- Joined
- Oct 8, 2021
- Messages
- 4
Good afternoon Dr. Jeff Holistic Action Community:
Our 10 month old Somali kitten is experiencing two conditions since we brought him home as a kitten: blood in his stool (which goes away for a few weeks and then comes back again) and open mouth breathing. With regards to blood in his stool, his fecal sample came back negative for most parasites but positive for Giardia duodenalis (detected) a couple of months ago. The plan was not to treat him at the time because he is not experiencing vomiting and diarrhea.
Open mouth breathing if of great concern to us. He would breath with an open mouth after vigorous play almost all the time. I was told by one of the vets he saw at the time that sometimes it is normal for kittens to do that after playing too much and I was told to just keep observing him. A few months went by and he is still breathing with his mouth open even after gentle playing. And overall he just does not play much at all now. He is always looking for cool spots (next to air conditioner and open window). There are no smokers in the house and we do not use scented candles/sticks or perfumes. This time I was told by our regular veterinarian Felix should see an internist and have an x-ray done. He listened to his heart but did not hear murmur. He also does not have diagnostic equipment so we were told to bring him for an x-ray to rule out fluid in his lungs. We made an appointment almost 2 months ago and are bringing him for an x-ray next week. I measured his respiratory rate this morning and it is at 45 beats per minute. He sleeps restlessly and is always changing positions and places and waking up in between all the time.
His vet did lab work and it showed that he is negative for toxoplasmosis and negative for FIV and FeLV. However, positive for FCV, exposure to a coronavirus. We were also trying to make an appointment with one of cat cardiologists but most of them do not accept new patients and the one who was available does not have an appointment availability until December. I am wondering whether an internist we are seeing next week could expedite his cardiology appointment if necessary.
My questions/concerns are:
1. We were told that Felix might need to be sedated in order to have his x-ray done. We are highly concerned about having him sedated for this procedure. Given he has an undetected heart condition, it could probably kill him. Can we ask them not to sedate him? Will giving him gabapentin the morning of procedure be enough? Alternatively, can a holistic remedy (Bach rescue remedy?) be enough so that he is not sedated?
2. If he absolutely needs to be sedated, what are some 'safe' medications they can give him taking into account that he might have some sort of heart disease?
3. What are the best alternative remedies to fight off "medium parasite burden" (giardia dudenalis)? He has a new sample submitted last week and we are still waiting for the results.
Thank you very much,
Elena
Our 10 month old Somali kitten is experiencing two conditions since we brought him home as a kitten: blood in his stool (which goes away for a few weeks and then comes back again) and open mouth breathing. With regards to blood in his stool, his fecal sample came back negative for most parasites but positive for Giardia duodenalis (detected) a couple of months ago. The plan was not to treat him at the time because he is not experiencing vomiting and diarrhea.
Open mouth breathing if of great concern to us. He would breath with an open mouth after vigorous play almost all the time. I was told by one of the vets he saw at the time that sometimes it is normal for kittens to do that after playing too much and I was told to just keep observing him. A few months went by and he is still breathing with his mouth open even after gentle playing. And overall he just does not play much at all now. He is always looking for cool spots (next to air conditioner and open window). There are no smokers in the house and we do not use scented candles/sticks or perfumes. This time I was told by our regular veterinarian Felix should see an internist and have an x-ray done. He listened to his heart but did not hear murmur. He also does not have diagnostic equipment so we were told to bring him for an x-ray to rule out fluid in his lungs. We made an appointment almost 2 months ago and are bringing him for an x-ray next week. I measured his respiratory rate this morning and it is at 45 beats per minute. He sleeps restlessly and is always changing positions and places and waking up in between all the time.
His vet did lab work and it showed that he is negative for toxoplasmosis and negative for FIV and FeLV. However, positive for FCV, exposure to a coronavirus. We were also trying to make an appointment with one of cat cardiologists but most of them do not accept new patients and the one who was available does not have an appointment availability until December. I am wondering whether an internist we are seeing next week could expedite his cardiology appointment if necessary.
My questions/concerns are:
1. We were told that Felix might need to be sedated in order to have his x-ray done. We are highly concerned about having him sedated for this procedure. Given he has an undetected heart condition, it could probably kill him. Can we ask them not to sedate him? Will giving him gabapentin the morning of procedure be enough? Alternatively, can a holistic remedy (Bach rescue remedy?) be enough so that he is not sedated?
2. If he absolutely needs to be sedated, what are some 'safe' medications they can give him taking into account that he might have some sort of heart disease?
3. What are the best alternative remedies to fight off "medium parasite burden" (giardia dudenalis)? He has a new sample submitted last week and we are still waiting for the results.
Thank you very much,
Elena
