So Long Baytril...Hello Cefa Drops

(For Lilly Lu's auction click here)

It's been a few days since our last posting and we thought now would be a good time to update everyone on Moki's status. Moki gave us a bit of scare. Last week after giving Moki his Baytril and wiping away the portion he spit out from his face and chin, we noticed some blood. We didn't want to get too worried, because the explanation could have been as simple as Moki having bit his check while gagging on the Baytril, so we decided to keep an eye on him. The blood never reappeared, and we felt fairly certain that it was nothing to be concerned about...

As the week progressed, Moki started having problems walking. He began falling over more often than usual. He also lost all interest in playing with his feather wand, which is most unlike him. Then the wheezing begun. O.k. so now I was worried...

I made an appointment yesterday to have Moki checked out. The good news is that everything checked out ok. Moki's symptoms where most likely do to a combination of the Baytril and allergies. The weather has been changing quite often, going from hot to cold, every other day, and it has been driving allergy suffers up the wall. So we decided to take Moki off the Baytril and put him back on the Cefa Drops. Moki appears to be doing much better today and has regained his interest in playing...

While at the doctors office, I decided to go ahead and have another blood test ran to check Moki's corona virus titers. It had been four months since the last test, and Moki's corona virus titers had been dropping. For those of you unfamiliar with the corona virus, the virus, contains multiple strands. Most cats will encounter at least one strand of the virus in their lifetime, and will go on to live perfectly healthily lives. Some cats however will come into contact with a strand of the corona virus which mutates into FIP. Because Moki tested positive for the corona virus and because whatever made Moki sick appears to have caused the neurological damage, there has been some question raised as to whether or not, Moki came into contact with the strand of the corona virus which mutates into FIP. Only further testing, the MRI and CSF Tap, will allow us to know for sure.

Now the good news is, we got the results back from the blood test this morning. Moki's titer, is 1:100. Which means that their has been no change in his titer since the last blood test we had done about four months ago. This is the lowest possible titer a cat can have without the test being negative. (The highest Moki has tested on the corona virus titer was 1:400, when he was really sick, but even that is a fairly low titer.) So the good news is that Moki's titer is remaining steady, and is as low as can possibly be. The bad news is that Moki was still exposed to the virus, and we cannot be certain that it wasn't the strain that causes FIP, until further testing is done. Fortunately with his titers so low, and the fact that Moki still appears healthy, we are fairly certain that we are not dealing with FIP, although no one can say for certain until we have a CSF tap done. So there you have it. So long Baytril and hello Cefa Drops!