Gabriels gone...
Gabriels gone...
Gabriel died this morning. He woke me up at about 5 this morning having a seizure and he was gone about 10 minutes later. We're waiting on the lab results still from Grey Bear. We went ahead with the test for FIP but it will take 7-10 business days. Too late for Gabriel anyways but it would be nice to know what happened to him. We're going to be doing massive house cleaning. Traci, or anyone else, do you know how long the virus that causes FIP can live in a dry environment. I can't exactly bleach my carpets so I don't want to bring another cat in too soon and have the virus still living and infect another cat. We've decided we're going to stay away from the FeLV+ simply for the fact that neither one of us can handle losing another cat like this. We've decided on a 13 year old black persian named Johnny. Kids stress him out and, while he is absolutely gorgeous, he can't compete with the cute fuzzy kittens that we have in our rescue. We'll probably get another cat when we move in June, but I miss having a cat around. It seems too quiet in my house. Thanks everyone for your support and help and advice.
-
Tina B and crew
- Posts: 2536
- Joined: Fri Apr 25, 2003 9:48 am
- Location: Virginia
***TEARS***
Erica, I am so truly and deeply sorry about little Gabriel, this must be so painful for you.
My heart and prayers go out to you and Geoff....please know my thoughts are with you. Thank you for caring so much for these babies, opening your heart, your home and your life to them....they left this world knowing love and the best of care because of you.
I don't know what to tell you but others will know how to best clean the area.
{{{{{{{HUGS}}}}}}}
D~
Erica, I am so truly and deeply sorry about little Gabriel, this must be so painful for you.
My heart and prayers go out to you and Geoff....please know my thoughts are with you. Thank you for caring so much for these babies, opening your heart, your home and your life to them....they left this world knowing love and the best of care because of you.
I don't know what to tell you but others will know how to best clean the area.
{{{{{{{HUGS}}}}}}}
D~
-
TheSkeptic
- Posts: 1703
- Joined: Fri Apr 25, 2003 8:56 am
- Location: LaPlace LA
Sorry
You have my condolences on your loss. ....
Erica, I'm so very sorry about Gabriel, my heart goes out to you, so much heartache in so little time...
As with any infectious virus, it can live in the environment for several months. I would bleach everything that is non-porous, including all tiled floors, bedding, concrete, anything that can be cleaned with bleach. For other areas like your carpets, steam clean, but keep other cats well away in another room while you're doing this. The key to effective disinfection is making sure that after you've cleaned, everything is thoroughly DRY and carpets air-dried because any of these viruses can survive on wet surfaces and wet environments. To be safe, throw away any toys that these two came in contact with, including dishes if they were plastic. Otherwise, all else can be tossed into the washer or dishes can be cleaned in the dishwasher.
Also investigate your home for any tell-tale signs of toxicity, plants that were nibbled, chemical or cleaner spills, any pills you take that might have been dropped, rat bait/poison, etc. FIP rarely causes seizure activity, so if your vet at some point rules it out, the first thing to do is rule out toxins in your environment.
Again, I'm so sorry for your loss, my thoughts and prayers are with you. (((Hugs)))
As with any infectious virus, it can live in the environment for several months. I would bleach everything that is non-porous, including all tiled floors, bedding, concrete, anything that can be cleaned with bleach. For other areas like your carpets, steam clean, but keep other cats well away in another room while you're doing this. The key to effective disinfection is making sure that after you've cleaned, everything is thoroughly DRY and carpets air-dried because any of these viruses can survive on wet surfaces and wet environments. To be safe, throw away any toys that these two came in contact with, including dishes if they were plastic. Otherwise, all else can be tossed into the washer or dishes can be cleaned in the dishwasher.
Also investigate your home for any tell-tale signs of toxicity, plants that were nibbled, chemical or cleaner spills, any pills you take that might have been dropped, rat bait/poison, etc. FIP rarely causes seizure activity, so if your vet at some point rules it out, the first thing to do is rule out toxins in your environment.
Again, I'm so sorry for your loss, my thoughts and prayers are with you. (((Hugs)))
..........Traci
Thanks Traci...
I planned on bleaching everything that I could and steam cleaning the carpets. I may just wait til we move out of that apartment into the new one. Plastic needs to be thrown away? Will the bleach soak into it? I don't have any plants in my house and all the cleaning supplies are kept on the top shelf of a cupboard. No kitties in there. We did put out ant bait traps a few weeks ago but they were out of the house the next day...gabriel had been playing with one...I don't think Grey Bear messed with it though. Geoffs at home throwing whatever he can into the washer and dishwasher. I'll tell him to just throw the dishes away. Would it be ok to bleach the scratching post or should we just toss that too? I was thinking of soaking it in bleach for the night and then water to clear off all the bleach. What about the litter boxes? They're all plastic, should we just get new ones or would soaking them in bleach work?
Plastics are harder to ensure total disinfection because they have scratches or deep cut lines through the plastic, which can harbor bacteria or viruses. Bleaching any plastic would be fine, but where you are in a situation where you don't know if FIP was the causitive factor or not, I'd simply throw them away.
As for the scratching post, don't bleach it, you can use Woolite carpet foam on it, just apply a few times, work through with damp cloth, vaccum, dry completely (I'd do this in your garage or somewhere away from other cats)
Tell your vet about the ant bait, it may be reaching, but he should know it's a possibility, especially where a seizure was concerned.
As for waiting it out until you move, you'll have to clean anyway, and if you don't, you don't want to put risk to other cats with new homeowners.
Did you talk to your vet today? Are you opting for a necropsy?
As for the scratching post, don't bleach it, you can use Woolite carpet foam on it, just apply a few times, work through with damp cloth, vaccum, dry completely (I'd do this in your garage or somewhere away from other cats)
Tell your vet about the ant bait, it may be reaching, but he should know it's a possibility, especially where a seizure was concerned.
As for waiting it out until you move, you'll have to clean anyway, and if you don't, you don't want to put risk to other cats with new homeowners.
Did you talk to your vet today? Are you opting for a necropsy?
..........Traci
Cleaning
Thanks Traci...I'll probably just throw them away. i don't have any cats in the house now so I can do a good cleaning. i was going to clean my apartment when I left of course...but just wondered if it might be safer to wait and get another cat at the new apartment...I guess we'll just wait and see. Probably be better to clean the apartment once now and once before we move. Just in case the new people have a cat. I was kind of worried about the ant bait when I thought about it just now but doesn't most poinsoining show itself right away? It wasn't even out for a night. We heard Gabriel playing with it and took it away and picked them all up. I'll ask my vet about it though. We may do a necropsy. We still have Gabriel, he's in the bathroom right now...in a box. My vet's out today so I'll call tomorrow. See what she thinks.
Erica, I don't want this to be too emotional for you, but in order to do a necropsy, it must be done right away, not tomorrow. If your vet has a pager service or another associate vet in his clinic, call now and explain the situation or call another vet. I know this is difficult for you, but a necropsy can shed some light on what happened and help to give you some closure. Remember, Gabriel is in a better place now, not in his body.
Bait poisoning does not always show signs and symptoms right away. For example, it can take anywhere from one day to 4 weeks to show signs of kidney failure, neurological problems, seizures, etc. Same applies to other chemicals, dependent on the amount ingested, the pet's ability to filter the toxins or not.
Bait poisoning does not always show signs and symptoms right away. For example, it can take anywhere from one day to 4 weeks to show signs of kidney failure, neurological problems, seizures, etc. Same applies to other chemicals, dependent on the amount ingested, the pet's ability to filter the toxins or not.
..........Traci