Parenting-Furkids
Cats => Caring For Your Cat => Topic started by: Lola on July 18, 2017, 10:32:26 PM
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A person I know had someone drop a carrier with a mother cat and her kittens (2 or 3) at her front door. I know the person took them all to the vet. What the vet did or didn't do... no idea.
Fast forward several weeks. Mom cat was taken to the vet today. The vet told the person that the mom cat "has a disease caused by fleas." Mom cat was euthanized. I know such a disease does exist. Except...person said she had no idea mom cat had fleas...never saw any. Mom and kittens have been staying inside the person's home. This person's home is very clean. Not saying clean homes can't have fleas, just that they would likely be more obvious maybe. ?? Also, there are other cats and dogs... no sign of fleas.
If mom cat had fleas soooooo badly, wouldn't it be kinda obvious? What are the odds the fleas ONLY liked mom cat... and not any of the other animals?
This is the same vet that told this person that one of her cats was anemic... due to a (as in singular) flea bite.
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Easy way to check for fleas on ANY animal:
Lay down several solid white paper towels or napkins. Place animal on them. With a flea comb, brush through the animal--especially in the area around the tail.
If any dark specks come off, with the specks left on the paper towels, add drops of water on the specks. If the paper towel turns pinkish/reddish, the animal has fleas.
Fleas poop blood and it will rehydrate to red.
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I guess what I am trying to say is... I just can't believe mom cat had fleas sooooo badly that she had a disease that required her to be put down. If mom cat was infested with fleas that badly...to the point of a life threatening disease.... there would be signs... obvious signs. Human has 3 dogs and 5 or 6 cats. The cats are all indoor. The dogs are mostly indoor. With that many animals, scratching would be pretty obvious. The human would likely have flea bites.
I'm questioning the diagnosis. This vet comes up with some doozies!!! The flea caused anemia that I mentioned earlier, is just one that sticks in my mind. If this vet told me my dog had brown eyes... I'd get a second opinion.
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Well yeah. That's absolutely on the crazy side for a diagnosis. If an animal was asymptomatic, I'd be finding a 2nd opinion, b/c if things were that bad, then the others in the house are at risk.
I'd tell her to do the paper towel test with all the others to see if anything is spreading around.
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But the disease was CAUSED by fleas. She had fleas at one point and contracted the disease. Doesn't necessarily mean the cat still had the fleas, but she still had the disease.
Was it bartonella? Never heard of a cat needing to be euthanized from bartonella, it's treatable.
Flea anemia is a different story, and that is the cat is simply being eaten alive, sucked dry, by fleas and can be fatal if not caught soon enough.
Is there any other vet this person can go to? This vet seems to like to kill cats.
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Only thing I can contribute is that one of my sister's cats had flea anemia and had to be put down. She had 5 or 6 cats at the time, and could flea treat all but 1. I don't know how often she flea-bombed, but I doubt it was very often. She called me one day because she was worried about him, the way he was crying, and I heard him in the background. My first thought was, because he's male and she feeds dry (supposedly most of the cats "don't like wet"), he had a urinary blockage, and I told her to get him to the vet ASAP, which she did.
They tried to treat him, but overnight he began having seizures. They called her and she told them to let him go. :'( But I don't know what other signs/symptoms he might have had, or how much (if any) scratching my sister saw from him or any of the other kitties.
I'd tell her to do the paper towel test with all the others to see if anything is spreading around.
Good idea, and couldn't hurt. If nothing else, it confirms or rules out any fleas on the animal.
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But the disease was CAUSED by fleas. She had fleas at one point and contracted the disease. Doesn't necessarily mean the cat still had the fleas, but she still had the disease.
Was it bartonella? Never heard of a cat needing to be euthanized from bartonella, it's treatable.
Flea anemia is a different story, and that is the cat is simply being eaten alive, sucked dry, by fleas and can be fatal if not caught soon enough.
Is there any other vet this person can go to? This vet seems to like to kill cats.
According to the person, the vet said the cat currently had fleas.
There isn't a chance in heck this person will change vets. Not even after a $3000.00 (not a typo) dental for one of her dogs.
