Sick ferals and need help FAST!!!!

[BabyMay]

Here is the situation. At my sons house there is a group of ferals that come and go. I feed them and tame the kittens when I can and find homes for them. There is some kittens that are about 6 months old and they have developed an upper respitory infection. Now these are ones that have wondered here from other places. I can not get near them. I called the Vet and they will not give antibiotics without seeing the cats. I explained to them that there is no way I can bring these cats in. But they will not give me anything for them. What can I do to help them. They have a warm barn and hay to lay in, but they are snotty and don't feel good. I can't just sit by and wait for them to die or get better. Any one have any ideas on what I can give them?

[sj2004]

Do you or anyone you know have access to a humane trap? That maybe your only hope of having them seen.

[Mav2007]

What about having the vet come out to see the cats? Even though they won't be able to touch them, atleast they'd see that they exist and then maybe they'd give you something that you can feed the cats.

My parent's cats all had this snotty nose upper respiratory thing going on for months and months. When the vet was out for something else, my mom mentioned it and the vet basically said it was an upper respiratory thing and there wasn't much you could do about it. The cats didn't die from it, but it dragged on and on and on............

Other than that maybe you can get vitamins to add to their water or possibly you can check a home remedies for cats website.

[mlh619]

We have the same problem sometimes and we get tetracycline from our local feed store. It is labeled for chickens/turkeys, swine, cattle and sheep. We mix it up for the about 1 gram per gallon water I think and then leave it out for the cats. We lock them in the quonset for about 5 days with this meditcated water and they look a million times better. We can't get close enough to do anything else.

[step n starstruck]

Originally Posted by mlh619

We have the same problem sometimes and we get tetracycline from our local feed store. It is labeled for chickens/turkeys, swine, cattle and sheep. We mix it up for the about 1 gram per gallon water I think and then leave it out for the cats. We lock them in the quonset for about 5 days with this meditcated water and they look a million times better. We can't get close enough to do anything else.

Ditto this.

Or (for the ones you can manage to grab and wrap up) you can give injections of penicillin - 0.5 cc once daily for small cats, 1 cc once daily for average adult cats. Give sub Q (just under the skin and parallel to the body).

You may give your large animal vet a call - they are sometimes more lenient than small animal vets. Most any Vet will try to work with "regular" clients. Also, try to actually talk to the Vet. The front end people are trained to give you this response 1) to keep stuff like this from "back logging" the Vet and 2) it is the law and the Vet's license is on the line.

[step n starstruck]

Originally Posted by step n starstruck

You may give your large animal vet a call - they are sometimes more lenient than small animal vets. Most any Vet will try to work with "regular" clients. Also, try to actually talk to the Vet. The front end people are trained to give you this response 1) to keep stuff like this from "back logging" the Vet and 2) it is the law and the Vet's license is on the line.

The law in Fl. requires that the Vet has a working Dr/patient relationship and that the patient is seen at least annually.

Some Vets will "fudge" it if a client is a frequent visitor.