Hi,
Two months ago, we had a sleek,healthy black cat who suddenly came down sick. Beautiful, muscular healthy one day. Sick, lethargic, no appetite, dull haircoat and eyes the next. He disappeared on us for a few days, and when we found him, of course he was weaker yet. We took him to the vet. He had some fever, and the vet gave us antibiotics(for possible infection) after checking him all out . Took cat home, gave him antibiotics, and tried stuffing food and water down him. After a while tho, he would gag on the food and medicine given, or be out of breath, so we stopped doing it. He got weaker and weaker,only able to lay on his side, and so we took him in to have him put to sleep.
At the very beginning, before I took him to the vet, I asked the question, "Is there a sickness that just sweeps thru a neighborhood and kills all the cats. Kind of like a flu or something?" Nope, they said. Bring him in and we will see what it is, they told me. They never knew.
Now cat number two is sick. Same exact symptoms. I know the vet can't help him, because he couldn't help the other one, so I'm not wasting my money. So I call in again and tell them that cat #2 has the same exact symptoms as the other one. She says, "Huh oh!" I then asked her if any of the cats that get this particular sickness ever come out of it. She said, "Nope". I inquired further and asked if this was a new thing that sweeps thru an area that kills cats. She said, "No. It's been around forever." I said "Is there a name to this thing?" She said No. Ok. So I was right the first time I inquired about it. It is something other than all the sicknesses that we have vaccines for (We did have a leukemia test done on the first cat, and it came up negative).
So I am soooo curious what this unknown mystery killer of cats is. Yes, I am sure after they don't eat for a few days, their liver shuts down, so we have tried to keep this 2nd cat eating, but what is the point of trying to keep him alive if no cats survive this thing in the first place? And why does no one know about this? I have tried to find it all over the internet, and I can't find anything about it. We have a friend who said this thing swept thru her neighborhood and killed all of her cats. We have 3 young cats left. Age doesn't matter on this either. The first cat was a healthy 5 year old. I am so puzzled and need an answer to know if I can protect our 4 year old cat and two kittens from it. It must be contagious, but no vaccinations help this sickness. We feel so bad. These cats are so loved and cared for by our kids and us, and it's a shame to helplessly watch them get this and die. What is this mystery killer? A flu, a virus, ????????????I finally got a vet office to tell me there was such a thing out there that kills cats and no one knows what it is or how to help it. The vet said it depends on the cat if they contract it. Hmmmm Seems like we would know by now. So have any of you heard of this thing? I guess I can't expect you to have a name for it when I was told there isn't a name for it, but I would like more answers on it, if there is anything that can be done for cat #2, how we can protect other cats from getting this thing. Thank you so much for any help you can give and for taking time to read this. Have a great day! ~ Heidi
