sugarmeat3500
Lairian
- Joined
- Apr 26, 2011
- Messages
- 5
- Points
- 34
Hi SphynxLair Family!
My name is Nikki & I have a confession...I have been lurking for 6 years...Yes, head hung low...6 years & this is my first post. I even lost my beloved 5 1/2 year old Sphynx Heru October 19, 2016 to Heart Failure and I still didnt reach out:cry:.
Well...today is different! After all of my lurking, I have seen a lot of post about congestion, nasal mucus, sneezing, wheezing, coughing, Herpes, allergies etc. . I have a story to share.... something to add to the mix as a probable cause that I have not really seen mentioned.
I purchased Blue (my Dwelf kitten) as a companion for Heru 3 days before Heru died. Heru must have sent Blue to me because I had no idea Heru was in the throws of heart failure...he had started coughing periodically the week before, so I made a vet appointment...you already know the rest..
The first week in November, Blue started sneezing, periodic coughing, then clear, runny mucus followed. His Eosinophil count was high, he had diarrhea & the vet thought he was allergic to his food. He was prescribed Clindamycin- didnt work (I already know how many times it has been said on Sphynxlair this doesn't work but the vet insisted). The RX food change did fix the diarrhea. 2 weeks later, the mucus turned yellow/green followed by snot rockets & runny eyes. He was prescribed Azithromycin- that changed the mucus back to clear, however his symptoms didn't change.
The vet prescribed Doxycycline (after I told her about this site and great results)..this had to be it! And it was! He was a brand new Kitty for the 2 weeks he was on it:shifty:.
March 7th...Next stop..the Specialist. The vet thought it had to be polyps & needed a Rhinoscopy:wideyed:...NO MA'AM! What will that bill look like? The Specialist suggested CBC, Cat Scan, Biopsy in both nostrils & ears, PCR test, the works (no rhinoscopy).. which I agreed to...All came back negative for aerobic bacteria, virus, nor polyps, nothing.
He still had the high Eosinophil count. $2500 later (not counting the other vet visits prior)....guess what worked....ear flushing & deep cleaning under sedation for the ear wax testing for bacteria/yeast.
He had major wax build up plugged deep down into his ear canals. This was holding fluid in his ears (found by CAT Scan). The ear & nasal canals work hand in hand...the fluid just backed up deeper into his nasal cavity because it had no where to go, it also caused periodic coughing because of back drip. For almost 5 months, no shaking his head or scratching, no fluid ever escaped, no smell, no infection or mites (he was swabbed on his first & second vet visit with me) they just looked like regular, dirty Sphynx ears that we know & love:happy
well bald American Curl ears:cat.
He had all of the symptoms of Feline Herpes that wouldn't go away yet my vet never thought it was.
I still don't know why the fluid was there in the first place...I held off on baths because he's been sick for so long. I use ear cleaner dripped onto cotton rounds. The Specialist suggested that allergies can show up in ears.
The moral of the story is....make checking your babies ears a priority at the vet or Specialist (preferable, not just a scope). Especially if nothing else reasonable has worked and you & the vet have exhausted all probables to no avail or before going down a long, expensive (emotional & financial) road for months or even years. Some of you have even had to give up your precious babies because the vet thought the severe "Herpes" symptoms was stress due to other animals or people in the home. Or the bills are just to great. No suggestions of serious ear issues.
The Specialist is still vexed that Blue has absolutely no issues anymore. She did not expect that clearing his ears would solve his problem. In her disbelief, she still wants him to take Doxycycline just in case there is a anaerobic bacteria (they don't test unless specific like Mycoplasma) & she also wants him to be on steroids short term & a de-wormer because the high Eosinophils point towards his cells fighting against allergy & or parasites. She believes he is allergic to chicken (that is all he eats, he hates fish) and gave an RX for a new protein food (i.e venison, rabbit, duck). Allergies is another beast and another post!
I hope this helps someone!
My name is Nikki & I have a confession...I have been lurking for 6 years...Yes, head hung low...6 years & this is my first post. I even lost my beloved 5 1/2 year old Sphynx Heru October 19, 2016 to Heart Failure and I still didnt reach out:cry:.
Well...today is different! After all of my lurking, I have seen a lot of post about congestion, nasal mucus, sneezing, wheezing, coughing, Herpes, allergies etc. . I have a story to share.... something to add to the mix as a probable cause that I have not really seen mentioned.
I purchased Blue (my Dwelf kitten) as a companion for Heru 3 days before Heru died. Heru must have sent Blue to me because I had no idea Heru was in the throws of heart failure...he had started coughing periodically the week before, so I made a vet appointment...you already know the rest..
The first week in November, Blue started sneezing, periodic coughing, then clear, runny mucus followed. His Eosinophil count was high, he had diarrhea & the vet thought he was allergic to his food. He was prescribed Clindamycin- didnt work (I already know how many times it has been said on Sphynxlair this doesn't work but the vet insisted). The RX food change did fix the diarrhea. 2 weeks later, the mucus turned yellow/green followed by snot rockets & runny eyes. He was prescribed Azithromycin- that changed the mucus back to clear, however his symptoms didn't change.
The vet prescribed Doxycycline (after I told her about this site and great results)..this had to be it! And it was! He was a brand new Kitty for the 2 weeks he was on it:shifty:.
March 7th...Next stop..the Specialist. The vet thought it had to be polyps & needed a Rhinoscopy:wideyed:...NO MA'AM! What will that bill look like? The Specialist suggested CBC, Cat Scan, Biopsy in both nostrils & ears, PCR test, the works (no rhinoscopy).. which I agreed to...All came back negative for aerobic bacteria, virus, nor polyps, nothing.
He still had the high Eosinophil count. $2500 later (not counting the other vet visits prior)....guess what worked....ear flushing & deep cleaning under sedation for the ear wax testing for bacteria/yeast.
He had major wax build up plugged deep down into his ear canals. This was holding fluid in his ears (found by CAT Scan). The ear & nasal canals work hand in hand...the fluid just backed up deeper into his nasal cavity because it had no where to go, it also caused periodic coughing because of back drip. For almost 5 months, no shaking his head or scratching, no fluid ever escaped, no smell, no infection or mites (he was swabbed on his first & second vet visit with me) they just looked like regular, dirty Sphynx ears that we know & love:happy
well bald American Curl ears:cat.He had all of the symptoms of Feline Herpes that wouldn't go away yet my vet never thought it was.
I still don't know why the fluid was there in the first place...I held off on baths because he's been sick for so long. I use ear cleaner dripped onto cotton rounds. The Specialist suggested that allergies can show up in ears.
The moral of the story is....make checking your babies ears a priority at the vet or Specialist (preferable, not just a scope). Especially if nothing else reasonable has worked and you & the vet have exhausted all probables to no avail or before going down a long, expensive (emotional & financial) road for months or even years. Some of you have even had to give up your precious babies because the vet thought the severe "Herpes" symptoms was stress due to other animals or people in the home. Or the bills are just to great. No suggestions of serious ear issues.
The Specialist is still vexed that Blue has absolutely no issues anymore. She did not expect that clearing his ears would solve his problem. In her disbelief, she still wants him to take Doxycycline just in case there is a anaerobic bacteria (they don't test unless specific like Mycoplasma) & she also wants him to be on steroids short term & a de-wormer because the high Eosinophils point towards his cells fighting against allergy & or parasites. She believes he is allergic to chicken (that is all he eats, he hates fish) and gave an RX for a new protein food (i.e venison, rabbit, duck). Allergies is another beast and another post!
I hope this helps someone!
