On Wednesday, Momma and her baby were euthanized at the shelter :'(
Momma cat had a slow downhill course. She ate ravenously on Saturday, was a bit pickier on Sunday, would only eat baby food on Monday and on Tuesday she wouldn't eat anything, and was vomiting. She went from laying on the plus rug on the top of the crate, to the open window, to the space behind the toilet. I tried syringe feeding her Pedialyte and baby food, but she couldn't keep it down sufficiently enough to stay hydrated. On Wednesday morning, her kitten (Trixie) was limp. She would stand if I picked her up, and she tolerated the fluids and food a bit better than Mom. After a cookout on campus I took them both (along with Diamond, who had been fine) to the shelter to get them checked out, and hopefully for them to get some subQ fluids.
When I got there, the shelter clinic was packed. I got talking to a friend and fellow volunteer about what was going on, and she immediately said "sounds like panleuk." My heart dropped. It did sound like panleukopenia, I couldn't believe I hadn't thought of it.
Panleukopenia (aka. distemper, feline parvo virus) is a virus which attacks the white blood cells and all rapidly-dividing cell lines. It causes vomiting (a nasty mucus, yellow color, which both cats had), life-threatening dehydration, bone marrow failure and gastrointestinal ulceration. Very, very nasty. So nasty, in fact, that there is a vaccination against it: FVRCP (aka "the distemper shot"). The "P" stands for Panleukopenia. Every cat that enters the shelter is vaccinated against it, but it takes some time for immunity to develop and the cat may already may be infected, and in both cases the vaccine doesn't do any good.
The vet tech did a fecal swab on all three kitties to test for the virus; Momma and baby came out very strongly positive, and Diamond completely negative. There really is no treatment for panleuk... you can give supportive fluids and antibiotics, and even blood transfusions, but the success is widely varied. After talking to the tech (who also was a friend) we decided that euthanasia was the fairest course for these two little ones. It was an awful choice to make, and I was bawling my eyes out. Had they been in better condition (both were borderline emaciated to begin with) I may have given it a shot. Regardless, kittens under the age of 8 weeks have only a 5-10% chance of survival, and cats under 1 year (like Momma- she was probably only about 7 months) have only a slightly better chance.
It was very sad, and I was (and still am) devastated. Because of shelter policy I wasn't even able to be there while they put them to sleep. I needed some way to honor their little lives, and once the tech handed me back their paperwork, I noticed Momma's (Karen) rabies tag taped to it; she was the only one over 16 weeks old, so she received a rabies vaccine. I have ET's tag from the PSPCA shelter (he was wearing it when I adopted him) on my key chain, and it occurred to me to do the same with this tag.
On the back, I wrote:
This way I can "carry them with me," a little memorial to two innocent souls. I find comfort in that, and in the fact that they did not have to die an unrecognized or unmourned death, and that they got to spend a few days in a loving home with open windows, high places, and yummy food.
Now on to Diamond, my little negative girl.
The tech advised that I euthanize her; even though she was negative, it was likely she would become infected as well, if she wasn't already. I couldn't bring myself to allow that, Di looked great, was playful, and NEGATIVE. So, I took her home.
It's been 48 hours since we lost Karen and Trixie, and Di still looks great. She's eating, drinking, and playing all normally. Because Di has a different mother, it is very possible that she was born with antibodies, if her mom was vaccinated or otherwise immune. This means that she HAS the ability to fight the infection, which hopefully her shelter vaccination only improved. The vet says it can take 5-7 days for symptoms to show up, so she is not out of the woods yet. I'm going to enjoy her and give her lots of love, and see how far that gets us :)
Here is Diamond, in the window (she can't get up there herself, but I put her up there for a bit yesterday)
This entry is long enough for now. I did take ET to the vet today and will update about that another time. I am excited, though, as tomorrow is my first day back at the Cube!!!
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