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.

[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.

[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.

[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! 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!!