Wondering what went wrong

Question
QUESTION: My perfectly healthy 3 year old Persian kitty had a slightly bloated underbelly, caused by exposure to the cold. This manifested into a wheeze and eventually very deep breathing , finally she coould only breath using her abdomen, this was extremely visible. The vet had her on iv fluid drips twice a day, 250 ml daily  ,and antibiotic injections , and antibiotic oral as well. She was force fed with a dropper about 60-80 ml daily of chicken paste. Brufen suspension was also given to manage pain. Her lungs had completely collapsed and as a last resort she was given a cortisone injection , but she died after 6 hours in extreme difficult. I wanted to know what she had , as the vet kept saying gastritis , even though she was not vomitting or nauseous. And also if this was the only and best treatment. Furthermore, we have 3 other cats & need to know if the vet was wrong as another vets said it was clear sign of pneumonia and she Needed diuretic and not so much iv fluid or oral feeding.

ANSWER: It's pretty hard to say at this point of course Natasha but it sounds like your kitten had FIP, not gastritis. I am really sorry for your loss.

The symptoms of FIP (feline infectious peritonitis) are a bloated belly, this around the next area and trouble breathing.

Exposure to cold does not cause a bloated belly. She could have also ruptured her diaphragm somehow which would account for the heavy, abdominal  breathing. The only way to know if she ruptured it was by opening her up and looking.

FIP can be diagnosed with tests and also a draw on the belly to access the color of the fluid in there. Any clear, yellow colored fluid is a sure sign of FIP.

Leukemia is also a problem. This immune-system disease can cause any cat to get any bug- and pneumonia is one of the first things they can get.

If these were my cats I would have them all tested for FIP and FELV as well as FIV.

Only then will you have something to work with. If they are all negative, then get them vaccinated if they are not. If the cat is still at the vets, I would ask them to do a necropsy on her and find out why she died.

Gastritis is pretty painful and most all animals with it vomit but they may not always have diarrhea. They will vomit yellow bile as well.

That is about all I can tell you at this point. Good luck with the other cats.
 

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QUESTION: Thank you so much for your very descriptive response. I did have a follow up question. I have 3 other cats who seem to be very effected by this loss in our house is there any way to make this time easier on them? Futuremore what medicine do you prescribe for a cat when he/she is feverish? Thank you

ANSWER: It takes time for members of a family-cats included- to get past the death of a family member. They will be affected by this loss as well as you are- and in time they will get past it.

I am not a vet, but there is no vet that will ever prescribe something for a cat that is feverish, whatever that might be.

Has the cat's temperature been taken rectally? What makes you think it has a fever?

Any type of medication that you would take for fevers or that you would give a dog will kill a cat very quickly.

If your cat is feeling down then it needs to be seen by a vet very soon.

Again, I am so sorry for the loss of your other cat.

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QUESTION: I apologize for my constant emails. I am just trying to clarify a few things as there are a very limited number of vets in my country and even fewer clinics that can detect pet problems . For this reason we have been following everything our vet tells us and unfortunately with our most recent experience that fell short. I wanted to clarify one thing about my kitten who passed her tummy only started bloating after the doctor gave her continuous iv's. And she recognized everyone till the last minute does that maybe narrow down what she may have had? Furthermore my bet always prescribes brufen when my cats get sick should I be worried with this prescription?

Answer
All I can tell you at this point is that Bufren, which is ibuprofen, is toxic to cats.

Here are two web pages describing this. One is from the Merck veterinary manual.

http://www.jspca.org.je/pets_toxins_info.html

http://www.merckvetmanual.com/mvm/index.jsp?cfile=htm/bc/214009.htm

Under the paragraph labeled Ibuprofen it says this at the bottom:

Cats are susceptible to ibuprofen toxicosis at approximately half the dosage required to cause toxicosis in dogs. Cats are especially sensitive because they have a limited glucuronyl-conjugating capacity. Ibuprofen toxicity is more severe in ferrets than in dogs that consume similar dosages. Typical toxic effects of ibuprofen in ferrets involve the CNS, GI, and renal systems.

I don't know why the vets over there think that it is safe, but clearly it's not.

Again, re-post this to one of the vets in this category and they can help you further.