Reptile & Amphibian Forums

ok, i'll be as concise as possible.
Sasquatch, 4yrs old was adopted at 1yr old, almost dead from malnutrition and dehydration. He was revived to a happy, healthy, loving cat.
He always has sinus problems, stuffy nose and sneezing that once a yr he gets antibiotics for.
2 months ago after taking him in for antibiotics and a tapeworm shot, his liver stopped working, he became lethargic and jaundiced. Not able to afford any extensive vet treatement, we force fed him food and water for 2 weeks after which he appeared to fully recover. One month after this (one week from writing this) he stopped eating, became very lethargic, lost three pounds and was very congested.
we took him to the vet who did blood tests and x-rays and she says all major organs are fine, as are the lungs. She is a cat specialist.

we are feeding and trying to keep him comfortable.
his symptoms are:
lethargy
sneezing
heavy, snuffly breathing
weight loss
appetite supressed
103 F temperature
(tonight started to limp)
fluid coming from nose
runny eyes

Can anybody help diagnose this please! All we can do is feed him and keep him comfortable but we don't want him to suffer.

Hi There,

It takes a vet to make a diagnosis, but I'll be happy to share some thoughts with you.

Obviously, there is more than one thing going on with your baby. The respiratory problems may indicate that your cat has feline herpes. This is often the case when cats have chronic URI of some kind. I have at least 2 cats with this condition. The third one with it seems to have grown out of it.

I would start giving L-Lysine, 1/4 of a 500mg tablet twice daily. This is totally safe and herpes cats will always respond to it. It's actually an amino acid so it's natural. You can get L-Lysine at any pharmacy. I got my bottle at WalMart and I give it in food, by crushing the 1/4 tablet with the back of a spoon.

This MAY really help with the respiratory problems.

Now, I think the 3 pound loss is due to something else. It's a tremendous weight for even a large cat to lose in a short time. If your cat is still jaundiced, he still has liver issues, if not, it could still be his liver, or almost anything else. If it were one of my kitties, the next step would be to have an ultrasound done, possibly with a needle biopsy of the liver done at the same time. If your baby continues to lose weight, he is going to be in trouble.

If you are still force-feeding, try strained meat baby food (with no onion added). You can feed baby food with a syringe right out of the jar.

Please keep us updated.

Regards,
PHKitkat

thnx for the response
i will look into the supplement.
He has shown no real improvement, but no apparent worsening either.
I am giving him antibiotics, as well as fluids through iv and forcefeeding meat baby food, cottage cheese and liver.
he is not throwing up, and he is not jaundiced, which was a major sign of the liver failure last time.
I will keep u updated on any changes,
thanks again

Hi,

Good to hear that your baby is holding his own.......

Sounds like you are doing everything you can possibly do for him at home.

I'll continue to keep him in my thoughts and prayers.

Regards,
PHKitkat

Thank you soooo much!
just 5 min ago, he got up by himself and walked into the family room and drank water...the first time he's done that in 2 days! I researched the l-lysine and i'm gonna get some first thing tomorrow morning. funny, I never thought I'd actually use anything i learned in o-chem class....

Hi There,

This is good news! Sending Mega Glow that your baby will continue to show improvement!

Regards,
PHKitkat