A waiting game that's quite serious

IN MY household, curing an illness sometimes requires lots and lots of patience.

My white lady Mekhala, for instance, suffers from feline Aids (Fiv) and does not recover from infections as quickly as an uninfected cat would. The virus has weakened her immune system, and any injury, infection or even a mild inflammation must be carefully monitored and treated, or her problem will worsen.

After the cold temperatures of a month or so ago, she came down with a lung infection, which grew worse with any stressful situation in the household.

With Mekhala, we have to be careful about the antibiotics we give her. As with humans, if you overuse an antibiotic, your body will gradually develop immunity to it. As a result, the antibiotic loses its effectiveness.

My vet has done her best to find the best antibiotic for a cat with her special problems, but gradually that best antibiotic has stopped being effective.

We finally changed to a different antibiotic, a liquid I must give her twice a day. Slowly, that infection is being cured, but another problem has arisen.

With the stress of the illness (I think), Mekhala has developed a yeast infection, caused by spores that are normally found on any cat or dog. With a healthy animal, nothing happens, but when the immune system is weakened, the spores start causing discomfort, and now poor Mekhala is scratching away at her ears and neck.

To treat this yeast infection, Mekhala needs to take medication – and she also needs to be bathed in a special shampoo. For a few weeks, though, the vet is reluctant to treat the fungus, while she’s taking antibiotics; nor can she have a bath while she has the lung infection.

To reduce the discomfort from the fungus, I’m allowed to give her an antihistamine, which doesn’t cure anything but does make her feel a little bit better.

Because of the Fiv, the poor cat also has teeth and gum problems, an additional source of pain. She can’t chew properly, and whenever she tries, she vomits up the unchewed food. That terrible lung infection, however, has reduced her ability to breathe properly. There’s no way she can be given the anaesthetic necessary for a vet to put a hand in her mouth to clean her teeth.

After a month and a half of treatment, slowly, slowly the lung infection improves. It’s still there, but at least Mekhala can breathe strongly enough for her teeth to be cleaned. Now at least part of the pain has been eliminated, and Mekhala happily and constantly visits the food bowl.

A week or so later, we also begin treatment for the fungus. The medicine helps reduce the impact of the fungus, but the treatment is not yet complete. She’s not allowed to have a bath until her lungs are completely healthy.

The vet is optimistic. “Her lungs are still infected, but they sound much better than they have in a long, long time,” she smiles.

I’m sure Mekhala doesn’t mind skipping those baths, but from her past yeast infections, the special shampoo really helps eliminate the fungus.

Actually, any one or maybe two of Mekhala’s health problems would be ordinary in any other animal. You take care of your pet’s teeth problems regularly. You make sure that he’s not suffering from lung infections or any other infection or inflammation.

It’s just that Mekhala always seems to suffer from three or four problems at the same time. With the Fiv, it takes so much longer for her to get better and to feel better.

Right now, though, I know she’s feeling better. She’s even gaining weight. My vet laughs. Only in my home does a sick animal get fatter and fatter.