What's ailing my cat this time?

Osamenor

Staff member
Same cat I posted about a year ago, different health issue now. The problem this time is bad nasal congestion, plus she's had big nosebleeds twice in the last week and a half. (She also had a nosebleed about 6-7 months ago, which the vet checked out and found nothing; they said she'd probably just sneezed hard and ruptured a vessel.)

We've been through two vet visits about this, one course of antibiotics that didn't seem to have any effect, and now we're on a second type of antibiotic, four days in. It may be improving a very little bit, but hard to tell at this point. They've ruled out every easy to diagnose cause except bacterial infection (apparently, there are several types of bacteria that could cause this and no ready test for that).

Kitty seems distressed; she's been plaintively meowing a lot. Her appetite is a little less than normal, although it's improved in the last few days - for a couple of days, she didn't eat at all. The vet prescribed an appetite stimulant just so we could get some food into her and start the antibiotic. But she isn't running away and hiding, like she did the last time she got really sick.

Other possible diagnoses, according to the vet, run to cancer or nasal polyps, but the testing for that would be much more involved, invasive, and expensive, the cat would have to be sedated, and she has a heart murmur, which makes them hesitate to do that. And then, well, I've done a little research, and it looks like that if something like that were diagnosed, the options would be invasive treatment that could keep her alive another two or three years, not necessarily with good quality of life, or... accept that the end is near. Which it would be anyway within two or three years, since this cat is at least 15 or 16 years old.

I'm hesitant to do those tests because they'd be so invasive, I don't really have the budget for them, and the outcome is probably not going to be any different from if they're not done. On top of that, the vet hospital has some serious staffing problems and has just discontinued most services at the only location that's really within accessible distance for me. So, accessing care will now be a lot more problematic.

So, horary help. All I can tell here is that I'm Venus, I seem quite powerless here, and kitty is Mercury... but then what?
 

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blackbery

Well-known member
I'm sorry to hear this, I love cats & never heard about cats getting nosebleeds; that's frightening, no wonder you are :venus::square::saturn: fearful. I would also put the kitty as :venus: being the ruler of 6th house. I'm probably wrong but that's my take. With the same :square::saturn::aquarius: could it be allergies? Sounds like me when I don't take my claritin, I almost get nosebleeds from the irritation. Maybe your cat needs a natural cure to clean the nasal cavities? What about Ivermectin in tiny dosage from the vet to clean up any bacterial infection. I know people who've used it on their animals & cured it right away.

Maybe Tikana can respond as she knows best. But I hope your cat feels much better soon.
 

Osamenor

Staff member
I'm sorry to hear this, I love cats & never heard about cats getting nosebleeds; that's frightening, no wonder you are :venus::square::saturn: fearful. I would also put the kitty as :venus: being the ruler of 6th house.
Are you using whole sign? In Placidus, H6 cusp is in Virgo, with Libra intercepted.

With the same :square::saturn::aquarius: could it be allergies? Sounds like me when I don't take my claritin, I almost get nosebleeds from the irritation.
She's had chronic allergies for years, and been on a low dose steroid (Prednisolone) all this time. I tried increasing it when this problem first started, and it seemed to help a little, but not enough, the congestion was still terrible. And then her glucose shot up (she has diabetes, which has been in remission, no insulin needed for about five or six months now). I tapered the dosage down and her glucose fell back to normal, so clearly, the glucose spike was a side effect.

Bottom line: allergies may be involved, but it's not just allergies; if it were, the increased Predisolone dosage should've had more effect. And she can't take an increased Prednisolone dosage anyway because of the diabetes.

Maybe your cat needs a natural cure to clean the nasal cavities? What about Ivermectin in tiny dosage from the vet to clean up any bacterial infection. I know people who've used it on their animals & cured it right away.
Ivermectin is for horses, not cats.

The vet has prescribed an antibiotic, which is designed for cats. Same idea. It's only been four days of a two week course, so it's too soon to say it won't work. The congestion might be a tiny bit clearer today than it was before, but I can't quite tell.

The direct way to clean the nasal cavities is with saline solution. The pediatric kind is recommended for cats, but it won't work on this cat. I tried, and she would NOT sit still for it. She's not resistant to much, but that, she really wasn't having. And when I did land a little of it in her nose, it seemed to make the congestion worse.
 
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