Akira started sneezing this morning, so I made an appointment for her and I might as well take Indra for a check-up too as her eye recovery is a bit slow.
Despite Indra’s red eye and Akira’s sneezing, their appetite is fantastic, so I wasn’t so worried. They are also on Vetri DMG already.
I texted the vet first and she said Akira can start on Indra’s Doxy paste as well.
Look at them play!
So we went to the vet’s in the evening after Jayden went back.
The vet checked Indra and said the eye should be recovering. She added an anti-histamine for her.
Akira’s lungs are clear so it’s just a mild flu. It’s Doxy paste and the same anti-histamine for her too.
So for both, it is 10 days on Doxy and 7 days of the anti-histamine.
The vet explained that even though they are all confined in two bedrooms upstairs and not exposed to the elements outside, their flu is not from any external pathogens, but it is “internal”. This means, Samantha must have got the flu virus before and she could have passed it on to her kittens.
If the kittens had been born outdoors and were left to fend for themselves without good nutrition, the flu that manifests can be REALLY severe sometimes resulting in such bad eye discharge and infection that the eyes have to be enucleated. Infant flu can also result in death.
Well, that’s what we saw in Hiro, isn’t it? Misty brought him with severe flu, bad eye discharge until his eyes looked blurry and with a collapsed lung. Hiro would have lost his life on the street had Misty not brought him to me.
Little Hiro is doing well now. He will not have to live on the street. I sewed him his own little blanket.
Street life is tough. It is even tougher for infants, folks. Hence, neuter, neuter, neuter, please.
The vet said luckily the Blondies have the advantage of good nutrition so the flu that manifests now is fairly mild.
Also, Akira just got vaccinated and it is quite normal for any flu virus in her to bring forth the flu. But in a much milder form than it would have been had she not been vaccinated.
This also explains why feeders lament that after vaccination, their street dogs sometimes die. These dogs could already be carriers of those diseases that they are inoculated against. Once they are carriers, the vaccine would make the disease surface and it can be fatal. So, do you vaccinated street animals or not? Please ask the vet to access and help make a decision. In general, the answer is yes, unless the animal appears to be weak, unhealthy or have underlying medical issues.