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OT... Cytaux


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Just had a big bummer tonight....

My son's cat got sick about 3 days ago...took him to the emergency vet tonight and they had to euthanize him.

He was daig. with Cytaux. A tick born disease.

 

Having dealt with Rocky M. Fever and Lyme's dis. I thought I was pretty up on tick issues.

 

This is a disease that does not affect dogs but is usually fatal in cats. Within 5-7 days after being bitten by an infected tick they start to show symptoms, then within 3-7 days after that they usually die.

Now I have to have the other cat checked because he was/is sick too. He seems much better than he did so please keep us in your thoughts and prayers.

 

Now to face my son....who doesn't know yet :rolleyes:

 

Double Death to ticks and AR bugs. I think I'm home sick for MO :D

Kristen

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Oh, what a shame. You poor things. I do hope the other kitty comes good.

 

Is that the first pet death your son has had to cope with? Not that it really matters - it's always a sad time.

 

Ticks are scary things. We're lucky here in Tasmania in that we have only a few paralysis ticks (the big fear on the mainland), and touch wood, the ticks we do have don't seem to carry that horrible range of TBDs - long may that continue. Thank goodness for the 400 miles of water between Tasmania and the mainland.

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Oh, your poor son! How old is he? Hope the other kitty is okay. I honestly, before coming to this board, had no idea ticks could be so nasty! They are mean lil buggers! Is there anything that can be done? Please keep us informed. Thoughts and prayers with you and family and pets.

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Thank you for your kind wishes.

My son is 14 and unfortunately (or not, depending on how you look at it) he has suffered many (many being a relative word, meaning maybe 4 pet deaths in his short 14 years) animal deaths.

 

Long story, but he's really good about death and animals. He's learned the hard way :rolleyes: but, no matter how you look at it, it will be hard on him. The move to AR was hard, now this. Plus, we're having all kinds of family trouble (in MO) like my Mom going through chemo for breast cancer, my daughter coming home from Iraq (which is a good thing but she still lives in MO and that's my son's fav. sister) the other daughter is going to have a baby in Oct. (blessing will strings attached). He's really home sick and now this....

 

The other cat seems fine now. You can't catch if from cats, only infected ticks. some cats are more susceptible than others, from what I read about it, there is no cure and death is the kindest thing that happens to an infected animal. it was just so sudden. No advance warning. healthy one day, sick the next, then this. It is carried by bobcats. Now does that mean we have bobcats on our property? I know we have coyotes but bobcats??? The vet recommends using frontline every 3 weeks instead of every 4 which feeling very guilty I'm much more inclined to do the dogs on schedule compared to the cats. Now I will be doing both very carefully. I'm going to check into the preventick collars for the dogs but I don't know if they make them for cats. Best way to avoid tick born diseases is to de-tick all the animals and ourselves each night. The longer a tick feeds off it's host, the more likely it will pass on these nasty diseases.

The ticks are starting to settle down here, or maybe we've just collected all the ticks around the house. Even with frontline I was picking at least 10 off each dog each night. Now it's down to a few every couple days. They're usually dead or dying but darn they creep me out. The dogs are getting used to being tick picked each night and as long as I'm very gentle and nonchalant they are even liking the rub down.

Thanks for the well wishes and please keep us in your prayers or whatever you do for people in need of good wishes. We seem to be having a rough year.

The one nice thing we have to look forward to is....I'm picking up our new puppy next week.

that will make Ian (my son) very happy. He is my potty training guy, and my socializing puppy guy. Puppies are healing just being around them.

Kristen

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Great news about the other kitty. Prayers sent out for you and yours. Glad your daughter made it back from Iraq. Tell her THANK YOU! We appreciate her. Glad your son will have something to keep him occupied. Good luck with new puppy! I get mine in 3 1/2 weeks!

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I'm sorry about your cat Cytox is a nasty disease :rolleyes: . I know several of the folks that spear headed the research on it. One of the first cases I heard of was multiple cats in one house hold. So it's good news about your other kitty. The standard prevention speel we give, is keep you cats inside & provide a good flea and tick prevention even then. Between Cytox in cats and Dysautonomia ( a neuro disease, not tick born)in mostly dogs and some cats it's rather scary :eek: .

Andrea D.

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