At the shelter we recently had a few kittens with mouth sores. They are fine now, after a course of Clavamox. The shelter vet (who I think is rather useless) looked at them and said "calici virus?" and walked away. Well, my boss has seen calici virus and this was NOT that virus. It was just a small red spot below the nose on the upper or lower lips, no puss, no open sores, just red spots.
Like I said, they are fine now, but what do you think it was?
mouth sores?
Re: mouth sores?
"red spots" doesn't leave much to go on, it could have been any number of things. How many kittens are there, and did each kitten have the same spot, different number of spots, or different appearance of spots?
Btw, calicivirus cannot be diagnosed specifically unless a specific test is done to confirm. And, if the vet even mentioned or suspected calicivirus, then the shelter had better be testing to prevent an outbreak. I'm assuming the kittens were isolated?
Btw, calicivirus cannot be diagnosed specifically unless a specific test is done to confirm. And, if the vet even mentioned or suspected calicivirus, then the shelter had better be testing to prevent an outbreak. I'm assuming the kittens were isolated?
..........Traci
Re: mouth sores?
Nope, no tests and they are fine now. Just trying to gather opinions 
Re: mouth sores?
Yeah, that's all I got. They weren't weepy spots, not open sores, but they were inflamed, and fortunately went away with anti-biotics!
I was able to sneak a cat with cellulitis (sp?) to a good vet recently. I will do it again if I need to. This red spot problem doesn't seem to be contagious or life threatening in any way, but I sure would like to know what it was in case it pops up again!
I was able to sneak a cat with cellulitis (sp?) to a good vet recently. I will do it again if I need to. This red spot problem doesn't seem to be contagious or life threatening in any way, but I sure would like to know what it was in case it pops up again!
Re: mouth sores?
It could be anything, from eating something toxic, to bad food, to a viral, to immunological, to having had a mother with an infection, to parasites, to ANYTHING.
You shouldn't assume the problem wasn't contagious, while it doesn't seem likely only according to your description, never assume with potential virals, since incubation periods can be one week to several weeks, and if some cats are adopted out during that time, you have no way of knowing if they were infected...in a shelter environment, assume ALL cats are exposed, unless stringent isolation procedures are put into place, or isolation testing is done.
You shouldn't assume the problem wasn't contagious, while it doesn't seem likely only according to your description, never assume with potential virals, since incubation periods can be one week to several weeks, and if some cats are adopted out during that time, you have no way of knowing if they were infected...in a shelter environment, assume ALL cats are exposed, unless stringent isolation procedures are put into place, or isolation testing is done.
..........Traci
Re: mouth sores?
Our shelter can only do so much. 
We isolate for ringworm but the isolation area is small. I haven't seen any cats isolated for any other reason (so far). Will update if anything comes of this!
We isolate for ringworm but the isolation area is small. I haven't seen any cats isolated for any other reason (so far). Will update if anything comes of this!