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| by Linda Mercer, MD
Wishstar I had a kitten arrive recently from another cattery and with it came a respiratory virus. One mom started sneezing and then Ecstacy's litter was hit at 8 days of age (...I lost one of Ecstacy's kittens and the other two were mouth breathing and gasping and having that horrible death door cry and looking like they were soon to die when I tried an experiment... I got the following suggestion (below) from Dr. Little to use with the mom who had started sneezing and all the other moms...so, with nothing to lose, I decided to make a desperate move! Well, Dr. Little's suggestion and dose of immunoregulin sure did help the mom (within 4 hours!), but since they couldn't drink and I had no way to administer the interferon without choking them as they gasped, the last two Ecstacy kittens were at deaths door and giving subcutaneous fluids & also nebulizing with gentocin alternating with gentocin/aminophylline for two days wasn't seeming to help at all....so......I added 2 cc of interferon to my nebulizer solution (3 cc gentocin, .4 cc aminophylline) and gave one small drop (more than that they couldn't take in as they weren't swallowing well) of diluted lysine in sterile water (250 mg/10 cc given 3 times/24 hours) and the kittens started looking better in an hour! It has been twenty four hours, three nebulizations with the three way mix, two with interferon and gentocin alone, and they now definitely look like they will make it just fine and drinking milk supplements as well as from mom! I've never SEEN such a rapid turn around - in fact, from experience I would have guessed 24 hours ago that at least one of the kittens would be long dead by this afternoon and the other soon to follow. So, I'm sharing this with you all! I am amazed and VERY grateful to Dr. Little! BTW, the interferon cost me about $35 for a bottle of the injectible (3 million units) and once you have diluted it in the saline solution (as described below in the addendum to Dr. Little's message) it can be stored in the refrigerator for 2 months and in the freezer for two years! Even if it costs more elsewhere, this stuff it worth having around!!!! *************** The message I got from Dr. Little (be sure to also read the addendum below the message): Oral interferon is usually dosed at 30 units/cat for adults and large kittens. I decrease proportionately for young kittens (i.e. maybe 5 units for the littlest ones). I give it once daily, every day, for as long as needed. Interferon has to be ordered - to get it quickly, try a hospital pharmacy. It must then be diluted for oral use. In case you don't have the instructions for this, I am adding below the handout from Dr. Gary Norsworthy on interferon. Lysine is available in health food stores. The dose is 250 mg BID. Susan Little, DVM Diplomate ABVP (Feline) Bytown Cat Hospital Ottawa, Ontario, Canada -^^--^^--^^--^^--^^--^^-- [Note - for kitten dilute one in a four paws nurser bottle and give at least 1 cc per kitten] Copyright © 2000-2005 SGENews Photo Gallery All rights reserved. Site is maintained by Pamela R. Martin Downloading, copying and printing any article or picture from this site is permissible for private use only. It is strictly forbidden to download, copy or print any material from this site for the purpose of republication elsewhere on the internet or in print |
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