Kitty With Unexplained Fever - Please Suggest Something!

My 2-yr old DSH spayed tabby has a REAL problem. She appeared to be
completely normal (eating, drinking, etc, sitting on laps in the morning,
but then
couldn't be found). Discovered her on the bed upstairs, hunched over,
hissing
and growling when approached. *Norma Jean* was adopted from the
Humane Society, and has always been up to date on vaccines and eats nothing
but the finest menu I can afford.

Symptoms: 106 degree F temperature (prior to entering emergency clinic)
Elevated WBC (23,000)
Elevated bilirubin level
Sometimes/no-times sensitivity to pressure on back-middle
spine
or right lower abdominal area in back of ribs.
Urine unremarkable
Temperature fluctuating around +- 104 F.
X-rays non-informative.
Some interest in food if hand-fed.
Nothing remarkable upon palpation by vets

This started 4/20/04 around 6:00 pm, and it's now around 11:00 pm 4/21/04.
She has been treated with IV fluids and continuing antibiotics. Her three
attending veterinarians and emergency clinic staff have been awesome, but
the
condition is unchanged. The plan tomorrow is to do tests for viral
infections.
I'd appreciate any input????

Thank you all,
Gail

in article , Elizabeth at
wrote on 4/22/04 12:51 AM:

My 2-yr old DSH spayed tabby has a REAL problem. She appeared to be
completely normal (eating, drinking, etc, sitting on laps in the morning,
but then
couldn't be found). Discovered her on the bed upstairs, hunched over,
hissing
and growling when approached. *Norma Jean* was adopted from the
Humane Society, and has always been up to date on vaccines and eats nothing
but the finest menu I can afford.

Symptoms: 106 degree F temperature (prior to entering emergency clinic)
Elevated WBC (23,000)
Elevated bilirubin level
Sometimes/no-times sensitivity to pressure on back-middle
spine
or right lower abdominal area in back of ribs.
Urine unremarkable
Temperature fluctuating around +- 104 F.
X-rays non-informative.
Some interest in food if hand-fed.
Nothing remarkable upon palpation by vets

This started 4/20/04 around 6:00 pm, and it's now around 11:00 pm 4/21/04.
She has been treated with IV fluids and continuing antibiotics. Her three
attending veterinarians and emergency clinic staff have been awesome, but
the
condition is unchanged. The plan tomorrow is to do tests for viral
infections.
I'd appreciate any input????

Thank you all,
Gail


No suggestions but good thoughts. My Sugar had a 104 fever for no reason one
time. She stayed at the vets for 3 days receiving fluids etc. She recovered.
She was not is as bad of a way as your kitty seems to be, but still, vet
said this can happen. I sure hope she is OK. Keep us posted.

Karen

in article , Elizabeth at
wrote on 4/22/04 12:51 AM:

My 2-yr old DSH spayed tabby has a REAL problem. She appeared to be
completely normal (eating, drinking, etc, sitting on laps in the morning,
but then
couldn't be found). Discovered her on the bed upstairs, hunched over,
hissing
and growling when approached. *Norma Jean* was adopted from the
Humane Society, and has always been up to date on vaccines and eats nothing
but the finest menu I can afford.

Symptoms: 106 degree F temperature (prior to entering emergency clinic)
Elevated WBC (23,000)
Elevated bilirubin level
Sometimes/no-times sensitivity to pressure on back-middle
spine
or right lower abdominal area in back of ribs.
Urine unremarkable
Temperature fluctuating around +- 104 F.
X-rays non-informative.
Some interest in food if hand-fed.
Nothing remarkable upon palpation by vets

This started 4/20/04 around 6:00 pm, and it's now around 11:00 pm 4/21/04.
She has been treated with IV fluids and continuing antibiotics. Her three
attending veterinarians and emergency clinic staff have been awesome, but
the
condition is unchanged. The plan tomorrow is to do tests for viral
infections.
I'd appreciate any input????

Thank you all,
Gail


No suggestions but good thoughts. My Sugar had a 104 fever for no reason one
time. She stayed at the vets for 3 days receiving fluids etc. She recovered.
She was not is as bad of a way as your kitty seems to be, but still, vet
said this can happen. I sure hope she is OK. Keep us posted.

