allegra640

Right, just when Lola and I had gotten through the diarrhea debacle, now
there's something else going on that's making me anxious. Today I noticed that
her left paw had ballooned up to twice the size of her right. She was limping.
After enduring the most hideous day I think I've had in years I come home to
find her like this. Pick her up immeidately and swoop her off to Dr.'s office.
Said he has no idea what might have caused it. Xrays looked good, but she had
a fever of 103. Gave her some medication called Clavamox on top of something
called Albon for the tumultuous tummy. Anyone here ever had a kitty with
swollen paws and, if so, what the heck causes such a thing?

Miss Tracy

dan mahoney

No direct experience with a cat, but had a similar event many years ago
when my dog ate a bee. Before it was swallowed the bee stung the inside
of the dog's mouth. Her whole face swole to almost twice normal size and
she developed patches of swelling all over her body. A quick trip to the
emergency clinic (and a huge wad of cash) got her a shot of
antihistamine which brought her swelling under control right away.

The other possibility that comes to mind would be a contact allergy. Did
she also get an antihistamine?

m. l. briggs

I sincerely hope the meds do the trick. Several things come to mind
as a possible cause: a thorn, a bite, (spider or another cat) an
internal infection , bad tooth. Just like people, all kind of bugs
can creep in.. I just hope she gets better and stays that way. Best
of luck. MLB

allegra640

Dan,

Just read your post about your dog eating a bee and it triggered something in
my mind! Just today I was sitting outside with Lola bear in the sunshine and a
bee was buzzing around. "Leave that bee alone Miss Lola, he'll sting you" I
advised her. When I turned to look again I saw her intently studying the grass
and said bee was nowhere in sight. Could it be that she stepped on it? That
would certainly cause swelling. My next question is: is a bee sting poisonous
to their bloodstreams? Should she too get on some antihistamine? Sorry, Dan,
I know you're not a vet, just throwing some things out here for ya.

Tracy

takayuki

I don't think it's dangerous. If she was allergic, she'd probably be
in big trouble by now! I was reading an interesting article in
Discover a few months ago on a comparison of strings in the animal
kingdom. Bee venom is designed to discourage, not kill. Bees don't
go around hunting mammals, so they haven't evolved such a strong
offensive weapon. Bees and hornets do have compounds in their venom
that are specially designed to stimulate pain receptors though.

I was stung a few times a couple of months ago by hornets (I was
setting up traps next to a nest that they built on the side of my
house). One of them tagged me really good, the worst sting I'd ever
gotten. My hand was bleeding from the sting site, and I got the
chills. I just put on a sweater and continued putting up traps.
My hand was swollen for a few days.

I remember the first time I was ever stung by a bee. I was five years
old, and I found a bee struggling in a little puddle of water. I
picked it up to rescue it, but it stung me and flew away, and I ran
home crying to my mom.

lois reay

I had a kitten last year with a swollen paw - turned out to be a spider
bite.
It was very lucky for me and for puss that I got onto it straight away, she
had a very high temperature, she was confined to the vet hospital for a
couple of days while they brought her temperature down (she was only 10
weeks old) then she had this flesh eating thingy that stripped the fur off
her leg and across her chest and turned into an enormous scab (not trying to
frighten you here) took six weeks for her to come right. (Bev will remember
seeing her, she is a sister to B & C)

Good luck with Lola.

Lois

allegra640

Thanks so much Dan for easing a worried mind. Just got off the telephone with
yet another after hours call to my vet and he said that the Clavamox should
take down the swelling. He also said since it was just the one paw that was
swollen chances are she'd be fine. Jeez, now I know why I never had children
.....

Cheers, Mr. Mahoney
Tracy

stacey

When Nancy got stung on the face by a bee, she swelled up as well. A call to
the vet, a trip to the store and a good dose of Benedryl later and Nancy was
a less swollen, albeit sleepy, kitty.

Though we witnessed the sting (I was saying the same thing, "you'll get
stung!") so we knew what it was though!

Purrs to you and your baby!!!

Stacey

Dan,

catherine

A bee sting is not so serious on the foot; mostly very painful.
Although a soak or a paste of baking soda helps. But years ago Amber
was playing with a bumblebee and got it in his mouth. It stung him. In
a matter of minutes his face, throat and tongue swelled up and he was
gasping for breath. I got him to the vet fast and he got a shot of
antihistamine and an antibiotic shot. With his breathing passages
swollen, he could have smothered to death. He was pretty sick for
awhile. And ever since then, he totally ignores bumblebees!

CATherine

catherine

My cats like to paw a spider moving across the floor. I try to step on
them before they can. Some spiders can be very poisonous. And we have
a lot of brown recluse spiders and vicious hay spiders here. It is a
never-ending job keeping them out of the house. But then i worry about
them when the cats are outside. Hopefully, they will pay more
attention to birds and mice while outside. But we also have deer flies
here which can leave a vicious bite that supperates and takes a long
time to heal. I got one once on my shin bone. It took six weeks to
heal. As for hair loss, the draining pus from a lot of infections will
cause hair to drop off. And some infections from certain bites will
eat skin, also. There are some real nasty bugs in the world; insectoid
and microscopic. And they can mutate. That makes it very difficult to
keep the furbabies safe while giving them quality of life.

CATherine