[Purple Sage]

Hello everybody. I just joined CatForum today. I've lived with cats since I was 3 years old. My parents used to breed Siamese, so we always had cats and kittens in the house. The only time I've never lived with cats is when I was in college, and that's because we weren't allowed to have pets.

I currently have two Persian kitties ... a three year old seal point Himalayan (aka color point Persian) boy named Sammy and a two year old solid chocolate girl named Coco.

Sammy is a rambuntious healthy boy. Coco is a quite a bit more laid back, but, unfortunately, she's not as healthy. I had to take her to a specialist yesterday (Sunday September 23) where she had a CT scan, an aggressive nasal flush and tissue samples taken for biopsies. The radiologist says she doesn't have cancer, but both nasal cavities are abnormal. She has nasal turbinate atrophy in her left nostril and inflammation of the turbinate in her right nostril. We won't have the results of the biopsies until Friday. I hope those come in "English".

I'm praying that my pecious kitty will be okay. Since we're all cat lovers, you know how hard it is when a fur baby is sick.

I'm looking forward to talking with ther cat lovers.

 

[Amy83]

Your poor kitty! I hope things turn ok and to serious. Welcome aboard, love to see some pics of your kitties

 

[Luvmyfurbabies]

How did you know she was having problems with her nostrils? I have a 9 month old flat faced calico male Persian. I'm currently having an issue with his eating. He shows interest and tries but most of his wet food is left behind. Not trying to hijack your thread but I was wondering if he was having a smelling issue? You got me thinking I might need to have his nostrils checked out.
I hope your baby is okay.

 

[minikin44]

Aww, I hope it's nothing serious and that she's better soon!!

 

[Anomoley]

Poor Coco! Praying for her, hope it's nothing serious!!

 

[Purple Sage]

Sneezing Fits and Nasal Discharge

My baby was sick when the breeder shipped her to me. I wasn't concerned at the time because many shipped cats show up with colds etc. because they get stressed out from being on a plane with loud noises and nobody around that they know to comfort them. The breeder shipped antibiotics with her.

The problem is that she would be okay for awhile after she got off the antibiotics and then she would start having sneezing fits and nasal discharge again. She's been on and off antibiotics for over a year. I took her the my vet on Friday and said I didn't want her on antibiotics again. I want to know why she keeps having sneezing fits and nasal discharge. So, I was referred to a specialist.

The specialist examined her for all sorts of things, all of which I didn't understand. He couldn't find anything wrong visually, so they did a CT scan, which is sort of like an MRI. The CT scan indicated that both of her nasal cavities are abnormal (something called nasal turbinate atrophy with hypoattenuating material accumlating in the turbinates ... whatever the heck this means). He also did a rhinoscopy and took tissue samples for biopsy examination. I should get the results of the biopsies on Friday. He said he doesn't think she has cancer, but they're not sure what the problem is. He also did an aggressive nasal flush, which resulted in a substantial amount of "firm debree" being released, but he doesn't know what it is. That's why it's going to be biopsied.

It is true that a cat won't eat if it can't smell. Since I have more than one cat, I didn't know she wasn't eating until the vet weighed her and noticed she had lost 2 pounds (very bad since she only weighed 7 pounds). You should get your kitty checked out if he isn't eating. Maybe he has a cold?

She seems fine now. I just hope the biopsies don't show anything really bad. Thank you so much for being supportive. I really appreciate it.

 

[Purple Sage]

Photos of My Kitties

I can't figure out how to post pictures here, but they're on photobucket:

Coco (my girl kitty who is sick):

http://i1072.photobucket.com/albums...itties/231081_10150196300761597_4559220_n.jpg

Sammy (my boy kitty):

http://i1072.photobucket.com/albums...k/My Kitties/44289_429555506596_7177601_n.jpg

 

[Nan]

Welcome! I hope you get good news & that this will be something easy to treat..

 

[Jetlaya67]

Sorry about your kitty. I hope everything resolves quickly and she starts feeling better. Is not fun when they don't feel good.

 

[Purple Sage]

Coco's Diagnosis

Coco has severe suppurative exudative rhinitis, whatever that is. The specialist says she has to take 2 different antibiotics for 6 weeks. I'm so relieved. She hates taking pills, but at least it's something that's treatable/curable.

 

[Luvmyfurbabies]

That is fantastic news! I'm glad she won't need surgery. I bet you are so relieved.
I noticed Bocelli smelling things alot lately; and I mean he smells everything. He had some diareaha the other day and I thought maybe he was nauseas so that was why he wasn't eating well. I gave him an anti nausea / appetite stimulant pill and that did the trick. He scarfed his food down last night and this morning.
I'm able to monitor which cats are eating and which ones aren't because I feed them wet food three times a day. When I fed only dry food this was hard to monitor.
I have to tell you your babies are gorgeous! The boy in the paper bag reminds me of my Bo. He crawls into every paper bag no matter how small it is.
Very happy everything turned out well for you and your babies.

