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Clarks Mama

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I joined this community for help! Everyone here is so loving and kind that I decided to share my story in the hopes that it will help someone else. This is Mr. Clark's story. we did a lot of research and finally purchased our baby from a reputable breeder. the breeder sent us lots of pictures of our baby and we were super comfortable with our purchase. so now we have Clark. he purred on my husband the whole ride home.Clark wasn't scared at all once we got him home. he played like he had lived at our house for years. the vet required a wellness visit within 72 hours of purchase. which we did. Clark came back positive for Giardia and they gave us medication to clear that up. within one week we noticed severe upper respiratory problems forming. we took him back to the vet. same office different vet. they prescribed Clark clavomax in the hopes that it would get rid of his upper respiratory infection. that is what they thought he had.within a couple weeks Clarks condition had worsened. we took him back to the same vet once again and saw a different doctor in the hopes of a different opinion. they prescribed him doxycycline which was a stronger antibiotic hoping to knock out what he had.let me just stop the story for one second to let you know what is going on symptoms wise.... Clark goes into sneezing fits which result in long, human sized sticky boogers that seem to just fling out of our cat, he does somewhat of a backwards cough like he's snorting something in or clearing his passage from his nose to his throat. it actually looks painful at times. he also shakes his back legs randomly like a twitch.and please do not let me forget the diarrhea, which he has had for weeks on end. he has been prescribed anti diarrhea medicine which clearly is not working.so at this point it has been weeks since he has seen the first vet. weeks and three different rounds of medications. so my husband and I researched and found a different vet that deals only with cats.they prescribe him interferon for his immune system, fortiflora for his diarrhea, and veraflox for his upper respiratory issues. we gave him the medication as directed by the doctor. I took Clark back for his follow up visit and the vet was a complete nightmare.not only was she mean but accused me of not giving the medication properly and that is why he was still having diarrhea. I was completely insulted and obviously unhappy with the service. at the end of that visit the vet suggested I start Clark on a dose of steroids which could clearly cause a herpes flare up if that was in fact what he had. I vowed to give my little Clark a break at that point because all he has ever known since we picked him up was vet visits and meds in his food. I should probably give you a glimpse into the timeline. we picked up clark at the end of January and it was now into April. so one morning in April, I found clark struggling to cough more than usual so I figured what the heck.........let's try a new vet. I knew that couldn't hurt since we've seen five already. of course it was a Saturday so I had to take him to the 24 hour emergency vet not far from my home. Clark was taken right in and the vet was determined to figure out what was going on with this little kitty. Clark was prescribed azithromycin, famciclovir, nose drops, lysene, and Metronidazole. the vet informed us that she was going to attack what is affecting Clark from all angles possible. so now we are in a waiting game. Clark has been on these meds for two weeks now and i don't really see drastic changes. he still looks like he's in pain coughing once in awhile, he still sneezes out big sticky boogers, and he still twitches his legs. we have a VSEC repiratory specialist close enough to home so our next step is to have them do a scope for a polyp. we dearly love our little spider monkey cat, but this has been a very sad road for us so far. he acts as if he is not ill at all most of the time. It brings me to tears sometimes to hear his coughs. He has no issues eating though! He gobbles up all of his food. He is on a healthy grain free crunchy and a turkey pate' wet. it is now May 2015 and I am finally writing Clarks story in the hopes that this may help someone else in any way. please share any thoughts or information you may have to go along with this story. you never know what just a sentence may do to help someone. the instant I came to this community I felt like Clark had a family. thank you for reading his story. I'll update anytime something new happens. please keep us in your prayers and thoughts. Clark definitely thanks you.
 
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assibassi

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hi and welcome . I am so sorry your little Clark has to go thru this with all the things he has going on .
Hmmm did you maybe try to find a Vet that has lots of Sphynxs that he/she treats? Like with a Facebook - area search. I know Facebook has lots of city fb sites , you can write just "looking for a Vet in this area who has sphynx as clients"
I do not know of anything with any of the sickness that Clark has. Our little boy was a healthy one ( other then swalloing a piece of plastic and almost had to be operated on , but pooped it out in the end after about 5 x rays and some liquid stuff he had to drink that helped it pass in the end ) when we got him when he was 9 weeks old and our second Sphynx came from our vet , lol.
I really hope you find a doctor that doesnt over medicate him so much, it seems like he is so over medicated, how can you find out whats really wrong with him. You know what i mean ?
But like I said, i have no idea about that kind of stuff.
 

Catzzzmeow

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@Nilda smarba Hello and welcome. I am sorry your baby has not even able to kick this "thing." Did any of the vets do a PCR test to try to narrow down exactly what this might be? Is the litter possible making him cough? When you say he shakes his legs is he kicking litter out of his paws? I know all of our naked do this and never see our Bengal do it.

