My two cats: Umbro and Kuro caught the parvo virus, and they survived. Let me share to you our ordeal.
Here's my two cats: Umbro and Kuro, they're siblings. They're a mix of Siamese and Puspin (Pusang Pinoy). By the way Puspin is a common housecat breed in the Philippines. They both started as purely black kittens and as they age, some of their fur turned rust-like brown and if you look closely they kinda have a fur pattern of a tabby cat.
These two are inseparable. They share meals together literally. They eat on the same bowl. And they quickly miss each other if they got separated for a short time.
This is Umbro, she's a female cat with a short brush-like tail. She is quick and mischievous, She's adventurous and curious that's why she always likes to get out of the house.
This is Kuro, a proud male cat with a very long furry tail. He's calm and likes to always stay on my side. He's lazy but still quick and strong. He's also very picky on his stuff and food.
Last month, Umbro got out of the house again and went back just fine. After few days, she always sleep, hides and doesn't like to eat, she's also unresponsive/lethargic. We thought that she's just fine and got scared again after getting out of the house so I left her some food. The next day I checked the food bowl and Kuro is the only one that ate the food. I tried to feed Umbro but she doesn't want to eat. Then she hides again inside her favorite box. This is where I thought something's wrong with her.
So we took her to the vet, before taking her to the vet she suddenly makes that hacking/coughing sound like she wants to throw up a furball. And she's starting to have a cold and I can hear and feel her lungs crackling as I carry her to her cage. I thought that she's just caught a cold because she's always like that since I got her as a kitten. But I got a feeling that this is worse than her common cold.
The vet took her blood for testing and they also did another test to see if she got a virus. Unfortunately she positive for the parvo virus (feline panleukopenia, feline distemper). Parvo virus is a fatal virus that affects immunocompromised and unvaccinated kittens and cats. This virus have a high fatal rate if the cat is untreated early. The vet said that Umbro's condition is poor to grave meaning that she might die anytime soon even with treatment. The vet recommended to confine Umbro but her medical bill is already high so we took her home and we'll treat her ourselves. The vet also said that we should monitor Kuro's condition because he and Umbro are always together and shares the same food bowl.
Here's Umbros's meds as prescribed by the vet. They're antibiotics and medicine for her colds. Umbro is now quarantined to her cage.
My girlfriend also prepared a special liquid food for Umbro. It's an egg (with no white), mixed with turmeric powder and sugar. She also prepared a prebiotic drink mixed with crushed SMP tablet. We also bought saline powder and added some to the mix.
This is our set up: I hold the cats while my girlfriend feed and medicate them. We fed Umbro using a syringe. She resisted it but we have to force feed her and administer her medications so that she recovers. We did this four times a day. And during the night we boiled some water with ginger to make Umbro inhale the steam to help her breathe better. I can already feel the stress at this point. By the way the cats rejected the probiotic drink.
At this point, Kuro is now showing the same symptoms as Umbro's so we assumed that he also got the parvo virus and did the same procedure to him: Forced feeding via syringe and administering medicine. Umbro is weak but still have the strength to resist. But in Kuro's case, it's very difficult. He's a strong cat with pride. He clawed and scratched our hands and arms several times while feeding and medicating him. One time, I got angry because of the stress and depression and left Kuro alone without feeding and giving him meds because he's so stubborn and our hands/arms got hurt from his scratches. I got guilty of course and I have to feed/medicate him myself.
Day 3: Umbro started to drink water by herself. (her water have saline powder mixed in it). It's a good sign that she's recovering. It made me happy.
Kuro is also quarantined. We bought a cage for him but it's too small for him to move. Kuro is not looking good and sometimes vomits the food/medicine we gave him.
By the way, I always clean their cages and refilling their own litterboxes. It's not healthy for them to have dirty and smelly quarantine cages.
Since Umbro is now drinking by herself, we prepared a small portion of wet food on a disposable plate and tried to feed her. Thank God she started eating. We did the same thing to Kuro but he still doesn't want to eat and drink by himself.
Day 8: We took Umbro to the vet for follow-up check up. The vet is surprised and happy to see Umbro recovered from the virus. The vet did a blood test on her and it shows that she's almost cured but we still have go give her vitamins for her speedy recovery. We gave her multivitamins with iron mixed with her wet food.
Kuro is still sick but slowly gaining strength. We let Kuro out of his cage because it's stressing him and made his hind legs weaker because he can't stretch and walk around. I'm still glad that he can still jump to get some rest on top of his favorite table.
Day 9: I have to feed Kuro myself from now on. We bonded together and he became kinda cooperative when I'm feeding/medicating him with using syringes. But he still have that pride, he sometimes rejects and scratch me while I'm feeding him resulting to his liquid food to spill all over his fur. He still can't groom himself so I wiped the mess on his face with wet wipes.
He started to have interest in the food I'm preparing for Umbro so I tried to feed him on a disposable plate but it didn't work. I remembered that Kuro is a very picky cat so I bought two food and water bowls for both cats. I also let Umbro out because she's cured and now immune to parvo to give Kuro the motivation to eat for himself. Kuro likes to eat together with Umbro.
Day 12: After letting Kuro take a sunbath in the morning, he surprisingly started to eat by himself with Umbro. He ate a few but it's still a progress. Kuro is getting better. But due to stress and possibly to allergic reactions to the egg meal. Kuro shed a lot of fur on his chin to his neck. And yeah, both cats now love to sunbathe to the same spot where I place them while they're both still quarantined in their cages.
Day 26: Umbro and Kuro looks great and healthier than before. Kuro's hind legs is still weak but now they're getting better. He can now jump and run a little. Also his fur is starting to grow back.
Umbro is now back at her mischievous ways. Her urge to go outside is back again but I'm not letting her out until she and Kuro got vaccinated. Now both cats are happy and now playing with their cat toys and wrestle each other again.
Both of them are growing so fast and healthy. I now love them more than before because of the ordeal we went through. Me and my girlfriend are happy that both of them survived the parvo virus. It's a great Christmas gift for me to see them fully recovered and our suffering is over. Parvo virus is a fatal but curable if treated early. In Umbro and Kuro's case it's already late for them, they almost died, especially Umbro, but they both miraculously recovered.
Cheers!
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