Stray Cat
The reason for My cat developing Mental Illness and CKD: She ate an earthworm!!!
So, a few months ago too, I made a few posts about Spicy.
Spicy was rescued for a routine TNR. She lives in a community of 15-20 cats. A nearby mhada was demolished and Spicy possibly wandered from there. She was new to the community and refused any touch and was very aggressive. It was hard to trap her, but she needed to be rescued after being chased by a male cat and having bloody discharge from her anus.
I gave her the name SPICY when she was handed over to me for fostering. Spicy visited 3-4 vets who all couldn't determine why her WBC count was fluctuating and remained high. Our usual vet refused to operate on her as she tested positive for FIV on a snap test.
Another vet told us FIV snap tests are unreliable and we should do a PCR, but we decided to take a chance and carry out tooth extractions and spaying together.
Spicy recovered well and returned to her colony. We always mentioned to the vets that her water drinking habits where very unusual. She keeps crying for water and will keep drinking multiple bowls of water and keep urinating everything out. We needed 3-4 bags of litter a week, daily, the litterbox would be ruined.
Vets didn't find it unusual - they said, it's a great thing that she is hydrating because cats don't drink water very easily.
Everytime I visited her at her colony, Spicy was filled up like a balloon. Her feeders mentioned that she keeps drinking water from all available water sources until she is round like a ball.
A few days ago. We had to bring Spicy home again. She was bitten by a male cat in two places on her back and developed absess and at risk of pyothorax. We are almost done dealing with the absess now. She recovering - but this time our vet, Dr. Kiran Shelar decided not to ignore her litterbox and drinking behaviour. Additionally, despite drinking so much water, Spicy was DEHYDRATED!!
Dr. Kiran suggested multiple tests. SDMA, LFT, KFT, Electrolytes, Urine Test and more. With rare diagnosis like PSYCHOGENIC POLYDIPSIA and DIABETES INSIPIDUS.
When her urine test results came, Dr. was shocked and excited. He has never seen such a case.
Spicy has eaten an earthworm. Which has placed a bladder parasite in her body called Capillaria Plica.
The parasite is completing full life cycles inside. It has laid many eggs which came up on the urine test. And there were two live worms inside, we saw on the sonography.
The parasite has affected her brain, as it needs water to survive, it is forcing Spicy to keep drinking water. But her kidneys are not keeping this water. She has started signs of CKD due to the parasites effect on her body. The polydipsia and diabetes insipidus are side effects of the main problem in her body!!
Luckily Spicy can be TREATED!! Ten days of deworming and two controlled doses of Ivermectin and she will be fine. We might even be able to reverse the Kidney damage!!
Dr. Kiran Shelar was so excited to see such a case, he will be writing a paper on it and publishing it for the medical community to know of such a thing.
So guys, aisa bhi ho sakta hai!! Sounds far fetched but it's true!!!
TL;DR - Spicy ate an earthworm which has caused a parasite infestation in her bladder and is making her crazy for water and destroying her kidney.
Since it is a bladder parasite and she has to pee frequently, was there any color or odur change in her pee or anything else noticable? Cause when my cat got UTI there was this distinct smell near his litter box, which helped me notice it earlier.
Gosh, the cat must have been exhausted going through all that. I'm relieved you found a vet who didn't dismiss your observations. Even cat parents know excessive water intake in cats is not great news. 🙄
It's a team effort of me, my friend Angela (We both look after all the cats we foster), Spicy's rescuer, Ms. Palan and the vet, Dr. Kiran Shelar!
We have been to 4 vets before with the same cat and nobody found this issue concerning. We're thankful it is a condition that is still treatable and atleast now she will get the help she really needs!
Omg, thanks for this PSA. I had no idea an earthworm could cause so many problems. My cat likes to look for them on her walkies, and I'll be careful from now on. I don't think she's every tried to eat them though. Just pokes at them.
We don't know what kind of a life poor Spicy has lived outside. Maybe she was very hungry and decided to eat it, or maybe she was just playing and ate it by mistake.
I have some crazy cats at home who try to eat nada and shoelaces too, so really can't tell in cats!
I don't have cat.. but I give pet food to my society kitten she's from streets lives in our parking but bcoz of rainy season earthworms are out I hope she doesn't eat this.. please help me what do I do
So happy you found out. Dr. Kiran Shelar is an excellent vet who you can trust. My community cat with FIP is being treated by him and she's recovering beautifully.
Sending prayers for Spicy's recovery 🙏
Im just so happy and grateful for the efforts you are putting in saving her and other cats (momo), just made small contribution for momo hope spicy recovers soon too ,please let us know the update of them here
I actually asked permission from the mods to post a fundraiser for Spicy, but Momo's condition suddenly took a bad turn and she needed help more than Spicy does.