Patti
 

Toa and Ross

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Hello and welcome to sphynxlair. Good to have you here. Sorry to hear Clark is struggling with health issues and that all the vets weren't able to find out what is causing it. I know how desperate you must feel. One of my boys did got sick (diarrhea and no energy) a week after I got him and four months later he's still not well and we don't know the reason. So I know how desperate you can feel sometimes.
Just keep on trying to find out. And good you shared the story of Clark here cause there are a lot of experienced people here who can give you some ideas of what it possible can be.

Did you ask the breeder if she has any idea what can be causing this health issue?

Hope Clark will feel better soon!
 

Clarks Mama

Lairian
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Mar 9, 2015
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@Nilda smarba Hello and welcome. I am sorry your baby has not even able to kick this "thing." Did any of the vets do a PCR test to try to narrow down exactly what this might be? Is the litter possible making him cough? When you say he shakes his legs is he kicking litter out of his paws? I know all of our naked do this and never see our Bengal do it.

Patti
He kicks randomly. Haha he actually just climbed up the back of my legs as I am typing this standing at our dining room table. Soooo nosey. Its like a twitch he has. Its kinda wierd
 

Clarks Mama

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hi and welcome . I am so sorry your little Clark has to go thru this with all the things he has going on .
Hmmm did you maybe try to find a Vet that has lots of Sphynxs that he/she treats? Like with a Facebook - area search. I know Facebook has lots of city fb sites , you can write just "looking for a Vet in this area who has sphynx as clients"
I do not know of anything with any of the sickness that Clark has. Our little boy was a healthy one ( other then swalloing a piece of plastic and almost had to be operated on , but pooped it out in the end after about 5 x rays and some liquid stuff he had to drink that helped it pass in the end ) when we got him when he was 9 weeks old and our second Sphynx came from our vet , lol.
I really hope you find a doctor that doesnt over medicate him so much, it seems like he is so over medicated, how can you find out whats really wrong with him. You know what i mean ?
But like I said, i have no idea about that kind of stuff.
I feel the same. Poor guy. it seems he is always taking some kind of antibiotic :(
 

admin

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Hello @Nilda smarba and welcome to Sphynxlair! So glad you found us! Sorry to hear of this issue. It sounds as if there are a few things going on here. perhaps Feline Herpes and Giardia. If Giardia was diagnosed, have you completed treatment and the diarrhea is gone? if not - read this thread carefully on Giardia, it's a tough one to get rid of if not followed through with the proper cleaning steps.

If the diarrhea is still present, canned pumpkin (not the pie filler type) will help with runny stools. How much Lysine was he given? When there are URI flare ups, a higher dose is usually given, up to 500 mg (check with your vet.) Please enjoy the community! (y)
 

Clarks Mama

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Hello @Nilda smarba and welcome to Sphynxlair! So glad you found us! Sorry to hear of this issue. It sounds as if there are a few things going on here. perhaps Feline Herpes and Giardia. If Giardia was diagnosed, have you completed treatment and the diarrhea is gone? if not - read this thread carefully on Giardia, it's a tough one to get rid of if not followed through with the proper cleaning steps.

If the diarrhea is still present, canned pumpkin (not the pie filler type) will help with runny stools. How much Lysine was he given? When there are URI flare ups, a higher dose is usually given, up to 500 mg (check with your vet.) Please enjoy the community! (y)
Thanks for that info!!! He is taking lysene in the gel form (viralys). Without even knowing it would help Clark out a bunch, the vet we most recently saw actually prescribed the metronidozol which is good to treat Giardia. So fingers and paws crossed!!
 

Clarks Mama

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Well Clark has finished all his meds out except the azithromycin. We are still seeing random diarrhea and we have to actually baby wipe his poor little butt! He is still sneezing out goo and boogers ( not as often as before, but still occurring). About once a day he still does the snort thing to clear his passageway. He has an appointment for the old snip a roo, but I'm afraid to put him under if he's still under the weather :( I just feel like its something else that everyone is just missing or overlooking. Its just a gut feeling that its something more.
 

Catzzzmeow

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Trust your gut. If you feel something is up get a second opinion or perhaps inquire about PCR test which can usually help narrow down issues. If your baby is not 100% up to speed health wise holding off on neutering is wise. If you do get him neutered just a friendly reminder no Ketamine.

Patti
 

Clarks Mama

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Hello all!!! Sorry for such a delay in Clark's tale! Well good news and bad news. Mostly good :). So Mr. Clark has come around with his sneezing and coughing. It seems to be over !!!!!! Fingers crossed!!! He is still doing his little leg shakes @Momrat329 but our last vet has assured us that it isn't anything to be concerned about. We were scared that it may be a neurological issue or a twitch, but she says that the Sphynx toes are so sensitive that shaking feet and flinging toes is normal :) thank goodness! But the bad news is that this kid cannot kick loose stool!!!!! It's not quite liquid ( I know its gross) but its mushy and SMELLY!!!!!!:yuck: this poor guy is a trooper. He's just plain awesome! I feel like if he had gone to another home that they would have given up on him, but we loooooove our naked baby so much we would do anything to see him happy :) How is everyone else's kitties???? Hoping we are helping out with some good news!!!
 

