Cat Flu Stress and weight loss complications

[snowday]

I'm posting here for some advice on a very awkward situation.
Our neighbour's cat has been visiting us for the last year and made us his permanent home.
Just before Christmas he became very poorly with running nose and eye and after some research on here we suspected cat flu/feline herpes, after taking him to the vet diagnosed cat flu prescribing a 7 day course of anti biotics.

Shortly after finishing the course his symptoms had not gone away. As we were nursing him through this time, a dispute began with our neighbours/his owners who decided that after all this time we should stop letting him into our home and that they wanted him to return to their home and live with them permanently.

We were heartbroken, but respected their wishes as they have rightful ownership despite him having lived with us permanently for one year. As far as we knew, they were going to lock him in their house for 3-4 weeks and had bought feliway to help him refamiliarise himself with their other cat and to help him readjust to his surroundings.

Today,after being let out for the first time he has turned up at our window having lost a lot a significant amount of weight and with a severely blocked respiratory system. His condition seems to have worsened quite dramatically, so much so that it looked like he'd been out in the cold for days which was really distressing to see. We were so concerned, we contacted our neighbour immediately.

It turns out that our neighbour had only just let him outside for the first time in 3 weeks, and was very shocked that he had immediately come to our house literally within minutes.

They went on to tell us that over the last three weeks, he had stopped eating and they had to administer food to him with a syringe. He had been very very poorly indeed despite their vet prescribing anti-viral drugs and eye drops. According to them, the state he was in now was the best he had been in the whole time they had kept him at home and they believe he is finally starting to recover.

We are in no doubt that he is being well-cared for, but after more research on our part we're more than a little concerned that the stress caused by the dramatic change of environment and routine is what has worsened his condition in every way and prompted the weight loss. Its very clear that our home is his preferred place to be and has been for the last year. He has always been very happy with us, possibly because our neighbour has another cat and young children. When our neighbour came to collect him, he was very distressed about having to leave again.

Our main concern now is that him revisiting us and then being immediately locked inside at our neighbour's home is going to create more stress for him and therefore reactivate the virus and cause him more pain while he is already extremely weak and vulnerable. Any advice is gratefully received as we feel completely powerless to help him and wouldn't be able to forgive ourselves if anything happened. Can anyone please confirm that how stressful a house move can be for a cat with severe cat flu, and could this situation have caused him to stop eating?

N.B Both vets who have consulted him use the term 'cat flu' - we are under no illusion that this is just a cold, and could be feline herpes or worse, FIV. And are particularly worried as our neigbor hasn't had him vaccinated for either condition.

[Elaine]

Oh dear, complicated indeed. There is no uk vaccination for fiv sadly but I wouldn't be so convinced that it was fiv, is he intact? Is he a fighte with other cats? Have the vets suggested any further tests that you know of? Would the current owners be prepared to sell the cat to you? Would you be prepared to buy him?
Under Scottish law it is difficult to prove ownership of a cat as they are free roaming animals.
I think it maybe likely that the poor cat has caroms iris or caliche virus, stressfully living conditions will almost certainly make a cat. With either of these viruses extremely sick.
I sympathise with you but am not sure what you can do other than offer to buy the cat.

[snowday]

Elaine, thanks very much for your reply, it was very helpful.

Yes, he has fought with other cats, and in fact just before his symptoms started showing he had a run in with a local cat where his nose got scratched. Which I suppose points away from FIV because the symptoms would take longer to show? He is not intact, but that doesnt stop him being the slinking around like a big boss man when other cats have step onto his patch!

Yeh, its tricky, i dont think I could offer to buy him from our neighbors, I just wish they would allow him free reign to decide where he wants to be to avoid him from getting any more stressed so that he can recover more quickly. I suppose its very unconventional, but Im sure if we communicated with each other a lot more, that we could make sure he was getting all the food and treatment he required at the right times without having to lock him in anywhere.

Im going to write my neighbors a letter to suggest this and suggest we meet to discuss options I think.

[angieh]

What a difficult situation for all concerned. You obviously have this cat's best interests at heart and I wish you luck and hope that you and your neighbour can come to an agreement which will allow this cat time to recover.

Sorry not to be able to suggest anything.