Zurik’s Visit To The Vet’s – It’s Not Toxoplasmosis

I’ve just returned from the vet’s with Zurik.  He was so good in the car, to and fro.

An ultrasound was done for the lungs, there was presence of fluids in the right cavity again and very little in the left.  We had about 40ml of yellow effusion sucked out from the right lung this time. Zurik was incredibly good throughout the procedure. Even the vet remarked that he is “such a good cat”. The left lung had just a wee bit and the vet says it was too little to be sucked out for fear of puncturing the lung. I requested that Zurik’s abdomen be ultrasound-ed as well and that was done. No fluids there. None at all.

Zurik’s blood was drawn and tested for toxoplasmosis – it turned out to be negative. So, no toxoplasmosis there. The vet said Zurik has no jaundice or other symptoms of mycoplasma so there was no need for that test. The vet intern said it’s a comfort that it’s not toxoplasmosis as toxo is zoonotic and can spread to the other cats and to us humans. But I thought anything would be better than FIP. At least toxoplasmosis can be cured with antibiotics. FIP has no cure. It’s terminal.

The Rivalta test was done. Unfortunately, it was invalid and the vet thinks it was because the vinegar was too diluted. The vet will repeat the test tomorrow with another batch of vinegar. The pleural effusion (fluid from the lung) can be kept until tomorrow.

Meanwhile, the manufacturer of the FIP test kit will bring a new set tomorrow and the test will be carried out using today’s effusion.

Zurik’s blood pressure was taken and it was at a reading of 90, which is normal, so this rules out hypertension. This is the first time I see blood pressure being taken in a cat. It is pretty much like how our blood pressure is taken. A doppler machine is used, which is very accurate.

As it stands, the most likely conclusion is still, sadly, FIP. But we will wait for tomorrow’s results.

I asked about the dosage of the steroids and the vet says the dosage that she prescribed is for anti-flammatory purposes for not suppressing the immune system. Otherwise I was wondering why we were giving steroids and Vetri DMG – one suppresses and one boosts the immune system. So, this explains it – Zurik’s dosage is just a low dose, as an anti-flammatory.

Zurik will still be on this low-dose of steroids and the immune booster, Vetri DMG.

The vet said Zurik was slightly dehydrated so we got home and I immediately did a subcut for him.

He was so good during subcut. I was handling him all alone.

For Bunny and Indy, I still need an extra pair of hands because these two are super strong!

As for Zurik, I am to check his hydration daily. Whenever he is dehydrated, a subcut would need to be done. No fixed schedule for this.

Now, I am doing subcut for three cats – Bunny (twice weekly), Indy (alternate days) and Zurik (as and when needed). The only benefit to be derived from this is it forces me to remember and hopefully this delays the onset of dementia!

This morning, Indy’s subcut was done. He was quite cooperative.

As for Zurik, I was so looking forward to today, hoping that it is toxoplasmosis and we can then rule out FIP. I was even visualing a blogpost that would say, “It’s NOT FIP!!!” but no…as it stands, it still is.

Life is challenging.

Source: https://myanimalcare.org/2019/04/17/zuriks-visit-to-the-vets..

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