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I know that there are a lot of cat lovers on Barbelith and I am desperate for advice on what to do for my beautiful little 5 month old kitten, Mojo.
We adopted him about a month ago from a shelter, together with a ktten 6 weeks younger (Wingnut - healthy and energetic). Mojo's always been a bit sleepy and lethargic, but I've never had cats or kittens before so even though my hubby thought it a bit unusual, I didn't worry too much. He sneezed a bit and had a touch of conjunctivitis, so we had him on antibiotics for a week. I decided it was probably a herpes infection so I've been adding lysine to their food (amino acid supposed to halt replication of herpes virus) and some colloidal silver to their water intermittently (controversial 'alternative' remedy that is purported to be anti bacterial, anti fungal and anti viral).
This last w/e he barely moved from my husband's lap. Slept all the time. Took him to the vet on Monday and she X rayed him to show his lungs barely visible and trachea elevated above it's normal level, indicating either fluid in the chest or something else obstructing normal lung function, such as a tumour or an enlarged heart.
So we took little Mojo into the emergency clinic. They drained the fluid from inside his chest cavity and ran tests on that and on his blood. They also did an ultrasound/echocardigram.
Well ... he was much better after the drainage, and the ultrasound showed heart and lungs are fine. BUT ... high protein levels in the chest fluid strongly suggest a nasty disease called FIP, which is viral and incurable and fatal. A further test contradicted this diagnosis, but FIP is actually impossible to diagnose with 100% certainty and all tests are inconclusive.
So, if we assume it is this nasty disease, he won't live more than a few months, tops. If this is the case, my husband and I would like to prevent him from undergoing any unnecessary suffering. There are maybe some things we can do to make him feel a bit better in the meantime - steroids may help a little, and the fluid may need to be drained again. But sooner or later it will kill him and we'd rather not prolong his agony longer than necessary. How do we tell when he's really suffering? Cats are supposedly good at 'covering up' their illnesses. I can't get good information on whether or not this illness is actually painful as it progresses, or if it's merely uncomfortable, and how uncomfortable it is. If it's just a question of him 'fading' without feeling pain, we'd rather keep him at home where we can love him and his step-sister Wingnut can hang out with him (they are nuts about each other - and yes she may have caught it but there's only about a 5% chance we think and she has already been exposed.)
It's hard to get info on anything else this might be. The steroids will harm him if he does have anything non-fatal. Antibiotics won't help if it is viral. I have started feeding him a special raw food holistic diet, and would give him supplements, but FIP turns the immune system against the body, so we need to know if it's that or something else so we know whether to give him immune-supportive treatment/nutrition or not.
Can anyone think of any other diseases/conditions that could cause fluid buildup in the chest cavity? I have of course discussed this with one vet and plan to get further veterinary advice, but this seems so poorly understood everything seems a bit hit and miss.
Any help or advice you can give would be much appreciated. He is an incredibly sweet, beautiful, loving little cat and we would hate to lose him. Wingnut loves him and she is such an energetic, curious, social creature she would really miss her brother.
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