Carol's Corner Office

23. June 2008 by Carol.

I have a four year old tabby who just showed up one day and opted us. She stayed outside until it started to get cold outdoors and I couldn’t bear to leave her out there. So I took her to the vet and got a clean bill of health for her and brought her in. The rest, as they say, is history. She has insinuated herself into my life and is all tangled up in my heartstrings now!

Lo and behold, this year she got her booster shots at the Vet’s and a week or so later she took ill. She was in Intensive Care with a fever of 105.8. They gave her all kinds of tests and determined that her fever is the result of an adverse reaction to her distemper booster shot. She was in two different animal hospitals and thus far I have spent approximately $2,100.00 on her care.

She seemed to be doing very well after she finished her course of treatment and was playing like a kitten again. It did my heart good to see her so healthy and playful.

The bad news is that two weeks later the fever is back. They give her fluids and anti-inflamatory medication as well as antibioltics but they don’t know why it helps because they don’t know what it is in the shot that causes this reaction. They just call it “fever of unknown origin.”

I rue the day I ever let her receive this distemper shot and indeed I think it is incumbent upon vets to let owners know the risks of such serious side effects. I have been told by the vet since this happened that since she is an indoor cat she really doesn’t need the distemper shot but nobody asked me whether she was an indoor or outdoor cat before her inoculation nor was I warned about the possible side effects of such a shot.

The vet told me yesterday that “worse case scenario” the cat’s fever would reach 106 degrees at which point brain damage occurs and her organs will begin to shut down. So this is a warning to anyone who has an indoor cat – think long and hard before you get a distemper shot for your cat!