's here DID go away completely. Her son Domino keeps a bit of his occasionally, so it seems to be a family thing.

[Russian Blue]

Wow, the cats are really testing you, eh? ;) Nakita also had the herpes virus but never a full outbreak.

The best thing you can do is keep the stress to a minimum,add the l-lysine to the food, and feed a high quality diet.

We just had to take Gigi to the vet. She had impacted anal glands that needed to be expressed. Nothing like having a cattitude calico with full anal glands! I'm sure it was the highlight of the vet's morning (Gigi came out looking like she was violated). :p

Sending vibes that the cats make a full recovery. Hang in there, Karen.

(((hugs)))