Tiger gets RetroMAD1 (Day 2)

Connie came over to fetch me to the clinic where I hoped Tiger will qualify for the RetroMAD1.

The vet was really nice and kind.

He explained that not all sporo cats make it despite treatment and one's best efforts. Tiger, being FIV-positive for so many years also means that his immunity is already significantly compromised, so this does not work to Tiger's favour.

However, judging from the looks of the wounds, the sporo is still in its early stages. And as with the previous vet, this vet also says that the wounds do not look like the "classic" sporo wounds.

So we decided to take another impression smear, this time, from the wounds in all three limbs.

Waiting for the impression smear results.

The vet took quite a long time to look under the microscope. Finally, he told us that he could not see any spores at all and asked if I've used a lot of Lamisil cream on the wounds. Perhaps the Lamisil had dried up the wounds and the spores could not be seen today.

However, a sporo wound erupts from the inside, so maybe superficially, no spores could be seen today. And the wounds also look very superficial.

There was a slight glimmer of hope - maybe there are no more spores? Maybe it isn't sporotrichosis, after all?

We repeated the impression smear and this time, the spores were visible.

Oh...so it IS sporotrichosis?

Yes, it is.

The vet recommends to keep the treatment protocol simpler, ie. Sporonox (1/3 cap twice a day), antibiotics (to prevent secondary infection since the wounds are likely to erupt, living room for infections to happen) and RetroMAD1 (3 times a day to combat the FIV virus so that the body can concentrate on recovering from the sporotrichosis). The rest of the supplements are secondary and the vet would prefer to keep to the minimum so that we could easily isolate and identify which medicine isn't viable, just in case. That made sense too.

But he did say that it is alright to supplement with Vetri DMG. As for the rest of the herbal supplements, he would leave that decision to me since he doesn't know the composition of the supplements.

As for how the disease spreads, it does so through the spores. If the spores get into our open wounds, it will start to grow from there.  So we have to be really careful when handling Tiger's wounds. Luckily I have no open wounds on me right now. Tiger also cannot touch nose with any other cat as the spores might spread into the mucous membrane of the nostril and grow from there, giving the classic "clown's nose" which is often seen in sporo cats.

We saw a sporo cat at the clinic and he was on the road to recovery already. He still had the "clown's nose".

The vet said sporo treatment takes months, normally. I know this, so I'm prepared for the long haul with Tiger. It's just that the quarantine is a little challenging as we cannot make him understand why he cannot go back to the room. And the PatioCats are upset why they cannot come in.

Ginger seems to be very concerned about Tiger and wants to accompany him. Sweet Ginger and sweet Tiger, both are of the same temperament.

So, it's all about feeding Tiger his medicines and keeping the hygiene to minimise the chances of the spread of the spores.

Tiger and all of us thank you very much for your very kind wishes and prayers.