Karen

Karen Chuplis wrote:

in article , Elizabeth at
wrote on 4/22/04 12:51 AM:

My 2-yr old DSH spayed tabby has a REAL problem. She appeared to be
completely normal (eating, drinking, etc, sitting on laps in the morning,
but then
couldn't be found). Discovered her on the bed upstairs, hunched over,
hissing
and growling when approached. *Norma Jean* was adopted from the
Humane Society, and has always been up to date on vaccines and eats nothing
but the finest menu I can afford.

Symptoms: 106 degree F temperature (prior to entering emergency clinic)
Elevated WBC (23,000)
Elevated bilirubin level
Sometimes/no-times sensitivity to pressure on back-middle
spine
or right lower abdominal area in back of ribs.
Urine unremarkable
Temperature fluctuating around +- 104 F.
X-rays non-informative.
Some interest in food if hand-fed.
Nothing remarkable upon palpation by vets

This started 4/20/04 around 6:00 pm, and it's now around 11:00 pm 4/21/04.
She has been treated with IV fluids and continuing antibiotics. Her three
attending veterinarians and emergency clinic staff have been awesome, but
the
condition is unchanged. The plan tomorrow is to do tests for viral
infections.
I'd appreciate any input????

Thank you all,
Gail


No suggestions but good thoughts. My Sugar had a 104 fever for no reason one
time. She stayed at the vets for 3 days receiving fluids etc. She recovered.
She was not is as bad of a way as your kitty seems to be, but still, vet
said this can happen. I sure hope she is OK. Keep us posted.

I agree with Karen, sometimes you never discover the reason for a fever like
this--it's called FUO, or Fever of Unknown Origin. This happened with our five
month old kitten, who presented with a fever of 105 but no cause was ever
found. She responded almost immediately to antibiotics, however. With our
other cat, who was about 4 when this happened, her symptoms were similar to
what you describe--a high fever (it wasn't that high, though, maybe 103 at
most) and tests only showed a mild elevation in WBC, which would indicate some
kind of infection. She spent four days in the vet hospital because the fever
did not respond to antibiotics. When the vet changed the antibiotic to Baytril,
she finally responded, which indicates that it was a kind of bacterial
infection.

With your cat's test results I'd also suspect ingestion of something toxic as a
possibility, or maybe acute pancreatitis. But I'm not a vet. It sounds as
though your vets are very good and doing all the right things. They will
probably change the type of antibiotic if the fever doesn't respond after 48
hours.

Good luck--in both cases with our cats, they recovered completely.

Karen Chuplis wrote:

in article , Elizabeth at
wrote on 4/22/04 12:51 AM:

My 2-yr old DSH spayed tabby has a REAL problem. She appeared to be
completely normal (eating, drinking, etc, sitting on laps in the morning,
but then
couldn't be found). Discovered her on the bed upstairs, hunched over,
hissing
and growling when approached. *Norma Jean* was adopted from the
Humane Society, and has always been up to date on vaccines and eats nothing
but the finest menu I can afford.

Symptoms: 106 degree F temperature (prior to entering emergency clinic)
Elevated WBC (23,000)
Elevated bilirubin level
Sometimes/no-times sensitivity to pressure on back-middle
spine
or right lower abdominal area in back of ribs.
Urine unremarkable
Temperature fluctuating around +- 104 F.
X-rays non-informative.
Some interest in food if hand-fed.
Nothing remarkable upon palpation by vets

This started 4/20/04 around 6:00 pm, and it's now around 11:00 pm 4/21/04.
She has been treated with IV fluids and continuing antibiotics. Her three
attending veterinarians and emergency clinic staff have been awesome, but
the
condition is unchanged. The plan tomorrow is to do tests for viral
infections.
I'd appreciate any input????

Thank you all,
Gail


No suggestions but good thoughts. My Sugar had a 104 fever for no reason one
time. She stayed at the vets for 3 days receiving fluids etc. She recovered.
She was not is as bad of a way as your kitty seems to be, but still, vet
said this can happen. I sure hope she is OK. Keep us posted.