Another tidbit of info. The vet is going to do some research and get back to her... to find out if mom cat could have passed the disease to her kittens. He isn't testing or checking out the kittens... researching. Sounds very hokey. Just throwing that info out there, so you all can be as pizzed as I am.
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Thanks for the info, Pookie. Sorry about your sister's cat. :(
I know the person doesn't treat her cats/dogs for fleas, because she isn't aware there is or was a problem. She is doing something now though. Anyway, I have never dealt with fleas (knock on wood), so I didn't know it was possible to have them to the point that it could kill... and cat and a person not be aware of the issue.
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In my defense :) it is the previous diagnosis that the vet gave about another cat... "anemia due to a singular flea" that has me not trusting much of anything this particular vet has to say.
There are other things...how she should NEVER feed her dogs people food. She will make them sick! Corn isn't a bad thing... even when it is the first ingredient. This person is under the vet's spell. He is able to change her mind about things that she has known for YEARS.
I have to let it go.... for my own sanity.
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I have to let it go.... for my own sanity.
Yeah. Sometimes it just isn't worth trying to argue with the drones. They don't change, and you just keep on getting angry b/c they won't watch Pet Fooled.
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Sorry you have to deal with that Lola. That vet sounds pretty bad. They're out there, that's for sure. And yes, I am pissed too. Hug1 Hug1 Hug1 Hug1 Hug1 Hug1
Yes, animals do die of flea anemia. The fleas suck all the blood out of them.
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I TOTALLY get it that animals can die from flea anemia. Totally. I just can't wrap my head around the fact that there could be such a huge flea problem...and the human unaware. Oh well... hopefully, I will never have to get it...
Anyway, thanks all for listening/reading my rant. ;D
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Newest info. I did edit out some of the "chat," for privacy reasons. Bolding is mine.
The kittens are going to receive a round of antibiotics to hopefully ward off any contamination from the mother. Just to be clear, she was bitten by a diseased flea.
bangshead
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bangshead
So, if there's a possibility that the mother cat passed it on, is there a chance that any fleas that might have been on the mom and kittens could have jumped to her other animals and passed it to them too?
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I haven't commented to her, until today. I signed off of FB.... to bring my blood pressure back down.... so I don't know if she answered my question. I'm trying to pin her down to her saying that her vet is claiming flea anemia...by a single flea.
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Myco Plasma was the diagnosis.
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Okay. Mycoplasma lacks a cell wall and is hard to kill. If it was killing the mom, what's to make the vet think that a course of antiboitics is going to kill it in the kittens?
:o None of this makes sense to me now. :-\
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Dr Google to the rescue, but still doesn't tell me that all cats are going to die from it:
Mycoplasma haemofelis
Mycoplasma haemofelis (M. haemofelis) is a parasitic bacterial disease that is transmitted to cats through flea bites, as well as tick and mosquito bites. An infection of the red blood cells, M. haemofelis can cause fever and anemia in cats, Herold says. There is also some evidence that M. haemofelis can infect humans, especially those with compromised immune systems. Because fleas are equal opportunity feeders, an infected flea can transmit the parasite to both you and your pet.
M. haemofelis attaches to the infected cat’s red blood cells, which leads to the body’s immune system treating the red blood cells as foreign, marking them for destruction. This destruction of large numbers of red blood cells frequently leads to anemia, Herold says.
Veterinarians often prescribe antibiotics to treat the affected animals. In severe cases, cats may require a blood transfusion followed by antibiotics.
“Some cats need steroid medications to prevent the immune system from attacking its own red blood cells,” Herold says. Treatment can take four to six weeks.
http://www.petmd.com/dog/parasites/4-surprising-flea-diseases-you-need-know
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I've read allllll the same things....
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A person that has NO ISSUES with fleas... has to have TWO cats (years apart) put down, due to a flea. What are the odds? Same vet each time.
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A person that has NO ISSUES with fleas... has to have TWO cats (years apart) put down, due to this same disease. What are the odds? Same vet each time.
And who sells how many rounds of what has to be some strong antibiotics if it's going to kill off something without cell walls?
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Something else just occurred to me, since they say there's some evidence that it's zoonotic, did he tell her to get her butt to her own physician?