Page 4 - Spring 16

Who is Ernesto ?
Ernesto is an adopted castrated European black male cat, born approximately June 2001 (real date unknown). He lives in a house still under construction with a big open garden. His territory and that of his female companion reaches somewhat further to the limits of a Brittany village.
Badly nourished after birth, probably traumatized, he was found in the garden following the spayed housecat, trying to
suckle her. He had a purulent wound on its nose, a dull coat and was literally covered in fleas. His ribs were visible and his belly distended. The whiskers were short and curled, like they were burnt. One couldn’t approach him without some food. For years he couldn’t tolerate voices, especially when they were loud. He never had real confidence in men, and even nowadays he doesn’t want to be carried without struggling. It’s only with his present owner that he has nearly the same behaviour as with his feline friend.
Ernesto has Feline Infectious Peritonitis by Jacques Millemann (France)
Normally when strange people come to visit, he flees or if sitting in a high position and not likely to be seen, he doesn’t move. He doesn’t like intruders with clearly aggressive intentions, like the neighbour’s dog or a cat, which tries to come into the barn in order to pinch his food. In a new situation he seems circumspect, quicker to flee than to be curious. When in 2010 he was kept in a doghouse with his cat friend, the caretaker wondered, how he managed to avoid every physical or even visual contact: so far the only evidence there was of her having had a guest, was the disappearance of the cat food and the water in the bowls.
When people come into the house, either he escapes or he ignores them, but he doesn’t let them approach him. He and the house’s dog live side by side and sniff one another a little bit. After 4 years cohabitation, Ernesto lets the dog sniff his backside but not longer than a few seconds.
Consultation on 21/07/2011
He is listless; the third eyelid is protruding a little. For two days he didn’t ask for food at all. Even the sardines in oil was not a great temptation, even if he sipped a little of the olive oil. He glues himself to his owner, which shows that he does not feel well. He lets one handle him easily. He looks exhausted. The day before it rained and he stayed in the garden at the same place for more than 30 minutes.
As a self-prescription by the owner he received yesterday some granules of Pulsatilla 30 CH, chosen on the basis of his gentleness. No real result was noticed. His owner thinks that it could be food intoxication or even a poisoning. There was no real change at home, no more stress than usual, no bad news. It had rained for 4 – 5 days but this is usual in the region. “We just noticed that he was not the same, no vomiting, no cough, no sneezing”. As his anus was somewhat swollen, his owners thought that he eventually could have
constipation problems. Ernesto is a formidable hunter. He eats his preys completely i.e. with feathers, beak and bones when he gets a bird. The consulting vet seemed to agree with the cats owners and proposed to give him a tranquillizer before removing the stool manually. As the gums were very pale, he suggested a blood analysis too.
The local vets diagnosis Infectious Feline Peritonitis on July 21, 2011: the FIV-test was positive and he thought that Ernesto only had between 8 and 14 days to live. The holiday journey, planned for the 24, was cancelled and the family took the cat home from the vet’s clinic. The cat is glued to his owner, purring desperately.
Medical history
After being castrated in 2001, Ernesto produced an Eosinophilic Granuloma, which returns when he stresses (but at the moment not apparent). Some years ago he got a severe urinary infection: there were calculi in his urine. This disappeared with a change of diet and vitamin C to acidify his urine). Today it looks like his kidneys are healthy.
Later on he got most of his teeth removed because of large amounts of tartar. His sense of smell is really poor if not completely wanted, but his sight is great and his hearing fine. It looks as if the extraction of his teeth doesn’t really bother him: he is still a formidable hunter. Since he has lived in the countryside, he is more sociable, more relaxed. It looks as if he has found his place and lives in his element. When he brings his preys back, mostly alive, he doesn’t give them away. He plays a little with them and devours them quickly, especially if the female cat or the dog are nearby. He goes outside all the year round but is more often outside in spring and summer.
He lives at the seaside, surrounded by fields, where there are sometimes cows with or without heifers and intensive agricultural crops.
A big farm with pigs and cows lies nearby. He always pees and defecates outdoors.
In summer he sometimes sleeps in the barn (very airy and not heated) in a basket or any other place, where he feels comfortable, even if he got access to the house by night or by day. When he is sleeping in the house, one can sometimes hear him breathing loudly as if he had emphysema, and this especially, when he lies curled up. He is often curled up, but when it’s hot he can completely spread out with his belly up, even if he decides to jump onto his owner’s knee. Even today it’s only on her knee that he will come and look for being stroked. But this asking for attention only takes place when he decides.
When questioned about the purpose and aim of a medication, the answer was: “He should be in better health”. And on a material level: “ That he could again roam about everywhere, call at us to get something to eat and do what he was used to do”. And on a moral level? “That he could again have a cat’s life”.
He yawns sometimes but not more often than Imelda, the female cat of the house. Ernesto has a shiny coat, rather shorthaired, smoky black, verging on a brownish tone in sunny weather. He had some dandruff in the past, but nothing special at the moment. At the vet’s, when he is stressed, he always looses an impressive amount of hair. He has nice claws, usually very clean. His skin is white under his coat.
Anamnesis and behavioural symptoms
Friendly, gentle, cuddly, quiet, exuberant at times (in 15 minutes bouts or when he demands something to eat), peaceful (often), cautious (always), awkward (sometimes), inquisitive (when it’s about food), cheeky or thieving (never leave butter on the table: you won’t see him but he will get it), he is not
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