Allotment Gardening Advice Help Chat
Poultry and Pets => Pets without Feathers => Topic started by: John on November 26, 2015, 00:36
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When Cara (my daughter) moved over here she had a couple of semi feral cats that we took on. Martha and Rufus. The idea was they'd live in the cow shed 'and be no bother'
Sadly Martha vanished but Rufus got on well with our house cats and after a few months I woke up to find him asleep at the foot of the bed. Gradually we went from him running away and hiding when he realised we'd seen him to sleeping on the sofa by me and even allowing me to stroke him when he was eating.
Yesterday he was not too well, took up residence in the veg rack and hardly came out all day. Decided to take him to the vets today but catching him is no easy task and son-in-law Gary offered to help. Anyway, Rufus was up and about this morning looking fine so I thought I'd phone Gary and say not to bother. Just as I picked up the phone Rufus had a fit.
Over on his back, paws going as if he was fighting and spraying wee. It was over in 10 seconds but scary. Realised from a couple of puddles he must have had one or two in the night as well. We managed to catch him and got him over to the vets who had to sedate him to examine him and take bloods. Net result, slightly high temperature and elevated white cell count. May be an infection or something like a tumour.
They gave him a couple of jabs, antibiotic and anti-inflammatory but it's just guess and hope. If he continues fitting then we'll have to call it a day as giving him pills just isn't an option and with the other cats medicating food isn't feasible either.
Paid the (are you sitting down?) £144.00 bill and brought him back home. He jumped out of the basket, hissed at me and vanished out of the cat flap like a flash. He's snuck in to eat but he's out there with another of our cats probably saying how evil I am. It's quite warm here tonight, about 10 C I'm just hoping he hasn't got epilepsy and we can get some trust back. If it is epilepsy then it is the end of the road.
It's pretty grim at the vets, with the others I can calm them down and stroke them - stroking Rufus at the vets just scares him more. He's no cuddly lap cat, basically we're just a hotel but I'm so hoping he's alright.
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Just a quick update - he's come back in now and is looking his normal self, purring as he tucks into a second bowl of cat food. He's quite nervous of me though.
I can go to bed now :)
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Glad to hear he is back, and hopefully on the mend
My old Westie would make so much noise from the moment he saw we were at the vets and wanted to get away, and the vet would say "I've not even touched you yet boy" then I would remind him how they take temperatures etc. and ask him "if you were a cat or a dog would you be happy to see you"
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He's looking well this morning, demolished his breakfast before heading outside. No signs of fits in the night (small wet patches) which is the best thing. I'm on his ASBO list - very untrusting of me. Still, that's just a matter of time.
I had one cat that actually liked the vets. Get the basket out and he'd climb in. He just liked being fussed.
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Glad to hear he has improved it is horriblr seeing pets ill as it is so hard to know what to do for the best. By the sounds of it I am sure Rufus sees you as more than just a hotel, he just likes being his own cat :)
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... By the sounds of it I am sure Rufus sees you as more than just a hotel, he just likes being his own cat :)
The thing is that semi-feral cats are very different to cats that have been handled as a young kitten. You can, sometimes, gain their trust but it takes years. And you need to consider the distress caused by treating them. One visit to the vets is traumatic but frequent trips and trying to give him a pill twice a day would make his life a misery. He'd probably vanish if we tried. The tame cats don't like pills etc but it's an annoyance not a total trauma.
Whatever he thinks of us, we committed to do our best for him.
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Antibiotics do give cats a real boost - I wish human ones worked as well!
You just have to give it a few days and see how he is once the immediate impact of the jabs wears off.
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So far, touch wood, he's doing really well. Alert and eating, no signs of further fitting. He did try and jump onto the cooker top earlier (which was hot) so I shouted no - he's now refusing to come in from the cow shed. Expect that will change when it's tea-time :)
The fact he's not fitting seems to fit with an infection. Hope that was it. I'm trying not to be negative but at the same time not getting my hopes up. The number of times I've had to take a cat to the vet for the last time but it doesn't get any easier.
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Fingers crossed for him John, I know what you mean about semi-feral cats, though.
Molly the rescue cat is still not exactly friendly, although she has decided she'd rather stay indoors, but hide under the spare bed most of the day :nowink:
After Christmas she will need her jabs - I've no idea how I'm going to get her to the vet :ohmy:
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It's a bit far to send Gary :D
My sister in law had a semi-feral who, in his latter years, became a soppy lap cat. Main thing is patience, grasshopper. When you can stroke the cat, it's time to leave the monastery.
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:lol: Love it!
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Hopefully it was just the infection causing a higher temp causing the fits. It is a pity vets charge so much, but people here pay, whereas other countries people won't. OH's friends dog ate muffins with the silicon tray and the op cost £80 in France.
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That's true, when I lived in Greece my cat stayed on a drip at the vets, over the weekend, and then 4 more visits for an injection each time.
