Rafiki

[Carykd7kau]

I suppose there are some cats that just refuse to try it.

 

[Patti]

I have some cats that have never looked twice at the wheel, but then I have cats that fight over it at times, so it definitely stays busy...

 

[Savannah Mama]

Mine fight over it too!


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[Rafiki]

Took the kids to the regular vet on Saturday. Rafiki weighed in at 14 lbs 9 oz and Jammu weighed a staggering 18 lbs even. Rafiki's health was good so she was finally able to get the booster for the vaccines. In 2 weeks, she will finally be able to go outside for walks again.

We took a sample of what was inside her ear and had them look at it as we don't really know what was going on 2 weeks ago as there was no discharge. For better or worse, we still don't know as nothing showed up. Poor baby did not like having her ears cleaned and did her best Yoda imitation all weekend.

We also did a fecal on her and it was negative. The nice thing about having 2 weirdo cats that insist on sharing a litterbox is that one fecal for the two of them is enough - if one has something, the other would as well so a negative for one is a negative for both.

Jammu's exam was not quite as good. He had extreme problems breaking his molars in as a kitten and he needs to go in for a cleaning. His bloodwork however has me even more concerned. ALT was 252 and AST was 99. Everything else is normal so this points directly to an issue with his liver. Dr. Bianco (our internal medicine vet that treated Rafiki) is not in the office until Thursday and my vet will check with him then. Not sure whether to do an ultrasound with him or not. My gut feel is that he contracted whatever attacked Rafiki's liver last year. We are assuming that it may have been the mycoplasma but it could have been something else that the Convenia took care of. Convenia is some pretty rough stuff and I don't know if I would want to have that given to Jammu without knowing more about what is going on. Jammu is fine at the vet but simply terrified of riding in a car. I honestly thought that he would rip thru the sturdibag carrier with those massive claws of his. I had to hold him on my lap (Steve drove) for the return trip as that was the only way of keeping him at all calm.

Any thoughts out there as to how to proceed?

 

[DumaLove]

Took the kids to the regular vet on Saturday. Rafiki weighed in at 14 lbs 9 oz and Jammu weighed a staggering 18 lbs even. Rafiki's health was good so she was finally able to get the booster for the vaccines. In 2 weeks, she will finally be able to go outside for walks again.

We took a sample of what was inside her ear and had them look at it as we don't really know what was going on 2 weeks ago as there was no discharge. For better or worse, we still don't know as nothing showed up. Poor baby did not like having her ears cleaned and did her best Yoda imitation all weekend.

We also did a fecal on her and it was negative. The nice thing about having 2 weirdo cats that insist on sharing a litterbox is that one fecal for the two of them is enough - if one has something, the other would as well so a negative for one is a negative for both.

Jammu's exam was not quite as good. He had extreme problems breaking his molars in as a kitten and he needs to go in for a cleaning. His bloodwork however has me even more concerned. ALT was 252 and AST was 99. Everything else is normal so this points directly to an issue with his liver. Dr. Bianco (our internal medicine vet that treated Rafiki) is not in the office until Thursday and my vet will check with him then. Not sure whether to do an ultrasound with him or not. My gut feel is that he contracted whatever attacked Rafiki's liver last year. We are assuming that it may have been the mycoplasma but it could have been something else that the Convenia took care of. Convenia is some pretty rough stuff and I don't know if I would want to have that given to Jammu without knowing more about what is going on. Jammu is fine at the vet but simply terrified of riding in a car. I honestly thought that he would rip thru the sturdibag carrier with those massive claws of his. I had to hold him on my lap (Steve drove) for the return trip as that was the only way of keeping him at all calm.

Any thoughts out there as to how to proceed?

If it was the mycoplasma I know that is very easy to transfer to other animals. What type of test did they use to identify Mycoplasma in Rafiki? You might want to do that test on Jammu.

 

[Rafiki]

Last November, Rafiki developed a massive ear infection and it was found in the discharge. She never had the normal symptoms (Lower respiratory tract infections can result in pneumonia with fever, cough, tachypnoea and lethargy. Pyothorax occasionally occurs. Upper respiratory tract infections are associated with conjunctivitis, ocular and nasal discharge and sneezing). She did not have discharge 2 weeks ago so we used the same treatment that was effective in November as they could not find anything to culture. Jammu has zero symptoms of anything - infection or liver. They normally swab the eye for either culture or PCR for mycoplasma. But again....it could have been something else that responded to the Convenia so doing this test may or may not reveal anything.

 

[Patti]

ALT was 252 and AST was 99. Everything else is normal so this points directly to an issue with his liver.

I am really sorry to hear that Jammu's LFTs are elevated. This would make me really suspicious that the cats were both exposed to something toxic, rather than due to an infection. I could be wrong but don't think that liver involvement is a common finding in a mycoplasma infection so to have it occur in both cats seems unusual. In addition, mycoplasma is usually treated with doxycycline or azithromycin, not a cephalosporin such as Convenia.

Convenia is some pretty rough stuff

What makes you say this? I've not heard of any severe side effects with Convenia so would really like to know if you (or anyone) have had a bad experience with it, since it is a widely used antibiotic (I've only used it once so have minimal experience with it).

You must be so freaked out about this after all that you went through with Rafiki. Fingers crossed that this is an anomaly and everything will be back to normal the next time you have him checked!!

 

[Rafiki]

Hi Patti. I appreciate your advise. What I do know is this:

• Something was attacking Rafiki's liver last year.
• We did 2 screens for toxins including heavy metals and found nothing.
• She was treated repeatedly with various meds including antibiotics and steroids but nothing worked.
• When she developed the massive infection in November, the vet did not want to wait for the results of the culture. He immediately treated her with Convenia and Dexamethasone and that did the trick. The culture later came back positive for mycoplasma.
• The bloodwork 2 weeks later and 4 weeks later had normal liver enzymes.

What I don't know is if it was the mycoplasma that caused it or some other bacteria that was treated with the Convenia.

The issue with Convenia is that while the antibacterial effects stays active for 2 weeks (great for hard to pill cats!), the drug itself stays in their system for 2 months. Nothing can be done to clear it out faster if the cat has an adverse reaction.

 

[Patti]

The issue with Convenia is that while the antibacterial effects stays active for 2 weeks (great for hard to pill cats!), the drug itself stays in their system for 2 months.

Thanks, this I knew and agree that it can be dicey giving it when we don't know if a cat is allergic to it or not. I was also quite worried about this when it first came out but I think if a cat tolerates clavamox it will be okay with Convenia, since they are somewhat related.

 

[Rafiki]

Sitting at the emergency vet with Rafiki. She is favoring her left rear foot. The leg is fine but she will not let me touch the toes. She is showing discomfort while laying down as well.