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

[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

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

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. 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