Help needed with feline case - long

[sreischman]

This is Joker's full case. I am at a loss and feel like I am just
throwing remedies at him. Any help at all will be very appreciated,
whether it's with a remedy suggestion, case management, or question
that I haven't considered. I've never had such difficulty finding a
remedy before. I usually prescribe for people who can tell me how
they feel. I offered to help out here because this is a friend of
mine who lives in a small town with no access to a homeopathic vet
and not a lot of money, either.
`S.' is me and `E' is Joker's owner.

First Name: Joker
Age: 7 years
Weight: 11 lbs. 4 oz.

S. What color is he? Dark or light? How is his weight in terms of
bone structure, fat or lean, etc?

E. He is a dark seal point. His weight is good. Well muscled. Coat is
shiny.

Joker is an OSH color point cat.

Joker's "Illnesses" began a little over a year ago. It began as a
typical URI, but only with the one symptom of congested, wheezy
breathing. We took him in to vet, & he treated him with a Depro
Medrol shot, a penicillin shot & sent him home with antibiotics to
take for another week. This began a pattern. Every six to 8 weeks, it
would re-occur & we would return to the vet, for the same treatment.
In the past few months the frequency of these attacks has increased.
The last one was only three weeks. At that time, he was only given a
course of antibiotic in the form of Zenniquin & also Prednisolone for
his breathing. After 5 days, he started vomiting, & he went through
an entire weekend of not being able to keep anything down. He was
then taken in & received a shot to stop the vomiting & another Depro
Medrol shot & another penicillin shot. He was fine for the next day &
he then threw up again the next day, but has not repeated it to
present.
Tests were run. Blood work, including a test for Coronavirus was run.
It was positive with a titre of 1:6000. He also had x-rays, chest &
abdominal. All it showed was a small area on one side of his lung, a
greyish nature. Vet said, most likely bacterial infection. Throat
culture was done, but failed because of recent use of antibiotics. He
was put on Inteferon to strengthen his immune system & at present,
that is all that he is on. At no time was he running a fever or
having any other symptoms, other than the congested breathing. Vet
said that at those times, his throat was red & his tonsils were
inflamed.

S. When did this problem begin? What happened in your life around
that time? What do you think caused it?

E. Nothing in particular happened in his life that I would attribute
to bringing this on.

Nothing brings it on, it just occurs on a regular basis.

The only thing to make it better so far has been the steroid shots.
It does seem that the congestion is worse at night.

S. Any particular time of night? Early or late, before or after
midnight? Particular hours?

E. No Particular time of night, all of the nighttime.

One symptom, congestion, wheezy breathing.

S. How do the congestion and wheezing express themselves? Sound?
Expectoration color, texture, quantity? Worse on inhalation or
exhalation? On movement or position, e.g., lying down?

E. You can hear the wheezing from a distance & more pronounced up
close. It is just always there, no matter what he is doing, walking,
playing, sleeping, eating, etc.

S. Does he react to weather changes at all? Any fear at thunder or
storms?

E. No reaction to weather. Even with the hurricane, he was O.K. He
doesn't particularly like thunder.

S. Based on observation, does he favor either side?

E. No, he does not.

S. Does he tend to like heat or coolness more or less than the other
cats? Any change when he's ill? How does his body temperature feel to
you when you touch him?

E. Does not prefer heat or cool, any more so than the other cats.
Wants to be alone when he is ill. He feels warm to the touch.

S. How fastidious are his litter habits? Grooming habits?

E. He has perfect litter box habits & is an expert groomer for
himself & Mickey!

S. Loud noises? Sudden movement? Anything you can think of?

E. Yes, he startles fairly easy with loud noises or sudden movement.

S. What is his favorite thing to do?

E. Several...... snuggle with me, play with the wand toy. Watch the
birds out the window.

S. What are his worst and best traits?

E. Best traits: gentle, loving, and friendly to the other cats. Don't
know any worst, except when he goes on a "walk all over the house
yowling spree"