He charged me only 120 Euros (£85 apx) - can you imagine the cost if it had happened in the UK :ohmy:
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The vets here are expensive for pets. I think most of the practices concentrate on cattle and possibly sheep - sadly many farmers seem to prefer to let sheep suffer and either recover or not as there is so little profit per animal.
Cara paid a lot less for a good vet in Yorkshire but she had a lot more choice.
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The vets here are expensive for pets. I think most of the practices concentrate on cattle and possibly sheep - sadly many farmers seem to prefer to let sheep suffer and either recover or not as there is so little profit per animal.
Cara paid a lot less for a good vet in Yorkshire but she had a lot more choice.
You might be right about the sheep John, as we were travelling back home from Wales yesterday we passed a butchers advertising half a lamb £35, I paid £70 3 weeks ago for a half from a local farmer😟. Funny though I used to buy the same lamb from another farmer for a lit less,who rented his fields out to this farmer for her sheep😣. Not sure how that worked.
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Back to Rufus - he's just had another fit :(
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Oh poor Rufus, hope he recovers & it is just an infection☹️
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Poor Rufus :( Fingers crossed it is just a passing thing.
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:(
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The thing is that he's alert, active (as active as he ever is) and eating really well. A vet friend of Cara's reckons we see how he goes until Monday. If he's still fitting then it's most likely a tumour and secondly epilepsy. In either case there's no point in trying to find out more as there's no cure. Possibly a control for epilepsy but getting 2 pills a day into him just can't be done without making his life a misery.
We keep trying to remember that it's what's kindest for him, not us that must make the decision. I'm not very hopeful but you never know.
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Poor boy, I hope he improves over the weekend.
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:( Thinking of you both and Rufus
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Well some good news. No further fits and he's sort of trusting me again .. when I'm putting out catfood :)
But the best thing is a friend has a cat whose symptoms are exactly the same and it's been identified as a rare neurological disorder but not epilepsy. He won't be in pain like epilepsy and the problem is related to stress. He had an infection which would have stressed him - hence the fits. And the vet visit was stressful as well.
So unless he has frequent fits or seems to be distressed, we plan on doing nothing except possibly some cat relaxing pheromones.
About time something went right!
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Good news :)
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:)
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Good news :)
Yes, it is :)
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Brill.
Hope it goes well
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Sometimes, doing nothing is the best thing. One of our cats is always on high alert and suffers from stress-related asthma because of it. The constant trips to the vets trying to get her cough diagnosed and then struggling to medicate her made the asthma far worse. Now we just accept that every now and then she gets coughing fits and leave her be. She has far less attacks now than before.
Hope Rufus does OK too.
Out of interest, what are "cat relaxing pheromones"?
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Cat relaxing pheromones are like a plug-in air freshener called "Feliway", I think. They emit pheromones which mimic the calmness of a mother cat, or so I understand. We've had the dog version in the past. Worth a try if you've got a nervous animal, but we were advised to keep it on 24/7 as it builds up into a calming atmosphere for the pet over time. Just putting it on when you go out for an hour isn't going to have much effect. Hope that helps.
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Cat relaxing pheromones are like a plug-in air freshener called "Feliway", I think. They emit pheromones which mimic the calmness of a mother cat, or so I understand. We've had the dog version in the past. Worth a try if you've got a nervous animal, but we were advised to keep it on 24/7 as it builds up into a calming atmosphere for the pet over time. Just putting it on when you go out for an hour isn't going to have much effect. Hope that helps.
That's right - it's an odd musky smell though. It's good if you have a few cats and fights keep breaking out, calms everyone down. Can be useful if a cat feels the need to keep scent marking (spraying wee on the wall) to tell the others she lives here too.
He's normally very happy and hasn't any conflicts, we're the major stress in his life. I'm certainly happier now - might be back on track for my cunning 5 year plan to get him on my lap :)
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might be back on track for my cunning 5 year plan to get him on my lap :)
Good luck with that :D
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Our vet pal says she's only come across it once and to be 100% requires a lot of tests, which she would recommend as it would further stress him. But if he's not dazed or bothered by the 'episodes' (apparently the correct term as they aren't fits) then he's not in pain or suffering damage as he would with epilepsy.
Found a pack of cooked chicken pieces (with a reduced to 19p label) in the freezer... it was going to make chicken and sweetcorn Chinese soup but it is better employed re-building his trust.
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Found a pack of cooked chicken pieces (with a reduced to 19p label) in the freezer... it was going to make chicken and sweetcorn Chinese soup but it is better employed re-building his trust.
Lucky cat!
Thanks for the info on the pheromones. I'd never heard of them before.
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How is Rufus now John?
Pamela
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How is Rufus now John?
Pamela
I'm really happy to say he seems perfectly happy - hasn't had a fit this year :D
I think he was a bit off-colour and that was a big factor. He's even willing to be in the same room as us again.
Thanks for asking