Coping With Parvovirus

We have been a multi-cat family for years. Down to a respectable 4, my daughter begged for a kitten. Tialys came to live with us but a few weeks later, my daughter begged us to take in Tia’s sister who had failed to be homed. Mia was then about 10-12 weeks old. Compared to Tia, she was very ‘flat’ - watched, rather than played . Not long after we took in 2 part-bred siamese. As the little ‘gang’ began to establish itself, it became apparent that Mia was not welcome and spent her time alone on the kitchen windowsill. I loved and cuddled her and decided she was just different. As Mia grew she avoided the litter tray and began to urinate on any available item, frequently her urine was pink showing that she was passing blood. My then vet took bloodtests and said that she was o.k and gave her anti-biotics, and she seemed to ‘rally’ a bit, but she suffered from a distinct foetid cat breath. Mia and Tia had kittens. We kept one of Mia’s and two of Tia’s. Mia was covered again by the PB Siamese. Whilst pregnant, Mia Seemed to pick up. We still have the two that she had from the second litter by the PB Siamese, they are now about 6mths old. I recently changed my vet. practice. This practice seemed more interested when I took Mia to see them. I wanted to have her Spayed but was not sure if she was well enough, plus her kittens still had the odd suck if they could get away with it. After several tests, last Friday I had the news that she has the virus. I am devastated as the long term prognosis is not good and more than that, in true ‘Disney’ style, the PB Siamese has bonded with her and always seeks her out and sleeps with her in a ‘nest’ (for want of a better word) with their babies -a perfect cat family, except that it isn’t. My vet was really good and explained the various options over the phone last Friday morning (24th August ‘07). I last saw Mia on Friday evening. She did not come home yesterday and at the time of writing she is still missing. Now I am wondering if she has died somewhere in her sleep or is just staying away. Of the kitten we kept from her first litter, when it was about 3months old, it contracted a ‘cold’ but did not seem ill enough for the vet. No other cats has signs or symptoms and it did recover but still has a ‘runny eye’which the vet assures me is due to a blocked tear duct. In 30 years of having cats I have not heard of the virus. Now I wonder if she has passed it on to her kittens or any of the others - I guess it is wait and see. We live in a rural area and the cats tend to live out rather than in so I am hoping that they will have not contracted it. Some years ago I lost a kitten to FelineParvo. Like Parvo Virus I wish Vet’s would flag up this Calicivirus, if only for educational purposes.