Gerald didn’t look “too sick”, but as with cats, they always have a very high threshold for pain, so we would never know.
We went to the vet’s without an appointment and had to wait for a slot today as all the vets were all fully booked.
When our turn finally came (so grateful we could be slotted in), the vet checked and Gerald’s temperature was 40.6 degrees, which is “very high”. 41 degrees is already life-threatening. So, based on his temperature, his condition was “critical” and he would have to be hospitalised and on drip.
The limping was caused by a shoulder wound. There was a rather large lump in his right shoulder. Upon shaving, the inflammation could be seen clearly and there were a few scabs (wounds which had already healed). There were also many other similar wounds all over his body, but all had already healed. No other lumps were detected elsewhere, just the scabs.
The vet thinks that Gerald must have sustained the wounds in a fight which happened even before the two days that he had gone missing. The fight must have happened some days ago, and the wound took time to fester. In the last two days Gerald must have felt sick (with the fever) and that is why he went to hide. Poor boy….he must have been feeling so unwell that he didn’t even come home. He chose to hide instead.
With such a high temperature, he would have to be put on drip and hospitalised. Gerald was given an anti-inflammatory injection and the IV-port was inserted so that we could start him on the IV-fluids.
X-rays were also taken to check if there were any broken bones in that right shoulder. Luckily there were none. With that ruled out, the next step would be to stabilise his temperature and determine if lancing needed to be done to drain out the possible abscess in his right shoulder.
Blood was also taken because the vet was worried in case his vital organs had been infected by this injury.
I waited at the clinic.
Luckily, the blood tests showed that his kidney and liver readings are within the normal range. His HCT is normal too. However, Gerald’s glucose reading was high (at 19.04). A reading of 20 is considered diabetic already. The vet will later do a urinalysis to determine if there is glucose in his urine. And his blood glucose will be checked again later this evening.
Strangely, though, the blood test showed no elevated WBC. This is rather suspicious and strange. The shoulder is inflamed, Gerald is running a temperature but there is no elevated WBC? Even the vet was puzzled.
Later, a PBF showed the presence of some WBC and platelets.
The vet decided to try to do lancing of the shoulder wound, but upon palpating again, there did not seem to be any boggy (soft) mass or any pocket of pus. So, either there is no pus or the pus is much deeper. Because of this, the vet decided not to do the lancing as that would be stressful. She gave Gerald two antibiotic jabs (yes, he is on two antibiotics) and along with the IV-fluids, we will see if the temperature goes down and the wound heals in the next few days before deciding if surgery is needed to drain out any deep-seated pus in that shoulder.
The vet also found a pus-infected wound inside Gerald’s mouth and there was a fistula (tunnel) out to the face. This could be either a wound that started internally inside the mouth or it was caused by a blow to his face which then caused a puncture wound inside his mouth. Gerald also might need a dental scaling later on.
Goodness….what kind of fight did you get into, Gerald? And when did it happen? We did not hear any sound of cat fight for the past few days.
After about 2 hours, Gerald’s temperature was taken again and this time, it had reduced a little to 40.3 degrees (still high). Well, at least it did come down a little bit and this was before he was given the antibiotic jabs. I asked the vet if Gerald is still in a critical condition now, and she says it is still too soon to tell at this point. If it is only the shoulder wound, then it isn’t as critical, but we shall still have to wait and see.
The vet will update me on the results of subsequent tests this evening. The clinic is only open half day today, so we are home now. Gerald is boarded at the vet’s.
We will visit him tomorrow with the soft e-collar.
An update from the vet: Gerald’s urinalysis shows the presence of glucose in his urine, but since he doesn’t have other clinical signs, the vet says it isn’t definitely diabetes yet. We would have to continue monitoring him.
Get well soon, Gerald!
The wounds on his right shoulder and the lump.
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