Okay - my cat has had a bald spot for over a week. I took him to the vet last Saturday, he got a cortisone shot. On Tuesday, the vet gave us some ointment for it. Today, I went home at lunch and Oscar was panting and not acting like himself, plus the spot was bleeding like mad - I immediately called the vet and rushed him over.
He’s running a fever of 105. The vet said the spot looks like a thermal burn, but we can’t see anything in the apartment that he would have burnt himself on.
They’re going to try and get his fever down, then put a collar on him so that he can’t scratch - if both succeed, we’ll take him home tonight.
How hard is it to get a fever of 105 down in a cat? Obviously, I’m a little freaked out right now. I lost one cat last week, and I’m scared to death of losing another, especially this boy - he’s my baby.
IANAV but after going through an intestinal infection with my kitty last month I can say that that cat’s temps run higher than ours. Normal is around 100 or so. So 105 isn’t as bad as it sounds. I would imagine with antibiotics, fluids and perhaps (check with the vet first, please) a hot water bottle filled cool water for kitty to lie on or something like that.
But it really shouldn’t be difficult for them to get kitty’s fever down in their care. I’m guessing they will give him an I.V. to flush him out.
Good luck and I hope everything turns out ok.
It’s impossible to do a long-distance diagnosis, but 105 is just about the threshold between letting the fever reduce naturally and recommendation of medicinal treatment. There are definitely treatments that will reliably reduce a fever in a cat. Normal feline body temperature varies between about 100 and 102.5 degrees.
Here’s an article about fever in cats, and how it is treated. I get the impression that the fever alone will not be a major obstacle to your cat’s overall recovery – but you definitely want to run all concerns past your cat’s vet.
Let us know how your cat is doing when you find out more.
Thank you - I’m glad to know it’s not quite as serious as I thought it was. I did pull up that article in my searches earlier - thanks, though.
I’m just trying not to lose it at work - it’s been a bad day. I’ve never seen him pant like that, nor shake, and it scared the hell out of me. Add that to the fact that I’m overly emotional after my girl passed away last week, and I’m just in great shape.
Ugh. Thank you - I’m waiting for the vet to call, so hopefully, I’ll hear from him soon and it’ll be good news.
Thermal burn: the first thing I thought of was the valve on a steam radiator. Do you have those in your apartment? Kitty’s snoozing in a patch of sunshine next to the radiator when suddenly, pffffttt. Could the building be doing something to the system to get it ready for winter? (I have no idea how steam systems work overall; I’m just guessing.)
A cat’s normal temperature is the same as a dog - 101.5. 105 is not as dangerous as it might sound. I’m concerned at the panting - it doesn’t sound like heat - more like heart failure. Don’t wait for the vet to call you back - they can’t diagnose over the phone! Get up and take your baby to the doctor.
Cats are very resilient animals. They’re still closer to the “wild” animal than are dogs. Having worked in veterinary medicine for a long time, I’ve seen cats routinely breeze through things that would level you or me. Keep us posted.
I just talked to the vet - his fever’s reduced to 103, and they have a collar on him so that he can’t scratch. The vet is 90% sure that he’s causing it himself, which I would have to agree with - we’ve tried to get him to stop several ways. Now with the collar, he can’t scratch.
Holy crap, I am emotionally exhausted right now. I’m picking him up in a little while, so I’ll take him home and keep an eye on him.
Following up on my own thread…he’s home, and the collar is on, but he hates it. He seems better, though - he’s eaten a few treats and he ate his dinner.
Thanks:). He’s been sleeping in the guest bedroom and he seems to be used to the collar. He’s been sucking back a few treats and his dinner, and he’s being a lovey boy. Now I need to get some sleep because I’m completely drained.
It’s something of a moot point now, but it’s generally not a matter of how hard it is to get the temp down, but more a matter of how hard it is to keep the temp down. That’s totally dependent on why the temp is high. Some things, like heat stroke, cruddy catheter, reaction to fentanyl patch, tend not to spike back up. Other things like systemic infection, will just keep spiking over and over and over again.
As for how serious a temp of 105 is in a cat, it’s certainly nothing to sneeze at. It’s not full panic-stations high, but you generally don’t want to go have lunch before you do something about it, either.
Most kitties adjust to their little coneheads just fine. He’ll probably grump and sulk about it intermittently (he’s a cat; he’s gotta have something to grump and sulk about), but he should be mostly ignoring by tomorrow night.
He seemed to be ignoring it fairly well this morning, which is positive. His sister, on the other hand, is completely pissed off at the sight of him because she doesn’t seem to understand that it’s her brother with a silly collar on. Then again, we don’t love her because she’s smart .
And his fever’s gone - it spiked again last night, then went down completely, and he’s cool again. Poor kid - I think it wiped him out a bit.
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