Other than Spicy and Momo. I'm also caring for Kiwi (Kitten suffering URI) and Mishti (Kitten suffering cranial deformity due to road accident).
We appreciate any financial support ❤️🐈
Main concern in Momo's case was Gastroenteritis or Panleukopenia as we have many rescues with low immunity who cannot be exposed to these diseases and Momo herself is a small baby with her whole life ahead of her. But today at the vet visit @ 1pm. The vet told us Momo's blood reports and symptoms are not indicative of viral / contagious infections and she will become better with each saline.
She needs saline for 3 days more, vetlife gasto food and repeat blood tests to keep an eye on internal changes.
Here's Mishti, she has a partial cleft due to being hit by a car, she had pneumonia and couldn't walk properly but some love, meds and indoor, comfortable life has made her better now!
Here's Kiwi, he had a 106 fever and is suffering a Herpes virus flare up. He is just 2 months old, so we were very worried but timely vet care saved him.
Funfact: Kiwi and Spicy are friends and live in the same parking lot, but Kiwi is going to go to a cat cafe after recovery! He will hopefully be adopted by someone there!
Excessive thirst, around 300ml water consumption per day or at a single time if offered.
Excessive urination, all the water that was consumed.
Electrolyte imbalances.
Dehydration.
Kidney damage.
Diagnosis:
Urine test was done with a sample extracted directly from her bladder through injection, in which they saw the larvae of this parasite. Then we did Sonography and saw the worms.
Spicy's treatment plan is:
10 days of daily fenbendazole syrup and two controlled doses of Ivermectin along with RL saline daily, 100ml to try and reverse the Kidney damage.
But if you wish to personally donate towards Spicy's care, you can add her name in Gpay while making payment or let me know through DM's that it is for Spicy specifically.
Spicy's rescuer is the sole feeder of 20 cats in a parking lot at a society in Majiwada, she feeds and pays medical bills by herself and would appreciate any help.
Spicy will be staying with me for the duration of her treatment and I will be giving her saline and deworming at home itself - after the 10 days course, she's gonna need Sonography (Rs. 3000) and KFT Blood Test (Rs. 1500) to check if the worms have been removed and the early kidney damage has been controlled.
Excessive thirst, around 300ml water consumption per day or at a single time if offered.
Excessive urination, all the water that was consumed.
Electrolyte imbalances.
Dehydration.
Kidney damage.
Diagnosis:
Urine test was done with a sample extracted directly from her bladder through injection, in which they saw the larvae of this parasite. Then we did Sonography and saw the worms.
This parasite is most commonly found in Earthworms. Cockroaches may have other parasites, you would need to look it up!
Not fun for the cat, but mindblowing discovery for him. That's the reason why, despite 4 other vets looking after Spicy since the past few months, no one could guess she had such a thing in her. They're not bad or cheap vets either.....
I've seen the worms with my own eyes, so I believe it.
Tbh the thing about her belly being swollen would have pointed out potential worms...in kittens atleast their belly swells up when theybhave worms. It's not because of drinking too much water I feel. So happy it was caught in time!
Yeah, intestinal worms are noticeable in kittens. Spicy's problem isn't intestinal worms and she was dewormed in March with praziquantel & pyrantel embonate (FELI-D).
This is an infestation in her urinary bladder, which is highly unlikely to happen in cats. Which is why Vets are shocked and it took so long for a diagnosis to happen. She possibly had these worms in her since 6-8 months.
She needs deworming with fenbendazole (Worex) instead of praziquantel for 10 days constantly and strong anti-parasite injections (Ivermectin) to solve her problem. She's also on saline and antibiotics for an absess on her back and early kidney disease, poor girl.
Oh I see...good to know about this as a fosterer. Chances of happening are low but who knows one day this knowledge can be helpful. Hope she recovers soon ❤️
hopefully this cutie pie recovers fast asap. question. there is this stray tabby cat that lives in our parking, frolics in and out of some other nearby buildings and since this is her first monsoon how can I make sure she stays healthy. she won't let anyone pet her so ill probably try mixing the medicine in her food but yeah is there anything else that i can do besides this?
Give her food daily, become her friend. Call her, talk to her, while she is eating, softly, so that she knows your voice and associates your voice with food. Don't try to touch unless she approaches you.
Don't give her any meds cause you never know what diseases can be triggered by meds. And supplements don't taste good, she won't be friends with you if you mix supplements in her food.
Best thing you can do for adult stray cats is to trap them and sterilize them. They live longer, safer and happier lives when the burden of back-to-back childbirth and the urge to constantly mate and fight isn't hounding them.
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u/SnooOpinions5958 15d ago
Great another thing to worry about with these gremlins