Chris has not been feeling well for the past week or so. He spends more time than usual resting.
When he is not resting, I hear plenty of sniffles and sneezes. Often he will get on my lap just in time for a sneezing attack. Lucky me.
Frankie does not seem to have improved much, if any, since his vet visit on Friday morning. He started sneezing blood after that visit and that continues. His eye also doesn’t seem much better. In addition, Puck is now having problems with his right eye. We have been putting Frankie’s drops in Puck’s eye too but if it is a viral infection the antibiotic drops won’t do him any good.
Frankie this morning.
Rose is going to try to get him back to the vet on Wednesday, a day she works from home, instead of his scheduled visit on Friday, if he does not improve by this afternoon. If that happens, she will use the Friday appointment to bring Floki in for the remainder of his shots.
Cats sure can be expensive sometimes.
When we adopted our kitten, Floki, on the fourth of July, he had a slight problem with his eye. Along with the kitten, we received a tube of ointment that we had to put in his eye several times a day. Not exactly a good start in the bonding process.
Meanwhile, Frankie had a sneezing problem. It’s not a new problem. We brought him to the vet in February and the said it was a respiratory infection and gave him the standard steroids and antibiotics that all vets give for all problems (read about it here). Not long after we brought the kitten home we noticed that he would sneeze once in a while. We weren’t sure if he caught the problem from Frankie or if he already had it.
On Wednesday, maybe Thursday morning, we noticed Frankie seemed to have the same problem with his eye as Flokie did, although by then Flokie was almost better. I called vet that Frankie went to for his Urinary Track Infection but they could not get him in until late Monday. Since I was at work, I texted Rose the information and their phone number but did not hear back from her about it.
By Thursday evening, Frankie’s eye was worse and his sneezing attacks were also more frequent so I left a message with his other vet, the one that didn’t cure his sneezing problem, and was able to get him an appointment at 8:40 on Friday morning.
Since I had to go to work, Rose followed me to the vet, which is very close to our house. We got there around 8:30 and they ushered us into an exam room. Once inside I opened Frankie’s carrier but he was hesitant to come out. I think the sound at the end of the video below is the door opening, which is why the video is so short.
Frankie refused to come out for the vet tech so we had to take the top of the carrier off.
She carried him into the back room to get his weight and conduct super-secret experiments on him before bring him back. He quickly settled back into his carrier where, I suppose, he felt most comfortable.
A few minutes later the vet walked in and Frankie immediately hissed at her. I’m not sure why but maybe he remembered her from his last visit, or it could be she did something to him minutes before behind closed doors.
She mentioned something about his eye infection possibly being from herpes or a few other things I don’t remember. I also heard the word “ulcer.” She put some kind of dye in his eye to better see any scratches, which she did find one.
At that point it was 9:00 and I had to leave for work. When I got home it seemed that Rose didn’t have a clear idea what was wrong with him. Some kind of infection, which we already knew. She said he got a shot of antibiotics (shocking) and antibiotic eye drops as well as pain relieving ointment that we have to put in his eye several times a day.
This morning his eye seemed the same and his sneezing was worse because now there was drops of blood everywhere. Of course, I didn’t expect him to get better overnight.
Here is Frankie after 3 p.m. this afternoon.
I just don’t like that our cats get antibiotics, steroids and who knows what else every time they go to the vet. Those antibiotics have got to wreck havoc on their digestive systems. That is probably why Frankie is so susceptible to illness. They solve a problem in the short term but create long term health issues.
Chris is our oldest and fattest cat and has never been to the vet for a health related issue (knock on wood). He has been vaccinated a couple of times because it was mandatory for residence in a couple of places that we moved in to, but he never received an antibiotic, steroid, or anything else for that matter. Hmmm… I wonder why Chris is not sneezing?
I like and respect veterinarians and I think sometimes their services are invaluable, but other times I wonder why I keep going. What do you think? Am I being unfair to vets?
Frankie has been having sneezing attacks for a couple of weeks now and I avoided taking him to the vet because I didn’t think there was much they could do about a cold. After about a week he was sneezing less but a few days ago he started sneezing again. This time there was a lot of Phlegm that went with it. It wasn’t long before we had cat snot all over the house.
Sometime late Friday or early Saturday we noticed a little blood mixed with the mucus on a closet door near where Frankie just sneezed. We decided then that a vet visit was required but Saturday was the only day we could bring him so I called Puck’s latest vet as soon as they opened to see if they could squeeze him in. Unfortunately, they were already overbooked and they closed at noon so I had to try another vet.
I called Puck’s first vet and they were able to squeeze him in that morning. I liked that vet but I prefer vets that only use drugs as a last resort.
Chris was fighting with Frankie most of the morning and we even had to lock Frankie in our bedroom while we went out to bring Rose’s car to the shop. When we got home and let Frankie out, Chris started picking on him again so we decided to leave with Frankie a bit early. Rose was able to go with me to the vet this time and she picked up Frankie and put him in the carrier. When she picked him up, he let out a noise that made me think she was hurting him.
After the short drive to the vet we waited about five minutes in the waiting room. Someone brought in a cat in a bunny cage and that got Frankie’s attention.
They then moved us to an exam room and I opened up Frankie’s door but he was hesitant to come out.
When the vet tech came in to look at him she decided to take the top off the carrier and leave him in it.
She had to remove him to get his weight.
Then it was back into the carrier.
They did have to take him out again to take his temperature, (which was 104.4 instead of the normal 102.5) and then back into the carrier again.
I don’t remember her telling us exactly what was wrong with him but I think it is a respiratory infection. She gave him a steroid and an antibiotic and sent us on our way.
I am starting to see a pattern here. Almost every vet I have been to solves almost every condition with steroids and antibiotics. I’m not sure what the point of going to veterinary school is if all problems are caused by a steroid and/or antibiotic deficiency. After they learn that, what do they do with the rest of their time?
Chris has been sick for almost a week now. By that I mean he has been sneezing a lot. Other than that he seems fine, which is why I thought he was having an allergic reaction to something that is in season now. I no longer think that because Puck started sneezing yesterday and, as far as I know, allergies are not contagious.
It seems Puck may be more affected by this cold (if that is what it is) than Chris is. This morning he got on the bed before I was quite finished making it and lied down where I needed to put the last pillow. I decided to leave him there and let him rest, which he did until we were almost ready to leave for work. That is when Chris jumped on the bed and started bothering him.
“Chris,” Rose scolded, “Leave Puck alone. He doesn’t feel good.” I had to remind her that Chris was sick too but she pointed out that Chris was tougher than the average cat and I couldn’t argue about that. Hopefully they will both get over this soon. I will have to keep a close eye on them and make sure they don’t get worse.
Bad Cat Chris 