Feral cat unwell.

Silent Running

We feed a few feral cats around here and have had a family 4 around for a few years, mother and 3, now adult, offspring. Two of the offspring have died over the last couple of years from cat flu related illness.

Now the mother, (roughly 7 years old) who has never displayed signs of flu, is looking very unwell. She's hanging around the house and drooling a slime from her mouth. She's walking very slowly everywhere she goes and is shaking sometimes. She was jumping as if frightened this morning, and a dead leaf frightened her enough for her to attack it. She's eating like mad and has never eaten this much, she's only drinking milk, won't touch water. She's pure feral and won't let us anywhere near her. We don't want to upset her, so we don't even try now.

I'm assuming that this is the cat flu raising it's ugly head and will be terminal reasonably soon, if her offspring are anything to go by.

Any advice on how to get her comfortable so she can pass peacefully? I don't see her coming back from her current state.

auspicious

Get some liquid antibiotics from vet and add it to some cat/ kitten milk ( milk especially for cats).
This should have been done ages ago.

Silent Running

auspicious wrote: »

Get some liquid antibiotics from vet and add it to some cat/ kitten milk ( milk especially for cats).
This should have been done ages ago.

We did that for the 2 cats that died, but it didn't make a blind bit of difference.

The vet did say that there's no stopping the cat flu once it's in them, and most feral cats have it. Some can live a long life without showing symptoms and some don't make their first year. He said that the level of antibiotics needed to keep it at bay does their kidneys or liver in. Can't remember which he said last year.

loveisdivine

I think you're getting confused between cat flu and FIV. Cat flu won't kill a cat once they have it. All of ours have had cat flu at some stage, like humans.

FIV is an immune disorder that a lot of feral cats have. It would leave them susceptible to disease, but those diseases can be treated.

Edit to add, whilst the diseases can be treated, obviously at some stage they will become too unwell and will die like any other cat.

Silent Running

loveisdivine wrote: »

I think you're getting confused between cat flu and FIV. Cat flu won't kill a cat once they have it. All of ours have had cat flu at some stage, like humans.

FIV is an immune disorder that a lot of feral cats have. It would leave them susceptible to disease, but those diseases can be treated.

Edit to add, whilst the diseases can be treated, obviously at some stage they will become too unwell and will die like any other cat.

Quite possibly. It's just the same pattern with her two offspring. One of those was fairly tame and didn't mind the car ride to the vet. He was having very regular antibiotic injections. He went missing for a couple of days, as they do. Then he turned up one night looking terrible, and died during the night.

The mother cat is a whole lot more feral and we can't get within a couple of metres of her. She was missing for about a week before turning up like this. Not a hope of catching her and I don't want to distress her further. I just want to make her comfortable.

We've made a soft bed where she sometimes sleeps and she has taken to it for the moment.

CelticRambler

loveisdivine wrote: »

Cat flu won't kill a cat once they have it.

"Cat flu" is not a single disease, and some strains of some of the viruses (especially virulent systemic calicivirus) are indeed very deadly - about 60% of adult cats with that infection will die, even if treated aggressively.

Rubberchikken

we have 4 cats. granted none of them feral but 3 have had cat flu. 2 have had it at least twice and pretty bad.
our vet gives them an injection, ling acting antibiotic i think and they recover pretty quickly.

i realise this little one might be difficult yo catch and treat but hope you can.