Outbreak, with cats
**WARNING for discussion of gross kitty illness symptoms**
Y'all, the past week and a half has been a long, long nightmare. It started two Fridays ago when I noticed that Punkin seemed very lethargic and had been vomiting. I took him to the vet first thing the next morning, where he was given fluids and an antinausea injection and sent home after his blood work came back normal.
A few hours later, I found him lying in a corner of the hallway in a huge pool of bloody diarrhea. HUGE pool. As my regular vet closes at noon on Saturdays, I put him back in his carrier and rushed him to the nearest emergency vet I knew of, about 20 minutes away. He was admitted to the hospital for an unspecified intestinal infection.
When I returned home I realized, to my horror, that Punkin was not the only cat who was sick. Suddenly I had multiple cats vomiting up bloody bile and having bloody diarrhea. It was a lot like the movie Outbreak, only with cats.
The next ten days were a blur of taking cats one or two at a time to the vet. Barney, Bucky, Oliver, and Niko were treated and released with multiple medications for me to give them at home. Kerrigan was taken back to be hospitalized Sunday after being treated and released that morning. Punkin and Kerrigan were both released from the hospital Monday evening.
In between hospital trips on Sunday, I also went to PetCo for supplies and then came home and bleached all of the litter boxes, replaced all of the litter, and either washed or replaced all of the beds.
Since everyone was on multiple medications that had to be given at different times, I had an around-the-clock dosing schedule with only an hour or two between doses, which left no time for sleep. I went for three days just lying down for a hour here or there when I could, without sleeping.
The following Friday I noticed that Amos (who is 17 years old), who hadn't shown any of the intestinal symptoms, had not been eating and was very, very weak -- so weak he could barely stand or walk. His bad eye was also completely crusted over with goop. I took him to the vet Saturday morning and he was given fluids, two antibiotic injections, and a B-12 injection. The vet tech taught me how to give him fluids from the IV bag and I was instructed to do so twice daily and bring him back Monday for a re-check, at which point a feeding tube would be put in if he hadn't improved.
Thankfully, he improved quite a bit over the weekend and started eating on his own and getting around a lot more easily. His re-check yesterday morning was all good. I have to continue giving him fluids every other day, but he should be fine. However, Bucky and Barney were still refusing to eat or drink and were both very weak and dehydrated. I took them in and left them for the day to be given fluids and more antibiotics. When I brought them home yesterday afternoon, Barney immediately ate a serving of canned food, which made me so happy I nearly cried. Bucky, who had been in worse shape than Barney was, ate a little bit of food last night and seemed to be a bit perkier. And both of them took their new antibiotic pills this morning without any trouble.
I am finally optimistic that everyone is going to survive this, but I had some very dark days last week and felt very despondent. I lost seven pounds because I didn't have any time to eat anything myself. I barely slept. I was completely disconnected from the world, aside from constantly making the rounds with medicine and food and cleaning up messes. It was absolutely unreal.
Ten days and six thousand dollars later, things are finally looking up. Everyone is eating and drinking and they seem to be getting their personalities back. Thank GOD.
Y'all, the past week and a half has been a long, long nightmare. It started two Fridays ago when I noticed that Punkin seemed very lethargic and had been vomiting. I took him to the vet first thing the next morning, where he was given fluids and an antinausea injection and sent home after his blood work came back normal.
A few hours later, I found him lying in a corner of the hallway in a huge pool of bloody diarrhea. HUGE pool. As my regular vet closes at noon on Saturdays, I put him back in his carrier and rushed him to the nearest emergency vet I knew of, about 20 minutes away. He was admitted to the hospital for an unspecified intestinal infection.
When I returned home I realized, to my horror, that Punkin was not the only cat who was sick. Suddenly I had multiple cats vomiting up bloody bile and having bloody diarrhea. It was a lot like the movie Outbreak, only with cats.
The next ten days were a blur of taking cats one or two at a time to the vet. Barney, Bucky, Oliver, and Niko were treated and released with multiple medications for me to give them at home. Kerrigan was taken back to be hospitalized Sunday after being treated and released that morning. Punkin and Kerrigan were both released from the hospital Monday evening.
In between hospital trips on Sunday, I also went to PetCo for supplies and then came home and bleached all of the litter boxes, replaced all of the litter, and either washed or replaced all of the beds.
Since everyone was on multiple medications that had to be given at different times, I had an around-the-clock dosing schedule with only an hour or two between doses, which left no time for sleep. I went for three days just lying down for a hour here or there when I could, without sleeping.
The following Friday I noticed that Amos (who is 17 years old), who hadn't shown any of the intestinal symptoms, had not been eating and was very, very weak -- so weak he could barely stand or walk. His bad eye was also completely crusted over with goop. I took him to the vet Saturday morning and he was given fluids, two antibiotic injections, and a B-12 injection. The vet tech taught me how to give him fluids from the IV bag and I was instructed to do so twice daily and bring him back Monday for a re-check, at which point a feeding tube would be put in if he hadn't improved.
Thankfully, he improved quite a bit over the weekend and started eating on his own and getting around a lot more easily. His re-check yesterday morning was all good. I have to continue giving him fluids every other day, but he should be fine. However, Bucky and Barney were still refusing to eat or drink and were both very weak and dehydrated. I took them in and left them for the day to be given fluids and more antibiotics. When I brought them home yesterday afternoon, Barney immediately ate a serving of canned food, which made me so happy I nearly cried. Bucky, who had been in worse shape than Barney was, ate a little bit of food last night and seemed to be a bit perkier. And both of them took their new antibiotic pills this morning without any trouble.
I am finally optimistic that everyone is going to survive this, but I had some very dark days last week and felt very despondent. I lost seven pounds because I didn't have any time to eat anything myself. I barely slept. I was completely disconnected from the world, aside from constantly making the rounds with medicine and food and cleaning up messes. It was absolutely unreal.
Ten days and six thousand dollars later, things are finally looking up. Everyone is eating and drinking and they seem to be getting their personalities back. Thank GOD.
posted by Catherine at 2:42 PM
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