Poor Lil Cat

So Lil Cat, whose name incidentally happens to be Lily, started sneezing yesterday. And then last night we noticed she had runny eyes. Either she had allergies/a cold or some mysterious cat disease. So I look up her kitty symptoms and find out that she most likely has an Upper Respiratory Infection (URI). Here's what I found:

Signs of URI

All of the following are signs of URI. Any cat showing any one of these signs should be suspected of having URI, and should at minimum be isolated from the general population. These symptoms can also indicate a vaccine reaction; however any cat showing these signs, whether due to a vaccine or genuine disease, is potentially infective to other cats:

* Clear or colored nasal discharge
* Sneezing
* Red/inflamed conjunctiva
* Ulcers/sores on the nose, lips, tongue or gums
* Fever/lethargy/loss of appetite (these may be signs of many other diseases as well)

Poor Lil Cat. She got her ovaries and uterus taken out last Wednesday and now she caught a virus. I keep reading . . . and find out that this can be a potentially DEADLY infection and is highly contagious. It's spread in a multitude of different ways (including airborne), and now I could have 3 sick cats (thank goodness I've been keeping Lily relatively sequestered so she can heal following her spaying).

So I make an appointment at my wonderful vet at 8:00 am this morning. I take the furry ones to the Red Bank Veterinary Hospital. It's really a great place, and what makes it even nicer is that it's open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, which provides peace of mind. In fact, I called for the appointment at 1 a.m.

7:30 rolls around and I sneak the carrier out of the closet. No luck, Lily catches a glimpse of it and does one of her disappearing acts. It's really hard to find her too, cause she's so small! I hunt her down without trying to disturb a still-trying-to-sleep Jake too much (and failing), and cram her into the carrier, since she was not going in willingly. She immediately starts trying to stick her paws out through the front gate as I try to latch it. I can't say I really blame her though; the last time she was in this thing she had several vital female parts removed.

We go to the vet, Lily meowing the whole way, me trying to find some music that will soothe her (Tina Turner's "Proud Mary" seemed to do the trick pretty well, surprisingly enough). Let me say, it's sad when your animal's doctor's office is nicer than yours. Not just nicer, but in a different league nicer. It's a spiffy place with a huge aquarium and all the most up-to-date dodads.

Lily and I got seen almost immediately, which was nice. The tech weighed her, and she's exactly 4.9 pounds. I put her age at roughly 8 months. I've had her for probably about 7 months of her life. If you've missed the saga of Lil Lily's rough and tumble toddlerhood, let me know and I'll post a blog for ya if you'd like. Here's a picture of her the week she arrived. Notice the red cube in the background . . . it comes into play later on in this post.


The vet came in and commented on how beautiful she is (she really is a looker), and gave her a quick exam. Turns out we caught it early, she's only Stage 1:

Category one

Signs are limited to one or more of the following: Clear (not yellow, green or bloody) discharge from the nose or eye, sneezing, oral ulcerations.

Assessment: Most likely mild viral infection or vaccine reaction or without significant bacterial component.

Treatment:

* Isolate
* Offer wet cat food BID
* Assess daily for appetite, fecal quality , hydration, progression of signs

So the vet says that since she is so contagious, she has to stay away from my other two cats for two weeks. She also gave me 10 day's worth of antibiotics to give her (in liquid form, thank god. Giving pills to cats is NOT FUN).

So Lil's on lockdown. She's still really lethargic and has been spending a lot of time in the cubby cube that Jake got for her when she first arrived (and never used until now, despite attempts to coax her to use it, may I add). At least she's started drinking again. I'm gonna feed her good canned food (like tuna) cause she's been through so much lately.

I do, however, draw the line at inspecting her shit.

Here's some Lil pics