Adventures with MsP

I have a cat I got as a rescue from Thornberry Rescue centre.

Her name is Precious and she is beautiful.

However, the Chinchilla Persian breed as a whole is an allergy cat. And no I don't mean one of those poor creatures manufactured in a laboratory. I mean the Chinchilla Persian Breed as a whole suffers from allergies.

These can be anything from food allergies to hay fever allergies to allergies to materials or carpets or anything else on the planet.

When I got Precious she was in a very poor way and came to me as a simple semi-long haired white cat. The reason I chose her was because of the way she ignored me, had a urine stained coat and was obviously very very fed up.

So I thought I'd rescue the cat from the rescue centre and bring her home. It was touch and go for the first week while I discovered this breed cannot tolerate most ordinary cat food. I had tried various types of dried food and tinned cat foods and she went from bad to worse with diarohea and vomiting in the first week.

I took her to the vet who identified her as a Chinchilla persian diagnosed the lump on her chin as a rodent ulcer and gave her a steroid injection plus a course of synulox and prescribed a diet of boiled chicken followed by careful introduction of small amounts of various foods to find what suited her.

I went to the Yorkshire cat show and had a chat with a breeder of Chinchilla persians. That conversation plus reading around on the web helped me realise these are very very tender animals indeed. I even read of one breeder so proudly telling of the story of one kitten they had bred that couldn't even tolerate its mother's milk. If you have two Chinchilla Persians it is highly unlikely they will tolerate each others food so you will be clearing up diarohea and vomit and washing the cats down every day of your life.

The Chinchilla Persian is a man made breed - developed by Princess Alexandria, one of Queen Victoria's daughters. Being a nam made breed it has its problems - the most typical being the stomach problems and food allergies. Naturally The GCCF specify nothing in their breed standards about the health of the cat. Normal Persians are know to have reduced life expectancies because they can't breather properly yet their standard is pushing for flatter and flatter noses. And that's without considering the eye problems the Persian suffers from. This is how much all these breeders care for the animals they are creating. They purposely and deliberately breed animals with significant health problems and then sell them on.

So .... back to Precious. She impoved greatly after the initial treatment at the vets. I subsequently removed the collar because she was reacting to it and she began to blossom into a happy little cat.

That was until May this year when she started to scratch herself bald. It didn't happen progressively at all. Just suddenly one day she scratched a lump of fur off from between her shoulder blades.

She then proceeded to pull lumps of fur out above her eyes as well and I finally got her to the vets in early August. I'd managed to repair the damage done on two of the three sites that were irritating her but she still had crusty legions above one eye. I couldn't see my usual vet because she always seemed to be on holiday when I rang to make an appointment so I elected to see another vet at the same practice.

They immediately prescribed skin scrapes and skin biopsies to check for the presence of mites and I asked for a FelV/FiV blood test to be taken at the same time. That's when all hell started to break loose.

I have never experienced an animal suffering so much after an operation. I have had five cats in all and none of them have reacted in the way Precious has reacted to any operation. From that point on she would urinate and defecate anywhere in the bathroom except in her litter tray and it wasn't until two weeks ago when I tried some Feliway that she stopped urinating on the floor and returned to using the litter tray at least for urinating. She is still not using the litter tray for defeacting but at least she has returned to the bathrrom for that and is not using the hall for it.

The operation itself didn't cure anything but at least we knew it wasn't a mite infestation and she turned out to be FiV and FelV negative. The stitches from the biposies were taken out 10 days after the operation and you should have seen the pleasure on her face from being free of the collar and the bandages at last.

Unfortunately this freedom was shortlived. I went into the kitchen to clean the collar and put it away. I cam back into the living room to be faced with a cat with blood pouring out of one of the wounds that had not healed properly. Now some vets will tell you the cat must have a dleicate skin and be allergic to the stitches and any other b******t they can think of to get themselves off the hook.

Luckily I know two people who don't know each other but happen to be clinicians and both independently said to me that she hadn't been sewn up properly. The vet had only sewn the top of the wound so the underneath part had not been able to granulate and would have been as itchy as any wound can be and driving her potty.

She had to be rushed back to the vets where she sat quietly while two staples were put in to seal the wound. She was so very very good while those staples were being put in. The wound subsequently healed fine and the staples were removed some 10 days later.

So this poor little dear had been in her collar for 20 days and I had to maintain a melolin patch with bandage and stocking top around her upper body to stop her scratching the patch in between her shoulders.

When the stitches were taken out she was prescribed a course of Synulox antibiotics to help clear the skin infection which had been diagnosed as a bacterial ionfection. The Synulox didn't touch it and she reverted to diarohea again.

I took her back to the vets again to have the staples removed and she was prescribed some Fuciderm to act as a topical steroid. This did work and the skin cleared up but she started to scratch other areas of her face and pulled a chunk of fur out from near her whiskers.

So I went back to the vet and she said it could be stress it could be food it could be anything but to continue with the Fuciderm.

I continued with the Fuciderm but I could see the whole thing was simply starting up again. So two weeks ago I transferred to another vet and she was given a steroid injection and a different antibiotic called Ceporex. I could see this cat visibly improve due to the steroid injection. The inflamed parts of her skin started to look less sore and she visibly relaxed.

The Feliway arrived through the post the day after and we achieved pee in the litter tray at last. The cat pee on the floor was driving me round the bend because she'll go at least three or four times a day and so it has to be cleared up three or four times a day. Going to the lavatory in the night had often meant a footwash plus floor wash if she had gone across the doorway. The reief Feliway bought us both cannot be underestimated.

She also started playing more and engaged in kitty fishing and beating up Pingu. I was so glad to see my little girl getting back on her feet and being happy again.

Until last night everything was doodling along reasonably well. I have my reservations about her excrement - it's soft for her but reasonably well formed and not diarohea. However it does look reddy brown so I am wondering if the antibiotics such as Synulox and Ceporex themselves upset her tummy and she is in fact bleeding slightly inside.

However, last night she scratched herself again - 10 days after her steroid jab and she's up with problems again. So it's another visit to the vet this morning. He was surprised to see her again so quickly.

Her antibiotic has been changed to Antirobe and she now has some more Fuciderm which will act as a topical steroid. I'm hoping the Antirobe will help her but I've just looked it up and it states there could be diarohea and vomiting. Nothing I can do but wait and see.