The Vet Visits Kaiya!

In mid-June, Kaiya, Iona, and Sultan (affectionately known as “The Brats”) got into a scuffle that resulted in Kaiya receiving a claw tear wound to her elbow.  She was placed on an antibiotic called Baytril for about two days to ward off infection.

After a day on the medication, we noticed Kaiya acting nervous and twitching at "phantom" flies.  We took her off the medication, thinking she was having an allergic reaction to the Baytril.  After a couple of days, we noticed her behavior did not improve so we gave her some Benadryl.

Well, the Benadryl did not help her either, so we took her off the mediation hoping our Kaiya's behavior would return to normal.  When there was no change, we called her vet to see what type of treatment we should follow.  He suggested Kaiya go back on the Benadryl for a week and follow-up with him to report any changes.  Unfortunately, her nervous behavior did not improve, so it was time for our vet to come out and visit the girl!

After viewing a few videos we took of Kaiya over a two week period Tuesday morning, our vet expressed concern regarding Kaiya’s behavioral change.  He could not see any outward physical problems, so it was a mystery as to why Kaiya was so jumpy—swatting her face and trying to bite the air towards her back.  We watched as Kaiya suddenly jumped up, for no reason at all, and began pacing around her quarters.  After a while, she would finally lie down in a different spot, and then like clockwork, she’d start the whole process over again!  It was tiring just to watch her.

The decision was made to sedate her so our vet could conduct a thorough body examination. Kaiya was so high strung that it took her 20 minutes or so before she even started feeling the effects of the sedatives, and yet she still tried to get up and move around.  So we gave her another 20 minutes to calm down, to no avail.   Finally, we gave her a very small dose of Ketamine that finally helped her calm down long enough for our vet to examine her.

We inspected her skin (front and back), tummy, chest, armpits, neck, and legs, but found absolutely nothing physically wrong with her.

When we examined her ears, we noticed she had an ear infection, so our vet prescribed Amoxicillin for the next ten days.

We checked her claw tear on her elbow and it was healing nicely. We checked her teeth, heart rate, and toenails, and last but not least, we took a lot of blood for a full blood panel work up.

When we get the blood results, we may start her on Prednisone to see if that helps her. If that doesn't work to calm her down, we’ll have to explore other options to help reduce Kaiya’s nervous behavior.

We will keep you posted regarding Kaiya’s condition as we pray this is only temporary and that it disappears on its own very soon.  We may receive her test results later today, so please check back with us again soon!

We have an update!

Kaiya's blood tests results are in and we have great news to report -- no abnormalities were found in her blood.  Her blood tests came back normal! 

So, for the next week or so, Kaiya will take four Prednisone pills, twice a day. If we see an improvement, then we will slowly wean her off the medication.  If there is no improvement, Kaiya will remain on the Prednisone for a few more days so her vet can reevaluate her condition.   

We'll keep you posted Kaiya's condition as information comes available!