 

[minikin44]

Nasal turbinates are structures in the nose that allow inhaled air to be warmed and moistened, pathogens and foreign debris to be trapped, and the air to pass by scent receptors long enough to register. From what I've learned in med terms class, suppurative means puss/mucous, I think exudate is discharge, and rhinitis is inflammation of the nose. I'm very glad that it's something treatable and that she'll be feeling better soon! :-D As for hating taking pills, have you tried pill pockets? Oh, and both of your babies are lovely!!

 

[Purple Sage]

Everybody: Thank you so much for your very kind support. I can't tell you how much it means to me. Thank you also for the complements on my fur babies. We all have pretty ones!!

LuvMyFurBabies: I'm so happy to hear that Bocelli is doing better. Appetite stimulant pills work really well. If he stops eating again, make sure to check his nostrils to see if they're runny.

MiniKin44: Thank you for helping me through the "vet lingo". I googled it, but came up pretty empty handed. My neighbor has cats and has offered me a pill pocket to try on Coco. The biggest problem I have is actually catching her to take the pills. She wears me out running around the house. I will try the pill pocket though because she'll have to take 2 antibiotics (probably twice a day) for 6 weeks, and that's a whole lots of pills.

 

[minikin44]

Unfortunately it's actually from my human anatomy knowledge (at this point, cat would be more useful to help with my own babies as I'm at a point where I can work the medical field yet) but thankfully those scientific people were nice enough to give a lot of things the same names! I was actually nerdily comparing a poster of a cat skeleton to the human skeleton the other day, haha. Maybe once Coco learns that you're after her to give her a "treat" she'll come to you instead of running... one can only help, as cats are certainly a lot faster than me. Just a helpful hint, make sure you pop the pill in with a different set of fingers than you use to squish it up over the pill, because the cats can somehow actually smell/taste the traces of pill otherwise. That is a lot of pills...

 

[Purple Sage]

MiniKin44: You did a wonderful job of explaining. Before Coco had her surgery, the specialist drew photos for me on his dry-erase board. I was surprised on how similar cats are to humans. I guess all mammals have the same basic organs etc.

I'll try your pill giving advice. My Aunt is coming to visit me for 5 days in a few weeks, so I can get her to help me then.

 

[Luvmyfurbabies]

I laughed about you having to chase her around to give her medicine. I have to clean Bocelli's face after every meal and he is not a fan of this ritual. When he sees a wet paper towel in my hand he goes running! What I learned to do is two things: first thing I try which usually works most of the time is I walk towards him without making eye contact and then I bend down and scoop him up. The other thing I do and this makes me laugh because he is such a sucker and I mean every time for this: I shake his treat bag and he comes running right for me! I wipe his face and then of course he gets the treat.
By the way, I had a rescue Persian that had a really bad case of ringworm and was on medication everyday. I tried everything under the sun, pill pockets, special stinky foods, the works! Nothing worked. I even bought a pill crusher and put it in different foods and nothing! So my vet gave me a piller; it is a special device that holds the pill so you you can scruff their necks and and then put the piller in towards the back of his mouth. It worked really well but you have to be careful with this because one time he freaked out while I was doing it and he choked a little on the tiny pill. It stressed him out to where he didn't want to eat after that. Keeping them calm is the key.
Hope the pill pockets work, it would have been wonderful if that were the case for me.
Good luck!

 

[Purple Sage]

Poor Coco runs away from me a lot. I feel so bad for her because I've been stuffing antibiotics down her throat on and off for 16 months. I really hope this round will be the last one. I also have to wash her eyes every day. It breaks my heart that she's afraid of me because I've never (and I mean never, never, ever, ever) done anything to hurt her ... I don't even talk to her loudly. I've been spending more time scooping her up just for a cuddle and scratch under her chin or behind her ears. I guess I'll have to settle for her sleeping with me. I really hope she'll get over her fear that I'm always going to do something to her that she doesn't want done. I love Coco with all my heart and soul, and every fiber of my being.

I have a pill shooter, and she tolerates it well. I must have an "I'm gonna catch you" look on my face when I need to do something that's to her benefit. How sad it is that we can't explain that what we're doing is to help them.

 

[Purple Sage]

Coco Update

Sorry I've been AWOL for several days. Coco seems to be doing better, although she still has sneezing fits now and then. At least she doesn't spray brownish red stuff out of her nose any more. She's only been on the antibiotics for a week, but I was hoping the sneezing fits would have stopped by now.