S. How is his appetite usually and how is it now?

E. Usually good, was voracious while on the Temaril -P. Now, in
comparison, not so good. He eats much less.

S. Any food preferences or dislikes? Dry, wet, gravy, ect.

E. Prefers dry food, but eats some FF with gravy & a little baby
food.

S. How thirsty is he normally? And now?

E. Thirst was normal , now, he seems to drink more water than he did
in the past.

S. Compared to your other cats, when he's well does he sleep more or
less than the others?

E. He sleeps more.

S. Does he snore, grunt, make any sound? Move around a lot?

E. He snores sometimes. If he is sleeping very soundly, he will jerk
around some.

S. When he lies down, even if not asleep, does he favor either side
over the other? Any particular position more or less frequently than
others? Any particular place he likes to sleep. Hidden away? Near a
heat source?

E. I have not noticed him favoring either side. His favorite way &
place is curled up with Mickey. Yes, he loves to sleep on his heating
pad on the footstool & also he & Mickey cuddle up in the "millie"
bed, which is quite warm.

S. What medications is he taking at present?

E. Inteferon

S. Has he had any vaccinations?

E. Has all the standard vaccinations for cats

S. Has he had any surgeries? What and when?

E. Neutering as a kitten

S. Does he tend to have any discharges (nasal,
vaginal, etc.)? What is the color, consistency?

E. No nasal discharge.

S. What is the congestion that you talk about? How do you know he's
congested? What can you tell us about the congestion - sound? Better
or worse in any position?

E. I'm calling it congestion because that is what the vet said. All I
know is I can hear him making this loud wheezing when he breathes &
sometimes seems that it is hard to swallow his dry food. No better or
worse in any position.

S. Other than this one incident of reaction, how does he normally
react to medication?

E. It depends on the medication. some he tolerates well, others, he
doesn't. He could not take Clavamox & the Zenniquin caused a severe
reaction.

S. Is he a rescue or a pedigreed? If pedigreed, do you know anything
about the health history of his parents or other cats in his line?

E. He is pedigreed. I know that his parents were shown & I have not
heard of any problems with the breeder's other cats.

S. How patient is he? If he wants food or something else, how patient
is he? What about with being disturbed by the other cats?

E. He is fairly patient. If he is sleeping & another cat comes up, he
just starts grooming them.

S. Can he tell if you are not feeling well? Does he react in any way
to your not feeling well?

E. Yes, he doesn't want to do much of anything but sleep. If I am
sick, he will stay by my side constantly.

S. When he's not feeling good and you talk to him or pet him, how
does he respond? Does he purr a bit or does he try to move away?

E. He purrs, does not move away.

S. Anything about his personality or behavior that you have problems
with (being ill doesn't count, of course that's difficult)

E. No problems with his behavior, except in traveling or in a
carrier.

S. How does he like to play when he's playful? With other cats, with
objects , etc. Does he prefer more active or quieter play?

E. He enjoys the interactive play with the wand toy. He occasionally
plays with toys. He also likes to play chase with the other cats.

S. You also talked about his vocalness. What stimulates his
vocalness? Is he polite and quiet when you talk back to him or does
he keep talking? Is he vocal just when he wants something? Does he
like to carry on conversations? Is he especially loud or insistent?

E. I don't know what stimulates it. Some of the time, he will talk
back, but not a lot. His vocalness is on his terms. He does it when
he feels like it, usually for no reason.

One thing that he does in the past few months, is he will wake up out
of a sound sleep & grab hold of Mickey's neck, with a little growl.
He let's go when Mickey starts yelling.

I thought of a few things pertaining to Joker's life that may or not
have meaning here. Previous to his health problems, I lost my soul
mate cat & his best buddy, "Blue Boy" in May of 2002. For months
afterward, I was heartbroken & so was he, then the following
November, I got Mickey from a breeder in Wisconsin. He is a pedigreed
Siamese. The integration went pretty normal. I think that I kept them
separated for about 5 days, after they got together, they quickly
bonded & became like "Siamese twins", (no pun intended). Anyway, it
was a few months after that, that this cycle of the respiratory
infections began & became more & more frequent till present. Don't
know if there is any relevance, but thought I would mention it.

