Has anyone had a cat with this? I'd love to hear more about how it affected your cat. I am taking a stab in the dark, but I am hoping that someone can tell me more about this disease. My 14 year old cat has been diagnosed with this, and I am having the hardest time getting a vet to tell me more about it. I can't find much online, either. We have sought a second opinion, and the treatment was the same- antibiotics. So we are on at least our 4th round of antibiotics since March of this year (when he started going downhill). He eats a lot and is appetite is great. We also give him a cat dietary supplement with vitamins and extra fat. Even with all this, he has gotten extremely skinny. All his other blood results came back fine- no thyroid issues, no kidney failure. His temperament is awesome as always.
But his weight- I am worried he isn't going to make it. We are talking about a once 12 lb cat now down to 6lbs. I keep asking if he is going to die, and if so, how long he has, and what can I do. Both vets couldn't (or wouldn't) give me any clue to his prognosis or if this is going to be fatal. I don't expect medical advice for my cat- just experiences with this. I am so worried about him, and it breaks my heart to just pick him up and feel how bony he has gotten.
I had a friend who had a cat with this condition! She took him to a specialist veterinary clinic. Her kitty was on IV nutrition and IV meds at home for a long time but it worked and he recovered.
I would ask about subcutaneous fluids and nutrition until the bacterial infection is gone. I had this in 4 my YOUNG cats and they didn't even appear sick, just more like runts of the litter.
Even without mycoplasma, it is natural for cats to lose some serious weight, energy and health when they hit this age. They are advanced seniors and cat's bodies start to literally decompose as they age.. very different from dogs in this sense. I worked at a vet and animal hospital and have seen this happen frequently. My veterinarians' personal cat had something like this, he was also very skeltal around the same age as yours. She kept him alive for about another year and a half by doing daily iv treatments twice a day among other daily injections. It was so sad to see the cat suffer through that, it deserved to die peacefully.
For this infection, it is very serious and on top of the antibiotics, it is common to also prescribe corticosteroids like prednisone, which a lot of vets don't like to use in older cats due to side effects. Weight loss is common due to probably iron deficiency and anemia.
I love animals and have been a pet owner all my life. If this cat were mine, I would show it a great amount of extra love and comfort until it passes. The vet cannot likely give you a diagnosis of when that will be, because some animals pull through while others don't.
I don't know much about this sickness, but I wish you and your kitty the best and hope your kitty feels better soon!
Does your cat go outside? If so, he just might have been eating lizards. There is something in lizards that does this to cats. I've had the same problem. I was told to give my cat a beat-up egg mixed with some wood ashes (charcoal dust works, too). Use quite a bit of the black stuff. It looks disgusting but the cat will eat it. The charcoal seems to absorb the toxins in the system and the egg coats the stomach and flushes the whole works out. It worked for me. I did it two or three times and it helped my cat get back as she should be. I know it's possibly an old wives tale or at best an old remedy but sometimes they are best. Either way, it worked for me so I had to pass it on to you. Good luck.
