I have another important interruption to the “Everyday Remedies” series. Our black cat, Jerry, is OK after a very close call with a fatal tick-borne parasite. This blog will be a little longer than usual, due to the complexity of what happened. If you’d like a quick audio recap, link over to my 3-minute video about it on YouTube.
On a Tuesday afternoon, I noticed that Jerry had spent the entire day in her high rise cage, which we call the Cat-stle. She looked very tired, but otherwise seemed OK.
By Thursday, I was worried. She hadn’t wanted to go outside with the rest of the animals for two days, and she wasn’t eating much. She was drinking a lot more than usual, and her nose seemed stuffy. I went to the Internet and found that those symptoms correspond well to an upper respiratory infection – a common malady in cats that they get over relatively quickly with plenty of rest and hydration. I sat with Jerry all I could and dosed her with a few homeopathic remedies that related to respiratory illnesses: Hepar sulph, Ferrum phosphoricum, and Histaminum. Colleagues suggested Kali iodatum, Natrum muriaticum, and Arsenicum album, which I tried on Saturday.
I knew by Sunday afternoon that a trip to the vet was in order. If she had a respiratory infection, she should have responded to the remedies, and she hadn’t. Additionally, she had stopped being able to walk without stumbling, her head shook when she tried to drink the broth we made for her, and she started peeing herself. Her eyes were tiny slits with no life in them, and she was covered in shed hair even though we were brushing her every few hours.
I gave her Cantharis on Sunday and that helped with the involuntary urination, but nothing was touching her weakness, lethargy and stuffiness; it was only getting worse.
On Monday morning at the vet, Jerry was limp like a doll and completely compliant – not at all her normal personality. Blood tests done in-house showed that Jerry’s pancreas, liver, and gall bladder were in trouble, and she was very anemic. She had a high fever and was dehydrated, so they gave her fluids and prescribed an antibiotic. We decided we would give her a couple of days on the antibiotic and then bring her back for more tests, including a couple of specific parasites that attack the blood.
Jerry responded very well to the fluids and was more responsive by the time we got home. We gave her a dose of the antibiotic, which she took willingly, and we sat with her the rest of the day. I mixed up a solution of Chelidonium, Carduus mar, China, Ferrum phos, and Nat mur and gave her a dose every three hours until bedtime.
By Wednesday, she was able to walk without stumbling and was eager to eat the pate we were feeding her. That morning, she groomed herself for the first time in a week, and I was surprised to see her on her usual perch at the top level of the Catstle on Wednesday afternoon. I stopped giving her the homeopathic solution via the dropper and just put it in her pate instead, making sure she got a dose three times a day.
On Thursday, we took her back to the vet for the blood test that would confirm a possible parasite diagnosis. The change in her condition was remarkable and everyone at the clinic was relieved – even “cautiously hopeful.”
On Friday I found Jerry sitting on a blanket that had been washed, folded, and set on a side table, ready to return to the downstairs sofa. It would normally have been off limits, and she knew it. She looked at me with her bright yellow eyes, no third eyelid visible, no eye boogers stuck to her face, and dared me to shoo her off. I let her be. I found her in various forbidden places over the next few days, with the same results. We had to start wrapping her in a beach towel burrito to give her the antibiotic because she had plenty of energy with which to fight the dosing syringe.
On Sunday, she jumped to the railing of our balcony and assumed her usual stance, surveying the property and watching the birds as they gathered food and nesting materials.
On Monday she yowled at me all day long asking to go outside. It was exactly one week since she was a limp dishrag at the vet clinic. I did not allow her to go outside.
On Thursday, one week after Jerry’s follow-up visit, the clinic called with news: the blood test results had come back and they were NOT what the vet had expected. The vet tech had initially mentioned Bobcat Fever, and the vet later mentioned Mycoplasma, and I thought they were talking about the same thing. It turns out, they were not. Jerry tested positive for Bobcat Fever, also called Cytauxzoonosis or C felis, and tested negative for Mycoplasma. She was the first Bobcat Fever case our clinic had seen, and since there had been no other cases in our local area, the vet had prescribed the antibiotic for Mycoplasma – a much more common parasite. The protocol for Bobcat Fever is a different antibiotic plus an antiparasitic along with oxygen therapy, IV fluids, and occasionally blood transfusions. That protocol has a 64% survival rate. Outside that protocol the survival rate has historically been zero (with no treatment) to an optimistic 25% (with non-protocol treatments started at the onset of symptoms). The vet was amazed to hear that Jerry was faring so well and was very interested in the fact that I had been supporting her treatment with homeopathic remedies. She wanted to know the names of the remedies, and I was happy to provide them. I love our two vets – they are extremely caring and smart, and they treat me with respect even though I don’t do all the conventional things. Caring for animals, and people, should always be a collaboration and this was no exception.
Today is the20th day since the vet visit, and the 26th day since I first noticed symptoms. Domestic cats infected with Bobcat Fever generally die within 2-3 days of symptom onset if not treated with the correct protocol.
I’m not claiming that homeopathy cured Jerry. You can make that assumption if you want to. I do believe that it at least played an important role in keeping her here with us, and that’s why I want to share with you what I did to help her beat the odds so beautifully. I will also not discount the power of the prayers of Jerry’s friends, the determination of our daughter, Isabel, who hovered and fussed over Jerry every moment she was not at work, and the experience of our daughter, Lydia, who almost always knows what an animal is thinking.
I would love to share more information about homeopathy with you. Please click “subscribe” below to join my homeopathy email list, and consider taking one of my classes! If you would like to schedule an individual consultation about a health problem you’re experiencing, just send me an email and we’ll get the process started.
