Hi everyone.
This is my first post. I have had cats all of my life and they have all been healthy. I adopted a male cat (5 years old) from a shelter in Johannesburg a year ago. We have been great friends but i thought he might want a girlfriend, so three weeks ago, I bought a female Maine Coon Kitten.
I have a series of concerns and so I don’t know where to begin:
1. my cat hates the kitten, but now hates me more. I thought I would give her away if he continued to be so upset. (even though this is also upsetting)
2. She has a patch of skin behind her ear that she was scratching a lot. she had fleas. But even after she was treated she kept scratching. I figured that it was because from scratching the fleas when they wer there so much, she irritated the skin. I put some balm on, and the irritation went away. She no longer scratches, but a clump of hair is missing and the skin looks black. Someone said it might be Mange????
3. I am now on a business trip in NAIROBI and I left both cats to be cared for by a friend (in my house). I have just heard that the kitten had a 40 degree Celcius fever, and my friend brought her to the vet. She was given antibiotics. Since I am getting information second hand, I am not 100% sure what the vet said. But she gave her an antibiotic shot and antibiotics to take by mouth for 5 days. The vet knows I have another cat and mentioned nothing about this being contageous. My friend said that the kitten was drinking stagnant water in a potted plant, and maybe got sick from that? There was also a recent drop in temperature. I am worried that she might be contageous, or have FIV, or that the fever is linked with the missing patch of fur. But I HOPE that I am wrong and that she just got a bacterial infection.
My friend will take her back to the vet tomorrow, with a stool sample, and I asked that she be tested for FIV.
I am really scared. I got this kitten FOR my other cat. He hates her. He hates me. Now she is ill, and now I am terrified she will also get him ill.
What should I do?