Yoda mom

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@Nilda smarba , hello! And smooches to Clark! Keep the good news coming!
I have a Bengal with sensitive tummy stuff .she gets her own Halo sensitive stomach dry formula food-she refuses wet food or the canned pumpkin- The Halo has made a world of difference for her. My naked a are doing great on Dr Tims chase food which has a canned food out too we are excited to have then try- it should be soon on chewy.com where we get all their other essentials.

My Claire Bare does the foot shake sometimes- I personally wonder if it is that extra toe skin that perhaps get on her nail sometimes that she shakes away?- perhaps it's like our people version of getting a frill :)

All paws good here! So glad to see your update! Looking forward to more pics of well loved Clark!
 

Lickleone

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Try some pumpkin it helps firm it up you can give it on its own or mix in with food (just don't use pumpkin pie filler one)
 

Toa and Ross

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Happy to hear Clarck is doing well! For the poop issue: did you try to add pumpkin (pure pumpkin not pie filling)?
 

Momrat329

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Sooooo happy to hear Clark is doing better. I am glad to hear the leg shake jig is not of concern.
Clark is a lucky naked baby to have you as his momma for sure!!!

Hello all!!! Sorry for such a delay in Clark's tale! Well good news and bad news. Mostly good :). So Mr. Clark has come around with his sneezing and coughing. It seems to be over !!!!!! Fingers crossed!!! He is still doing his little leg shakes @Momrat329 but our last vet has assured us that it isn't anything to be concerned about. We were scared that it may be a neurological issue or a twitch, but she says that the Sphynx toes are so sensitive that shaking feet and flinging toes is normal :) thank goodness! But the bad news is that this kid cannot kick loose stool!!!!! It's not quite liquid ( I know its gross) but its mushy and SMELLY!!!!!!:yuck: this poor guy is a trooper. He's just plain awesome! I feel like if he had gone to another home that they would have given up on him, but we loooooove our naked baby so much we would do anything to see him happy :) How is everyone else's kitties???? Hoping we are helping out with some good news!!!
 

Clarks Mama

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So its off to whole foods for some pumpkin! How much should I try and put in his food? Suggestions? Anything to get rid of this mess!
 

Tausmom

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Tau had/has very similar issues with health and quirks. The leg shaking thing is a quirk - no medical intervention necessary. Tau will randomly pick his back feet up and shake them like he's just touched a bug on the floor. LOL.

When he first came home he sneezed and coughed boogers everywhere. HUGE, green, blood-soaked boogers. He has Chronic URI and treated with Clavamox as needed. He will always cough to clear his lungs but it will sound worse and look more horrible than it actually is.
I give him fresh water every day with a squirt of Silver Nitrate in it and it took me a long while to find a cat food that agreed with his tummy and stopped the runs which were just awful. He does very well with Iams Original. Sometimes the most expensive food from the vet isn't what's best for them.
 

Clarks Mama

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Update! Update! Fingers crossed that we have finally fixed his diarrhea problem!!!! He is on royal canin limited protien (rabbit). And we are adding pumpkin which helped almost over night!!!!!! No more pudding poo! And......Well, Clark found a new vet :) we love them! There are other Sphynx that go there too! But backing up a bit......Clark is going to be 1 in October and still had his "equipment" and by this....I mean he needed to be neutered.......until yesterday! Finally! He is 100% healthy! So they said he was good to go! And no more dangly jelly beans!!!! He was starting to be a bit brazen......and he even pooped in our halway upstairs. So after having to spend some confined nights in our powder room.(about a week and a half did the trick)....he now knows that poop goes in the box or Clark sleeps alone in the potty. I'm sure he's much happier snuggling with us :) so if anyone is having poo issues......try the pumpkin!!!! It was a miracle that worked for our baby.
 

Toa and Ross

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Update! Update! Fingers crossed that we have finally fixed his diarrhea problem!!!! He is on royal canin limited protien (rabbit). And we are adding pumpkin which helped almost over night!!!!!! No more pudding poo! And......Well, Clark found a new vet :) we love them! There are other Sphynx that go there too! But backing up a bit......Clark is going to be 1 in October and still had his "equipment" and by this....I mean he needed to be neutered.......until yesterday! Finally! He is 100% healthy! So they said he was good to go! And no more dangly jelly beans!!!! He was starting to be a bit brazen......and he even pooped in our halway upstairs. So after having to spend some confined nights in our powder room.(about a week and a half did the trick)....he now knows that poop goes in the box or Clark sleeps alone in the potty. I'm sure he's much happier snuggling with us :) so if anyone is having poo issues......try the pumpkin!!!! It was a miracle that worked for our baby.

Yay!!!!! So happy to hear the poop issue is solved!!
 
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