Kathryn Lucariello – Your cat decides to sleep longer than usual, maybe eight to 12 hours, without moving except to eat a small amount, or she sits hunched over, head down, and won’t eat at all. You think, “Oh, she’s really tired from a hard day of play,” or “She just has a little cold.” If this behavior continues the next day and you wonder if you should see a vet, it might already be too late to save your cat. It was almost too late to save ours this Spring.
These are the first symptoms of cytauxzoonosis, a deadly disease caused by the cytauxzoon felis protozoan parasite, spread by ticks that get it from bobcats. By the time symptoms show up, a domestic cat has already had the disease for several days. Known commonly as “bobcat fever,” it can kill a domestic cat in as little as three days from the first symptoms. It killed one of ours last Fall. It is a painful disease and excruciating death.
Bobcat fever is rampant in the mid-South and Southeast and spreading to several surrounding states. It is considered an “emerging disease,” although first diagnosed in 1976. Many owners in Carroll County have lost their cats to it.
Tick and flea preparations such as Frontline® do not prevent the parasite being passed, even though the tick may die once it ingests the drug. Also, you won’t always see a tick on a cat that has been bitten. There is no known vaccine and no guarantee of immunity if the cat recovers.
“I’ve seen cats recover when there was no hope, I’ve seen cats relapse who have had it before, and I’ve seen cats who seemed to be doing well and recovering, then crash,” Dr. Wes Rice, veterinarian at the Family Pet Vet in Berryville said.
In September 2015, our male tuxedo cat contracted the disease. Having had one 19-year-old cat miraculously survive it in 1998, we did not recognize the symptoms at first and did not think to tell the vet (not our regular vet) that we suspected bobcat fever, or they might have seen him sooner. Despite treatment, our tuxedo cat died in two days. We were heartbroken.
In late November 2015, our female calico showed symptoms, and at midnight we rushed her to the emergency clinic in Springdale. Although her blood sample did not show parasites, they started treatment, based on symptoms and blood counts. The 10-day protocol, called “A&A” (antibiotic and anti-parasitic), has shown a 60-percent recovery rate. We continued treatment at home and also gave her monolaurin, which is lauric acid derived from coconuts, and has been shown to be antibacterial, antifungal and anti-parasitic, although few studies have been done on it and none on bobcat fever specifically. Our cat was back to her old self in four days.
However, if it was bobcat fever, her recovery did not convey immunity. On May 3 this year, she was diagnosed with the disease, and thus began an 11-day ordeal to save her life. Our vet started the A&A protocol, this time adding IV fluids and nutrients, and heparin to keep her blood from clotting.
We brought our cat to our vet’s office during the day and took her home each night to monitor and administer the protocol as well as continue the monolaurin through the night, and we continued this pattern through her treatment. We also used healing energy work and prayer. She hardly ate, lost weight and became very weak, jaundiced, and had fluid in her lungs. The vet feared the worst.
“Usually by this point, they are nearing the end,” he said. “If she starts to yowl, that will be the sign she’s dying, and we’ll have to put her down. But as long as she’s fighting I won’t give up on her.” And neither did we. Her fever stayed up, which was a good sign, he said, and he kept it within a helpful but not dangerous range.
Bit by bit, against all odds, our cat began to improve. Her energy returned, slowly. By May 14, she took her last medication, and she was eating and drinking again.
The vet told us, “I’ve never treated a cat with this for this long and had it survive.”
We cannot prove it, but we think everything we and the vet did, the treatments – medical, herbal, energy work and prayer – and bringing our cat home at night – all worked together to save her life. There is no guarantee that this would work with another cat, as every cat and every case is different.
We hope our cat has immunity now, but we don’t know that. We are taking measures to prevent a recurrence.
The biggest advice we would give cat owners, based on our experience, is that if you see symptoms of lethargy and not eating, even one day of them, get your cat to the vet right away and tell them you suspect bobcat fever. Time is of the essence.
We can’t thank Dr. Rice and his wonderful staff enough for their dedication, caring and expertise in treating this horrible disease and not giving up on our cat. We also thank the Berryville Veterinary Clinic for groundbreaking work in saving our cat in 1998, and all the vets in Carroll County for continued dedication. And especially want to thank Dr. Jim Fain of Eureka Springs for bringing monolaurin to the attention of the community.
We are happy to be a resource for anyone dealing with this tragic disease and will share what we know and specifically what we did to treat our cat. Feel free to email us at klucariello@gmail.com or call (479) 253-6211.
My cat just died from this yesterday morning. It was the hardest thing to watch. I just thought he’d lost weight and was sleepy from the heat. I searched for ticks and found zero. Holding him while he took his last breaths was horrible. I knew he was suffering and I couldn’t do a thing for him at that point. All I could do was talk to him, pray and rub his body. I laid his head on my chest so he could hear my heart beat. It was always his favorite place to lay. I’m laying here in bed trying to fall asleep but he’s buried in my back yard on my side of the bed and I just wanna go get him and wake him up. Please don’t wait when u notice something.