I agree with Karen, sometimes you never discover the reason for a fever like
this--it's called FUO, or Fever of Unknown Origin. This happened with our five
month old kitten, who presented with a fever of 105 but no cause was ever
found. She responded almost immediately to antibiotics, however. With our
other cat, who was about 4 when this happened, her symptoms were similar to
what you describe--a high fever (it wasn't that high, though, maybe 103 at
most) and tests only showed a mild elevation in WBC, which would indicate some
kind of infection. She spent four days in the vet hospital because the fever
did not respond to antibiotics. When the vet changed the antibiotic to Baytril,
she finally responded, which indicates that it was a kind of bacterial
infection.

With your cat's test results I'd also suspect ingestion of something toxic as a
possibility, or maybe acute pancreatitis. But I'm not a vet. It sounds as
though your vets are very good and doing all the right things. They will
probably change the type of antibiotic if the fever doesn't respond after 48
hours.

Good luck--in both cases with our cats, they recovered completely.

Thank you for responding. As was suggested, the vet plans to change the
antibiotic today and hope for the best. It's reassuring to know that this
is
not a unique happening and that others have recovered.

Gail

Thank you for responding. As was suggested, the vet plans to change the
antibiotic today and hope for the best. It's reassuring to know that this
is
not a unique happening and that others have recovered.

Gail

"Elizabeth" wrote in message .. .
My 2-yr old DSH spayed tabby has a REAL problem. She appeared to be
completely normal (eating, drinking, etc, sitting on laps in the morning,
but then
couldn't be found). Discovered her on the bed upstairs, hunched over,
hissing
and growling when approached. *Norma Jean* was adopted from the
Humane Society, and has always been up to date on vaccines and eats nothing
but the finest menu I can afford.

Symptoms: 106 degree F temperature (prior to entering emergency clinic)
Elevated WBC (23,000)
Elevated bilirubin level
Sometimes/no-times sensitivity to pressure on back-middle
spine
or right lower abdominal area in back of ribs.
Urine unremarkable
Temperature fluctuating around +- 104 F.
X-rays non-informative.
Some interest in food if hand-fed.
Nothing remarkable upon palpation by vets

This started 4/20/04 around 6:00 pm, and it's now around 11:00 pm 4/21/04.
She has been treated with IV fluids and continuing antibiotics. Her three
attending veterinarians and emergency clinic staff have been awesome, but
the
condition is unchanged. The plan tomorrow is to do tests for viral
infections.
I'd appreciate any input????

Thank you all,
Gail

Greetings Earthling,
Do they have ice-water in your corner of the earth? GET SOME!! Hold
the cat in the ice-water for 10 minutes then hold it *under* the
ice-water for 5 mintutes, warm the kitty up in the microwave for 6
minutes (warning! oven temps vary from oven to oven!) Call the
neigbors dogs and give them something good to eat! :-)

Mars Project (In Uranus)

"Elizabeth" wrote in message .. .
My 2-yr old DSH spayed tabby has a REAL problem. She appeared to be
completely normal (eating, drinking, etc, sitting on laps in the morning,
but then
couldn't be found). Discovered her on the bed upstairs, hunched over,
hissing
and growling when approached. *Norma Jean* was adopted from the
Humane Society, and has always been up to date on vaccines and eats nothing
but the finest menu I can afford.

Symptoms: 106 degree F temperature (prior to entering emergency clinic)
Elevated WBC (23,000)
Elevated bilirubin level
Sometimes/no-times sensitivity to pressure on back-middle
spine
or right lower abdominal area in back of ribs.
Urine unremarkable
Temperature fluctuating around +- 104 F.
X-rays non-informative.
Some interest in food if hand-fed.
Nothing remarkable upon palpation by vets

This started 4/20/04 around 6:00 pm, and it's now around 11:00 pm 4/21/04.
She has been treated with IV fluids and continuing antibiotics. Her three
attending veterinarians and emergency clinic staff have been awesome, but
the
condition is unchanged. The plan tomorrow is to do tests for viral
infections.
I'd appreciate any input????

Thank you all,
Gail

Greetings Earthling,
Do they have ice-water in your corner of the earth? GET SOME!! Hold
the cat in the ice-water for 10 minutes then hold it *under* the
ice-water for 5 mintutes, warm the kitty up in the microwave for 6
minutes (warning! oven temps vary from oven to oven!) Call the
neigbors dogs and give them something good to eat! :-)

Mars Project (In Uranus)

From: "Elizabeth"

has always been up to date on vaccines

Did she recently have vaccinations?
________
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Declawing Info: http://www.wholecat.com/articles/claws.htm