His wheezing is worse at night, not so much in the daytime. Then
when it gets bad, it also starts in the daytime. When he is well, he
doesn't wheeze, but still sometimes sneezes. When it goes beyond
just the wheezing, he starts having trouble swallowing his food &
coughs sometimes, is more lethargic & sleeps more, also doesn't eat
as well. Sometimes he throws up.

Note: Throughout the case, remedies have been given in water, with
succussion before each does.

S. 3/8/04 Started Phos 6X in water with a few succussion before each
dose. He took it for several days and there was a noticeable
improvement, so it was not repeated. He relapsed 4/26/04. When the
Phos 6X was repeated a few times, nothing more happened. Went to
Phos 6C with no result and then Phos 30C with no result.
S. Can you describe the cough in more detail? Is it productive, dry,
and juicy sounding, but non-productive, etc?
E. His cough is non productive. It's like a choking on something,
hacking cough.

S. When he vomits, is it connected with the cough? How soon after
eating? What is the nature of the vomit? Is it undigested food, bile,
watery, etc. Does it have any unusual smell?

E. No, it's not connected with the cough. It happens soon after
eating. It is undigested food, like his stomach is too upset to keep
it down.

S. Is there any change in his sleep position of preference, e.g.,
when he's well, he sleeps on his side and when he's sick, he curls
up.

E. No change in sleep position. Either sick or well, he curls up.

S. Do you think the difficulty swallowing is due to pain? Does he
have difficulty with both water and food or just one or the other?

E. Yes, the difficulty swallowing is due to pain in his throat. I
think it is more with food than water, although he even chokes after
drinking water)

S. What does the vet tell you about his ears, throat, lungs, etc.
when he's sick?

E. He always says that his ears are fine, his throat is red &
inflamed, as are his tonsils, & he says that his lungs are clear.

5/20/04 I prescribed Ars-a 6C with some improvement by 5/24/04. It
only held a few days and then relapsed. Went to a 12C with no change.

5/30/04 Sulph 6C - He appeared better for several days and then
relapsed. Repeated Sulph a few times with no change. Again went to
a 12C with no change.

I asked her to describe his symptoms more fully.
E. When he is asleep, I hear no wheezing. When he is up & about, he
is very choked up & congested sounding.

S. 6/4/04 Kali-bi 6C.

Joker slept a lot. He did better for a few days and then:

E. 6/8/04 Yes, he is wheezing loudly, & sometimes it seems like he
has trouble swallowing & he had a couple of coughing spells today,
like something was hung in his throat. There is no discharge & no
vomiting, no change in stool or urine.

6/10/04 Nat-m 6C.

E. 6/11/04 He has only had two doses. The first time he was free of
wheezing for 24 hours. After the 2nd one this morning, he was "quite"
while sleeping, but upon exertion, he would get wheezy again. Other
than that, he seems to feel fine. I will give him a dose now, before
I turn in & will let you know how he is in the morning.

6/13/04 Joker still continues on with this congestion or wheeze
breathing. It is continuous. Whenever you pick him up, you can hear
it, so I will dose him three times today.

Later in the day 6/13/04: He has slept a bit more then usual today,
but his wheezing is lighter.

6/15/04 It seems that Joker is not doing so well. His wheezing was
light last night. After I gave him, his dose, he became very
agitated, prowling all over the house yowling last night, & his
wheezing got worse, & it is still bad this morning.
6-20-04 I wish that I could say Joker is better, but that's not the
case.

It is worse when he is active, when he is in the litter box, & any
time he is "sniffing" at some object. When you pick him up & hold him
close, you can hear it. It's very hard to describe the sound. It's
neither like a rattle or whistle. It's sort of like someone with
asthma or bronchitis, trying to get air through a constricted
passage, so "wheeze" is as close of word as I could come up with to
describe it.

He drinks water quite a bit, but unlike Bella, who loves to drink
from a dripping faucet, he prefers his in bowls. He is not
particularly interested in running water.

6-21-04 Joker was wheezing in his sleep this morning & he was very
wheezy when he got up. I don't know if it's an aggravation or he is
just getting worse.

