[ashleywong]

Hi all

for those who hope to find out more about this illness that strikes two of my cats, i've started another thread with the title name of that infection : haemabartonellosis. it's still within this section of health, disease and diet

there's a reason i posted additional thread. the thread may not have the full veterinary information and is certainly not intended to substitute veterinary advice.

but i feel that it is serious enough to warrant a separate thread to get people's attention.

this week marks th 4th week that nicky is still stricken with this horrible illness. no, actually it marks his 6th week (is it? i lost count of time completely) and ginger's 2nd week. well, it's definitely more than a month already. he didn't recover completely when he was off the medication (during observation). his platelet count dropped below 200 to 110 only and that's bad.

he's back on another 2 weeks of medication and he's due for blood test every week.

the bacteria may or may not completely clear from his system and it will be a long battle to help his own immune system hold it under control.

aside from the medical bills that worries me, what worries me as well is that it may never clear from his system completely and is only held at bay by his own immune system. my cat could become a carrier and anytime that he is stressed with low immune capability, this ugly illness could rear its ugly head again. it's like he's carrying a time bomb.

i finally was free enough (free from work and other worries) this two holidays to do a check on the net. didn't turn up much but these two articles which i posted in a separate thread. but what i read confirmed my own worry.

this illness is serious enough to warrant attention because the bacteria attacks the red blood cells and if the body's immune system try to attack the bacteria, it's attacking its own red blood cells and this in turn makes the cat sick - making it anaemic and giving rise to a potential series of complication.

i've asked my vet - is it very uncommon? because it wasn't detected earlier in nicky. she said, no it's actually quite common, many other pet cats get it but what is different with nicky is the "presentation" - the symptoms appeared different from the usual associated with this illness and of all places, the bacteria only showed up in his lymph nodes...(we haven't reached the stage where we had to biopsy his other organs and take a complete blood test).

this led me to think - common because it is not a serious illness or common because a lot of cat owners allowed their cats to get exposed to fleas/mites/ticks bite and therefore either unwittingly, unknowingly or through serious deficit of common sense or compassion for their cats expose them to the risk of this illness via flea/tick/mite bite.

i do admit that i was in error last time, while i was never lax in ensuring my cats were protected from fleas/mites/ticks by using the appropriate medication every month, i was lured into false sense of comfort out of ignorance thinking it's just bites

but now i know better and i do understand why my vet frequently advice all cat owners who passed through their clinic of the importance of ensuring the cats are protected from fleas/ticks/mites

and it's not just through using medication like advantage or frontline.

all it need is just a bite from an infected flea/tick/mite. that's all. or a scratch or bite from an infected cat. or your cat picking up the bacteria from the area he frequently while outdoors, probably spread by through the poop of an infected homepet or stray cat. and when he grooms his own paws, he ingested the bacteria. you'd never know...so many ways for the bacteria to get to your cat

are you sure you're vigilant enough? are you sure you're careful enough? are you sure you're doing enough to protect your cat?

the best is to remove your cats from most the conditions by keeping your cat indoor and also keeping up a regular timetable of using products like frontline or advantage ...all with veterinary advice and supervision of course.

nicky is watching me type right now, he's doing well on his medication although it's stressful for him when we feed it to him - it taste so bad he literally foamed at the mouth and it pained us to stress him up so much but it does the trick and today, he's very alert and keen, he's much intrigued by the way the cursor is flying across the screen. normally he'd join me in typing a sentence or two but today he's just contented to lie down and observe from his "townhouse" ( a cubicle in my bookshelf) behind me.

if you care for your cat, do the right and proper thing - with veterinary advice please - read the other article i posted on flea medication.

in the meanwhile keep safe...