Well, our experience with blending our indoor Burmese cat with our new outdoor Tom Cat seemed to be going along just supremely. After a month or so of hissing and disdain for each other, they had let up and were getting along like cats and cats should. I was pleased and thought all was going to be okay with the two cats living together.

Then one day Sid, our indoor cat, did not wake up one morning. He sleeps in our bed and normally awakes when we do but this morning he “slept in.” He slept and slept in until I got very concerned and went to check him out. He was very lethargic and hot and droopy eyed. I took his temperature and it was 104.4. Of course I got him into the vet that afternoon. After the usual questions of respiratory symptoms etc., which there were none of; the vet happened to ask if he had had any interaction with other cats. This was his first vet visit since having the new outdoor cat in our home so I filled in the vet on the new cat, his cat behaviors and health, (which we were told was good and believe is good).

After explaining how they interact, their frisky fighting/playing etc., the vet was convinced that Sid either had an abscess from how frisky they play or a viral or bacterial infection from the different germs that Tabby the outside cat brings into the home and/or a wound that Tabby had from some sort of scratch etc. He just knew it was the interaction of the indoor vs. outdoor cat that was making Sid ill. The worst part of his illness is that in 2 months Sid had gone from 9.12 ounces to 8.12 ounces in weight. So we were dealing with a serious issue here. Sid got a shot of antibiotics and came home on antibiotics and directions to return if he does not show any signs of improvement in a few days. He ended up perking up that evening and the next day, which makes me believe he had a bacteria that responded immediately to the antibiotic shot. (Viruses don’t respond at all to antibiotics). So the mystery is that Sid had picked up a bacteria, more than likely from the outdoor cat. Tabby is exposed to more germs and other animals being an outdoor cat that our little Sid is, being strictly an indoor cat, so Sid’s immune system is not as strong as the outside cats, and our little Sid picked up a bacteria from Tabby. Still a mystery as to how. Was it while playing rough together? Was it sharing the same food bowl – very probable. Was it just being in close proximity? It begs the question of how to prevent it in the future. Sid is tiny and can’t afford to lose any more weight. His immune system is weaker than the outside cats and cannot handle germs/bugs as well. So what activity/ies do we need to alter? What Cat Behaviors do we need to alter? That is not yet defined as Sid is still on his antibiotics and we feel safe for now, but we have to start to eliminate or minimize different interactions they have together and see which one/s cause this illness. I cannot afford for Sid’s sake though to test this out too liberally as he just cannot afford to be sick like this again, so this will be a very cautious change in our new experience of having an indoor cat living with an outdoor cat. Like the saying, “look what the cat drug in.”

Janet Michael

Author Bio: Janet has written many articles on Cat behaviors Learn more at http://sidcitykitty.com

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