Bad, bad cat flu

Here's a touching scene. Rags, a cat from Lutwala Dive, came to Eden Cottages to say goodbye to his friend Jack, another victim of cat flu. Rags spent a good while by Jack's grave, rubbing himself against Jack's collar that is around the stone there.

I'm sure cats sense things like these. A while ago, when one of my cats died and I buried her behind my house, one wild cat from the neighbourhood spent 2 or 3 days sleeping beside the grave. Normally he never sleeps there.

This cat flu is driving me crazy. There has been so many deaths now and I hear about sick cats every day. And this is an agressive type of flu now. It kills cats in just hours from the first time you even realize something is wrong.

The cats get a bit of snotty nose, lose all their energy, stop eating and drinking. They just lie down and next thing you know, they die. Antibiotics help sometimes, but not always.

I know there is no real treatment for cat flu, but anticiotics can be used to treat bacterial infections the flu brings along. Sometimes it works and the cats recover just fine.

But way too often now, we lose the cats, no matter how much we try to help.

There is vaccination against cat flu, but as far as I know, it doesn't really have an effect until majority (70-80% or so) of the feline population around is vaccinated. Needless to say, that is not the case here. I still gave it a try, and had some of my own cats vaccinated, but they still got the flu after that.

Are you a vet? Or do you know a vet? I'd appreciate any information you could give about what to do.