Lady of the Rings

About four weeks ago, I took Gracie to the Vet for a dental cleaning and an extraction of one of her teeth. While she was anesthetized, Dr. Larry noticed Gracie had a nasty infection in both of her ears. Somehow I had not even noticed this! My bad!

I brought Gracie home, along with ear meds and an oral antibiotic. I also had her tested for BARTONELLA, a test which I had insisted on running, even though Gracie doesn't go outdoors. Good thing I asked for it, though I was shocked at the results. Yet another one of my cats that has come up positive! This makes three out of seven cats that have or had Bartonella. All but one of the gang has not been tested and he may have been the original carrier and he will be the toughest one to get to the Vet to test.

All I know is, I gotta medicate a shy, skittish cat for THREE WEEKS.

Great.

I tried. I really tried to coax, fool, and bamboozle Gracie to allow me to get my hands on her for the once-a-day medication. It wasn't working. After only getting her meds five out of ten days, I called Dr. Larry and he suggested locking her up in a room for the next THREE WEEKS.

I really didn't want to do that. Not only would she be lonely, but it would through off the "pecking order" in the house and I knew I'd have to re-introduce her to the cats if she was away from them for so long. I decided it the three weeks would pass no matter what, so better to have her away from the other cats while she was being treated.

Ugh.

So our last night as a family, I was petting Gracie. I noticed she'd had some crud, felt like scabs on the back of her ear. I looked more closely and saw that Gracie had two spots, one on each ear, where the fur was gone. I parted the fur on her head and saw a nasty sore. Then I found another one on her shoulders.

SHIT.

Does Gracie have RINGWORM??????!!!!!!

(Gracie was shaved so we could better see any changes in her condition. This is a few days after treatment)

The next morning, Gracie and I went to visit Dr. Larry. She didn't have sores on her head and shoulders, she had them ALL OVER HER BODY. Crusty, some bloody, awful looking. I felt terrible for missing this, but when and how did it happen? Did she get it at the Vet? Was it brewing before then? Was it an allergic reaction? She also LOST 1/2 pound in the two weeks that had passed between her dental and me bringing her back with the rash.

Dr. Larry and his partner Dr M. both agreed it was probably Miliary Dermatitis and not ringworm. The test for ringworm will be done in a few more days, but for now it looks like a reaction to something...but what? They ran more blood work. It came back so clean that Dr Larry said it was the blood work of a KITTEN! Yay for feeding grain-free, at least!

After a shot of steroids, in just a day, Gracie's skin was looking MUCH better. Gracie has also had two anti-fungal baths and those keep her comfortable. I don't see her scratching at herself, so I think she's doing all right.

With all the craziness, I was sure she should stop her antibiotics, in case she was allergic to them, but Dr. Larry felt we should continue. Gracie's ears cleared up nicely and her skin looks better, NOW she is SNEEZING a lot!

Ugh, again!

Gracie has 9 more days of confinement, unless she has ringworm. I'm not showing any signs of any outbreak and Sam seems fine, as well. It's a good thing Gracie's away from Bob, with his FIV he could not easily fight off any of Gracie's issues and I don't want to think about a house full of sick cats that need daily medication. That would be a NIGHTMARE.

Gracie also put some weight back on. Other than being lonely, she's doing well. She'll have one more bath this week and the ringworm test will confirm what our next steps will be.

And no, I'm not fostering any cats, maybe not until next year or maybe I have to stop for good. In the middle of all of this craziness, things have gotten worse where I volunteer and I may need to resign and move on. More on that...in the next installment.