oh chemar, good to hear that needed sleep was found for your son and too that shadow is doing well. I will still pray for him to get his eye sight back but if that dose not happen like you stated God will make good. and too having his bro kitty will help shadow they will be best of pals a seeing eye helper for shadow is a good thought .they do adjust fine they use those whiskers to.."see" sorta . Still I can pray for full recovery and too that your family rides threw this sad tough time and becomes a closer knit family because of it. Peace and Love Chemar.

Our middle cat had a vaccination reaction... but there was was no permanent
damage.

Vaccines in general for pets are poorly regulated, and I suggest to you to consider NONE of them, except the distemper, and rabies.

When we get the rabies now, the vet premedicates with Benadryl injection
10 minutes before, for Tippy. Her reaction was when a mixture was given, and since several were given that day we don't know if it was the rabies or the others. Oreo got very down, sickly when she had her kitten shots...the distemper, etc. But not a reaction per se.

The most common side effect of vaccines in cats is vaccination sarcoma (cancer).
Tippy was the first cat we ever had to have a reaction. She too was in the vets overnight.

It is possible this cat has some inherited issue, as well. Some of our vets here use nasal vaccines. Was that done on poor Moonshadow? Is he the smaller one? Nasal could go right to the brain!

There is a very interesting website called:
www.thecatsite.com

There may be others there to help you out. Such as whether the blindness continues or is temporary. There are vets there sometimes to field questions.

So after carefully reading this thread, was it the vaccine or the Ketamine?
Could he have had a mild encephalopathy all along, and that is why he is smaller? On this site blindness is discussed:
http://www.vetinfo.com/canesthesia.html

I don't neuter/spay when my pets are very young. The Humane society does and I have seen kittens die as a result (friends). I only neuter/spay when they are bigger/older and stronger.

This is so tragic.

Chermar,
I am so happy that Shadow is back home. I will keep praying that the vision loss is just temporary..........
You are so right, the Lord is there through good and bad and if we listen to him we can find the positive in the worst of times. And you did. You see how many people care and that is a blessing in itself.
Great big hugs to you.
Jude

so good to get your input too mrsD

the vet feels it was probably the ketamine that the vets for the adoption agency used. Part of our adoption contract was that we would take the kittens to the agency's vet in when they readhed 3.5 lb for them to be neutered. Twilight had already been done before we got him as he is much bigger than Shadow, but he still had one testicle growing internally and so they did abdominal on him with a different anaesthetic and he is just fine!

It is very possible that Shadow had some pre-existant condition as he has always been tiny and more quiet etc than Twi

Our own vet is not in favor of ketamine as an anaesthetic, especially for weak cats. I am beating myself up a bit that I didnt ask more questions...but as these other vets are used by the adoption agency all the time, and the agency clearly cares deeply for cats, I asssumed they knew what they were doing, and also, as they had Shadow's medical records from when he was rescued, again I assumed they would take the necessary precautions.

I did remind them when I dropped him in of his fragility

I have always had my cats neutered around 6 months, but again, because of the adoption cotract, I thought they knew what they were doing by setting weight rather than age



such a sad way to learn I should have followed my own instincts rather than trust in others...............

but, as I have learned from many things in life.......

gotta go forward, and not much point in saying "if only I had"

I just hope others will be warned by our esperience and for starters, never allow ketamine anaesthesia and be very careful of rabies vaccine.
I have spent a lot of time researching online these last few days and have learned soooooo much about these "routine" procedures that we have done to our pets knowing what i do now, i know I will not even be having booster shots for any of them anymore!!

anyways..........i am just thankful that Shadow is appearing to be getting better tho it is evident that the neurological impairment is there...in his gait as well as of course the vision....

hoping and praying for a complete miracle of healing, but resting in the knowedge that whatever .....we will love and treasure our Shadow for as long as we have him with us.

It is so easy for conscientious people to suffer as you are!

My son did not return to the rescue vet contract..he was allowed one
visit after adopting the sick older cat. She has had many problems since.
(he went to his own vet instead).

I don't think vet medicine is totally trustworthy yet. So anything can happen to
anyone anytime there. It was just very unlucky that it was Moonshadow.
It is kind of spooky that his name fits now...very spooky.

Let me share this with you. My son's older rescue cat...had an abdominal hernia in her side, when found. The rescue vet "fixed" it, and gave her a clean bill of health. She still had a draining hole at the incision site when he adopted her. She was pregnant when found and the kittens removed when the surgery was done (a spay with the other hernia repair). When he took her to his vet, he was given Clindamycin for her to help it heal. Then she became ill with a urinary tract infection, and they overmedicated her with Elavil. Then they said, do an ultrasound and found congenital kidney malformations (very small), poor blood work, and told him she had a very short life expectancy. So he bought a kidney formula food online for her..and she seemed better. But before Xmas she became very ill, vomiting and almost comatose so he took her in to an emergency vet. $800 dollars later they said she had bacterial hepatitis, put her on IVs and said nothing was wrong with her kidneys! We saw her at Xmas and she was so much more lively, happy etc. So all that time, 3 vets, and tons of $$ and only now she is happy? Could she have had an abscess in her liver all this time? Maybe? But still no one knows. My son refused the ultrasound for the liver--he is getting fed up with vets. (we had to help him pay the bill, as a matter of fact! ) On the upside, my son and his roommate have alot of fun daily with both of his cats..each day that joy is a gift.

