TLAC emailed us on April 6th at 6pm informing us that there was a VERY sick kitty at the shelter, and that we needed to get her out of there by 7pm or else she was going to get put to sleep. We had an emergency scramble to find someone willing to save her and run her to APA's vet clinic, thankfully one of our wonderful cat rescue volunteers stepped up at the last second and got her out of there!
We had Skyla taken to the APA vet clinic for an emergency evaluation. It turns out Skyla has pneumonia - unfortunately a lot of cats get viruses from the shelter (like the kitty version of the flu) because there are just so many cats in one area. Its like when a kid goes to kindergarten and comes home sick - all those new viruses in one enclosed space means someone is bound to get sick! Most cats get over these viruses with medications to treat secondary infections, supportive therapy, and a little TLC. Unfortunately, there aren't any good medications to treat the virus itself, you just have to let the cat's immune system do the work.
Once in a while a case of the "kitty flu" (Upper Respiratory Infection) will go down into the lungs, and turn into pneumonia. This is what has happened to Skyla, and it is pretty serious. She is on an IV to give her fluids and medications in our hospital, she is being force fed, nebulized regularly (like a humidifier only the steam holds steroids and antibiotics in it), and getting constant care from the hospital staff. She isn't eating well, so they are considering surgically placing a feeding tube at this point.
