How Is Bandit Doing?

Summer 2003

Bandit survived his battle with mange in summer 2003. As the recovery sequence photos show, he made a full and complete recovery.

Fall 2004

In fall 2004, Bandit had an encounter with another skin disorder that may have been early mange. I hit it fast with oral Ivermectin and he recovered rapidly.

Spring 2005

Bandit is in trouble again, but not because our home mange cure was ineffective. It worked well and Bandit was healthy for over a year.

But in the spring of 2005, we've got problems.

In early April, Bandit started to get symptoms like the early stages of his original 2003 encounter. But then he showed a fluid discharge from his left ear, which was new. Some research indicated that this is another way that mites sometimes cause damage.

I put a dose of Ivermectin in Bandit's food, and he seemed to recover rapidly. But I could never get him to eat a follow-up dose (Ivermectin tastes bad). The symptoms returned, including the oozing ear. And now Bandit eats little or nothing. (It is not unusual for sick cats to stop eating.) So I have no way to get medicine into him. Worse yet, cats can get liver damage from not eating, even for just a day or two.

5 May 2005

I am more concerned about Bandit not eating than not getting medicine. I have scoured local stores in search of tasty treats that Bandit might eat. I chase him around the neighborhood with bowls of food - whenever he stops, I put down a bowl of food and retreat to watch. He seldom eats.

I have gotten some Cyproheptadine, an antihistamine that is often effective in stimulating the appetite of cats. I have mixed it in his food, hoping that if he eats a little, it will make him eat more. I have smeared drugs on his fur, hoping that he would groom himself and lick it off.

I don't know how this story will end.

I have a 10X zoom on my camera, and have collected some new pictures for the symptoms page. If nothing else, I will be able to help others. And if Bandit doesn't survive, I know that at least I gave him two more years of life than he would otherwise have had without me.

But Bandit is a wonderful cat. I sure hope that he gets better.

10 May 2005

Bandit is looking a little better. The fluid oozing from his left ear has stopped, the previous material has dried up, and some of it has flaked off. He seems to look a little less unkempt.

Diana reports that he ate half a serving of wet food last night. I offered him some this morning, but he didn't seem inclined to eat it. Perhaps he filled up on kibble.

My current approach is as follows:

Keep fresh food and water outside at all times, in case Bandit gets hungry. [We normally don't do this because crows like to steal some and scatter the rest. Also, it encourages other cats to intrude in Bandit's territory. I'll take a chance of feeding the wrong animals, if it improves the odds of feeding the right one.]
We feed him wet food with special treats twice a day. This is often laced with Cyproheptadine.
Once a week, I try to smear goopy medication on his fur, hoping that he will groom himself and ingest it.

15 May 2005

I suspect that Bandit has gone deaf.

I was doing some gardening work, which includes using a string trimmer around the edges of the front and back yards, motorized hedge clippers on the pomegranate tree and trellis, and mowing the lawn. All of this uses noisy equipment that usually scares cats away.

Before starting, I hunted around for Bandit and found him napping under a rose bush in the back yard. So as not to disturb him, I did all the noisy stuff out front, then moved to the back. Bandit was still asleep.

I used the quieter tools first, working my way up to the mower that invariably sent cats running in the past. Bandit slept through it under the rose bush.

This is not a good sign.

19 May 2005 - Final Entry

I had Bandit put to sleep this morning, at approximately 9:30 AM.

Diana had seen him on the two previous mornings, but resting against the house in an unusual position. He looked dirty, as if he had been spending a lot of time under the neighbors' house. This morning, Diana found Bandit on the grass between our house and the access hatch to under the neighbors' house. When Diana approached him, Bandit made as if to run away, but he was unable to stand.

We took Bandit to the emergency pet clinic, who briefly examined him, declared him "stable", and sent us to one of our regular vets. [The emergency clinic was about to close for the day.]

While we were waiting, I looked Bandit over. He was extremely lethargic, his only motions being labored breathing, occasional eye blinking, and sometimes a whisker twitch. He was clearly dehydrated. He was also very thin, and had burned up anything he had to spare. [In the past, he has had very meaty jowls. These were shrunken.] His ears, that had looked like they were improving, looked "dirty" again. His left ear was goopy again.

We took Bandit to a vet, who decided that the most important problem was neurological. He thought that the ear infection had penetrated to the inner ear and may have been messing with brain function. Perhaps Bandit's muscles would permit him to walk, but his brain was "on a ride at Disneyland".

The vet was very kind, and I took a lot of his time to discuss treatment options. The vet estimated 20% chance of survival. And survival included things like "I've seen some cats who couldn't do anything but walk in circles for the rest of their lives." Diana pointed out that, if Bandit made it at all, it would only be through making him an invalid for a long time - not at all pleasant for an outdoor cat accustomed to freedom.

It was a difficult decision to make, but I think that we made the correct one. That doesn't make it any less heartbreaking.