Princess Survived
Princess is my sister-in-law's cat. She is about 4 years old.
The past few years here locally, and in fact all over the Southeast and Midwest, bobcat fever has been on the rise. It is officially known as "Cytauxzoonosis."
Here is the blurb that popped up when I entered "bobcat fever" into the search bar:
"Cytauxzoonosis The first signs are lethargy, depression, not wanting to eat and a high fever, hence the term Bobcat Fever. It can cause anemia, jaundice, difficulty breathing and enlarged lymph nodes. Unfortunately, most cats will die within a few days to a week after signs start."
The statistics are grim. There is a 1% survival rate without treatment; death comes in just 2-3 days. With aggressive treatment there's like a 60% survival rate, maybe. There is no vaccine. And from all that I have researched and from what the vet told Gail, there probably won't be one any time soon; even though this horror started in Florida, or in the SE somewhere at any rate, back in the 1970s.
When I do research on it most articles state that it is found mostly in SE states. But I believe that to be sadly outdated.
The very basic information is that it's an infection carried by bobcats, that are not affected at all, and are spread by ticks, namely the Lone Star tick or the brown dog tick. Here is a short article that seems to have decent information:
Our area here in SW MO has been profoundly affected. According to the vet; he's seen an uptick in cases the past 2 years. Just last month and this month we know of two people from church who lost cats. One lady lost two, another lady lost one. Both took them to the vet, but they were unable to help them.
Here's the shortened story on Princess:
A week ago today, a Sunday, Princess started acting lethargic; would neither eat nor drink. On Monday afternoon, seeing as how Gail was at work and Gary was busy, I took her to the vet. The vet tech took her temp, the vet looked at the thermometer and said; "Take it again." The tech did. 105 degrees. The vet said; "God, not the second one in a row." Then he shook his head, gave her a dose of baytril, and 5 more syringes of it to take home and give one to her daily, told me they'd call Gail on Friday to check on her.
So we did. But per advice from my friend Janelle and her mother, we also used an eyedropper to get water and baby food down her throat. This involved daily wet, messy wrestling matches with a reluctant cat, but we persevered.
On Wed night we nearly gave it up for a lost cause. Her eyes were so glassy and sunken looking we were despairing. But Thur morning Gail was all excited because Prinny was sitting up, looking around and had taken her own small drink of water during the night. She wouldn't eat anything, though, so we continued syringing food and water down her at intervals.
On Friday Gail called them and gave them the report. They were pleased she was still going and sent home some intravenous (?) solution with Gary, who went and picked them up.
Saturday Gail went to pay for it, and to get more supplies. While there she showed a current picture of Princess to the vet. He was astounded. She was so tiny to begin with, and now she is just bones and fur. But he said if she survived this long, she would live. We are sure he didn't expect her to live. I am convinced they only way she lived was because we got her treated so soon.
However, she can get reinfected.
So, now our cat is in very reluctant indoor quarantine. We keep our cats anointed with high dollar tick and flea treatment, but we are unsure if that even works. All our research gives us very conflicting information.
For now we will rejoice because Princess is still kicking. And this morning she even ate a bit of soft food on her own.
Now we are just praying for a vaccine to actually be developed, against all the odds.
Comments