It was at this point that I e-mailed the case to a homeopathic vet,
who was very discouraging, but suggested either Tub-a 30C or FIP
nosode 30C, and also possibly Ferr-phos or Ant-t. She tried each and
none made any changes. She went back to the Interferon and he got
worse. I then tried Ip with no change. According to the owner, he
did best on the Phos, so he is now back on Phos 30X and again had a
positive reaction for the first week or so and then nothing. I
suggested that she go to a 12C, but nothing happened again.

Joker seems to have respond initially to several remedies, but they
don't hold. I also thought the Tub-a would be good because of the
never well since and also I think there is a miasmatic block, but it
didn't do anything. I think he has allergies of asthma rather than
anything related to the corona virus, since from what I've read, if
he had FIP, he would probably be dead by now and certainly much
sicker than he acts.

The owner also mentioned that she is pleased because since starting
the homeopathic remedies, he has never been so bad that they have had
to take him back to the vets, which had been happening with
increasing frequency before then.

Rubrics I looked at: Wheezing, redness of tonsils, wheezing night,
desire for warmth, fastidious, choking on swallowing, dry cough,
vomiting undigested food, vomiting after eating, recurrent
inflammation of tonsils, thirst.

I'm not sure of the rubrics because the upchucking seems to be rather
typical of the Orientals and most cats tend to be on the fastidious
side. Since most cats are not thirsty, that seemed like an important
rubric. Am I using the wrong rubrics? Are there other things I
should find out? Any help with the case would be very much
appreciated.

[Allen Coniglio]

You were right to try Phos and Tub as the case seems to be tubercular,
particularly with the chronic tonsil inflammation. He also has travel
problems and problems with being confined in a carrier. It may, however, be
sycotic as well, as the cat may be asthmatic, although you would expect to
see more discharge with sycosis. Also, make sure there is no problem with a
tumor, wart or other growth or a sliver of food stuck in the epiglottis. He
may also be reacting to a vaccine or allergen so, you might want to look at
that. You should also consider Calc, Silica and Calc Phos, as these are all
tubercular remedies and may be useful. Calc Phos if he is especially wired
and howling and wandering restlessly. These are a few rubrics you can try:

Generalities; TUBERCULOSIS (149)
Throat; INFLAMMATION, sore throat; chronic; tonsils (36)
Mind; STARTING, startled; noise, from (78)
Mind; FEAR; general; noise, from (55)
Mind; MANIA, madness; wandering (1)
Mind; RESTLESSNESS, nervousness; general; wandering (16)
Mind; TALK, talking, talks; general; wandering (65)
Mind; WANDER; desires to (19)
Mind; WANDER; desires to; place to place, from (3)

If you need the remedies that go with each, I will be glad to send them.
Also, if you want to keep the cat alive, keep him away from the allopaths.

Allen

[sreischman]

--- In minutus@yahoogroups.com, "allen coniglio" wrote:
allopaths.

Thank you Allen. I think she has decided not to take him back to the
allopathic vet, so I don't think that's going to be an ongoing
problem. Thank you also for the offer of remedies, but I do have a
complete supply in multiple potencies. I will work on the case some
more based on your recommendations.

[Allen Coniglio]

I'm sorry - I meant to offer remedy "information" or materia medica to you,
not the actual remedies. I guess I left out a word or two.

Allen

[Miguel F]

Dear sreischman:
Catch his mind symptoms (if our MM can work on animals). Yes, the cat is very good, but only phos is good boy? Notice he don't like company when ill, and PHOS NEED COMPANY that time. Tub is VERY BAD BOY, and that Cat is very good one. And Tuberculosis almost never catch cats. He is strong, so not Fer-Phos.
He is careful of his owner and his friend (the new cat).

Joker is thirsty, but can't drink,

(for some problem in neck ¿sore, tuberculosis? No, simple Choking ¿how on earth can his master know it hurst?)

He is irritable when wake up (but don't damage his pal, only discipline or punish him)

He loose his loved partner,

then SLOWLY started to weak (then a new pal, with a new beautiful infection).

He likes warmth.
THEN which other remedy looks like phos but is warmth, thirsty, don't like company when ill, and is a leader? With that info, only Caust can help that little friend.
Kind regards

Miguel Flores
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