A Learning Experience

I've learned a number of things in the past 90 days. For instance, it is now known and generally accepted that geriatric cats do not need annual vaccinations, as long as their serum antibody titers are monitored annually. It also is recommended that FIV+ cats NOT be vaccinated, as their immunosuppression system is already severely taxed. Had I been aware of these facts back in March, I would have declined the annual vaccines Shannon received then. In hindsight, it seems too much of a cooincidence that he suffered a severe bacterial infection shortly afterward, which led to a later testing and diagnosis of FIV.

The past three months have been somewhat of an emotional rollercoaster ride with several very good days followed by some not-so-good days. During the summer months, we made sure Shannon was hydrated and continued the regimen of interferon, along with electrolytes (we give him Pedialyte Unflavored) and a high calorie dietary supplement in a gel form.

Shannon Has an "Episode"

Although Shannon has been picky about his food, everything else had been going well until a Sunday evening about a month ago. I was sitting on the patio, and Shannon walked up to me to say "hello." I petted him and fed him a few treats of Pounce. As he walked away from me I saw him fall to one side, then right himself, only to fall again when he attempted to walk. I picked him up and carried him into the house. Asa and I coaxed him to walk again, and as he walked toward me, he suddenly stopped and lifted one front leg up in a "salute" position, and just held it there. When I felt the leg, it was stiff and unyielding to slight pressure.

For about 5 minutes after this behavior, it appeared that Shannon was in some kind of a catatonic state. He did not respond to a finger moved slowly in front of his eyes, nor to his name called loudly. Finally, as quickly as it had happened, he appeared to be entirely normal again. Our own veterinarian was out of the area, and the on-call veterinarian was apparently unwilling to open the office for a visit. He suggested we take Shannon to a 24-hour emergency clinic, which is a 90 minute drive from our house. As we were unwilling to subject Shannon to the stress of such a drive, and to have him so far from home, we decided to just keep an eye on him, ourselves. Our veterinarian thinks the "episode" could have been a seizure, and fortunately, Shannon has not had any other episodes since.