So anytime, any unexpected thing can happen. It is not your fault, Chemar.
Little Moonshadow can live indoors and have a comfortable life with your family. He may regain some sight. But prepare yourself and your son, that his weak constitution may rear up again in the future. One just never knows.

And he may be a gift to you in other ways.. you just have not experienced that perhaps yet.

This is such a sad event. But you know he is young, and will adjust. An old cat would have so much more trouble!

I am so sorry you all had to go thru this.

I'd like to add: rescue and Humane Society places, try to do as much as possible with the lowest costs. That has been
my impression. Neutering baby animals because they think the adoptive humans will not follow thru, or using as little as possible resources, seems to be common. My son's vet said his cat (which cost him $75 at adoption) should not have been let go in the state she was in (she weighed 5 lbs and could hardly walk she was so weak). He did not go back to the rescue place (but he wanted her, and thought her mature kindly presence would help with the out of control kitten he already had as this mature cat had had her own kittens),
because it was 100 miles away! (probably lucky for her). So others reading here might consider this scenario and pick their own
vet for follow ups.

{{{{Chemar}}}}}}}
I am so sorry to hear about this!!!
I do hope everything turns out ok with lil moonshadow...
As Mrs D said.If
I will be taking my 2 babies in next week to be fixed.
So this post is a blessing in disguise!
I will be asking about what they plan on using to put them under!!
Our lil ones are 4 lbs and 5 lbs now.
The vet asked me if i wanted to just get their 2nd set of shots done
the same day and i said no.
First off,i didn't have the money ,but i was thinking about the reactions as well.
I will keep your lil shadow in my thoughts and prayers..
{{{{bighugs}}}} going out to you and your family!

thanks Kell

I am so glad you saw this bf taking your lil ones in so that you can ensure care and caution.

Shadow is doing ok and getting stronger by the day, but we still dont think he can see.
He is quite remarkable tho in the way he is getting around....lil darlin'
and he has a ravenous appetite lately too, and full of purrs and love which I am so tha kful for as it shows the trauma of it all is lessening for him

my son really does need lots of prayer too...this has all hit him really hard! and his anxiety is sky high with flare up of his TS tics....he is just so worried that Shadow will have more seizures...it was very alarming when they happened and sadly my son was in the room and also in the car on the way to the emergency hospital. He is being haunted by the memory of that and so freaks even when Shadow shakes litter off his paw

I know he will also adapt with time and as he sees Shadow managing ok....but this double whammy of first the doggy and now his Shadow has really hit him hard. He is a brave kid tho and has overcome so many challenges in his own life so I know he will get thru this...but it is soooo hard to see him suffering this way.

Cheri, I will definately be keeping your son in my prayers!

can be alarming to people, esp kids. This is the main reason I did not become a doctor, I can't stand watching pain in others. So I do things this way instead

Chemar, your son has great qualities, and obviously Moonshadow's suffering is moving him. And it might result in his choice of career, etc later in life. You need to tell him, that the kitten, does not understand this however the same way. All he needs now is comfort/patience/safety. Channeling this frustration into action, is the best way to cope...like helping MoonShadow to find his litterpan, find you (by putting clothing with your scent on it (not clean) around to guide him), etc.

I'd like to warn you though about "purring". And others here too.

We had a cat who had cancer (thyroid cancer that spread to her lungs). It was about 25 yrs ago, before thyroid disease was understood by vets in cats.
So there was a delay in diagnosis (she too had seizures). We had surgery for her to remove the tumor, but it was too late. We kept her comfortable and the vet said to bring her in if she showed distress and he would put her to sleep.
She lived about 6mos longer, and when she started bleeding from the ****, I took her in. She purred the whole while, and when I remarked on it to the vet, he said cats purr when ill, and it does not always mean comfort/love. It is more like a "help me" signal. So he would not let me be with her when he put her down, I was crying too much. I still can hear her purring away...

I found a really interesting article on purring:
http://www.animalvoice.com/catpurrP.htm
This article gives statistics on surgery and complications. Which is helpful to see also.

As far as seizures go, animals can have them anytime. It is just important to keep them safe and calm when they come out of one..they are disoriented.
I sent you an email about Taurine, Chemar. I think this is a viable thing to
consider, since your kitten is a runt..and may have missed nutrients from the mother.

Young mammals have plastic brains, meaning injury can be overcome with time. I am hoping this will be the case for you.

thank sadeyesr4ever

and thanks mrsD
I got your informative email and have replied but also just have to give you a ((((hug)))) right here too for all the really helpful links and info

my vet has also recommened we give Shadow the taurine

all in all, I am feeling a lot more hopeful today that in the last week........hard to beleive it was a week ago today that I took them in for their stuff.....feels like eons of stress in between........but oh what an improvement in the lil guy today......especially as the skittishness he had, starting at every sound, has stopped today and he is a lot more alert and even playful, batting at his furry mouse toy when I swooshed it between his paws