How is eclampsia treated in cats at home?

Dairy fever, or eclampsia, in cats is a disease with severe neurologic symptoms that can develop in pregnant or lactating animals. Most often this disease affects cats in the early postpartum period. It is important to recognize the disease in time and begin rational treatment to save the pet from serious complications and save his life.

Causes and mechanism of disease development

During pregnancy, there are regular changes in which calcium from the mother's body is spent on the formation of the skeleton of the kittens in the womb. For the assimilation and the entry of this element into the bones and muscles, parathyroid hormone (produced by the parathyroid gland) is responsible .

Sometimes, at the end of pregnancy or after the birth, the iron can not be reconstructed and provide for the increased needs of the cat in calcium. As a result, they are saturated only with milk, but not with the animal's body. These processes explain the mechanism of pathology, and their study allows us to understand how eclampsia develops in cats after childbirth. Treatment of the disease involves rest and saturation of the body with calcium.

The development of eclampsia is promoted by irrational nutrition and diseases of the digestive system, due to which calcium absorption is impaired. Most often, this pathology is diagnosed in primiparous animals. To her, cats are prone, who have a lot of kittens, because they need more calcium.

Symptoms

There are a number of characteristic features that occur in a disease such as eclampsia in cats after childbirth. Symptoms in an animal in the first day after the appearance of the offspring are usually the following:

• Restless behavior;
• Dryness of mucous membranes;
• A strange attitude towards their kittens (instead of caring the cat can run away from them or constantly drag them from one secluded place to another);
• Twitching of muscles;
• dyspnea;
• Constantly wide pupils and absence of their reflex narrowing even in bright light.

Later, these seizures of eclampsia may be accompanied by convulsions, an increase in body temperature to 40 ° C or higher, fainting. At the first alarming symptoms, the cat needs to be shown to the veterinarian to establish an accurate diagnosis and develop a treatment regimen. It is important for the doctor to conduct differential diagnosis with epilepsy and tetanus and assess the severity of the disease. This is necessary to determine whether the animal needs inpatient treatment, or it can provide care at home.

First aid to an animal

Before the arrival of a veterinarian, the cat needs to be given emergency care. This will increase the chances of recovery and a favorable outcome. Because eclampsia in cats can develop within a few hours, you need to act quickly. At home, you can help in this way:

• Temporarily isolate the sick animal from the kittens;
• Provide complete peace for the cat;
• In the room where the pet is located, there must be a muffled light and fresh air;
• At an elevated body temperature, it can be reduced with the help of moist cool towels or an ice pack wrapped in a cloth;
• With cramps, the animal must be covered with pillows or blankets so that it does not hit and is not injured during an attack.

Cubs need to provide artificial nutrition, as the eclampsia of a nursing cat is a contraindication to natural feeding. Kittens should be kept in a separate room until their mother's recovery is complete so that she does not accidentally harm them.

Treatment with calcium gluconate

Violation of calcium absorption and auto-toxicity of the body due to the accumulation of postpartum excretions in the uterus lead to a disease such as eclampsia in cats. Treatment at home should be etiotropic, that is, eliminating the cause. The main drug for replenishing the deficiency of the missing trace element is calcium gluconate. After consultation of the veterinarian, the medicine can be administered intramuscularly independently at home.

The dose of calcium gluconate should be determined by the doctor, but on an average for the relief of an eclampsia attack, an intramuscular injection of 1 ml of 10% solution is recommended at an interval of 40 minutes until the characteristic symptoms stop.

To eliminate the edema, the animal can additionally be prescribed "Prednisolone", and to eliminate muscle spasms, "Drotaverin" ("No-Shpa"). After removing acute symptoms, the cat is usually given intramuscular calcium gluconate twice - in the morning and in the evening - 1 ml every 7-10 days.

How else can I help at home?

Since eclampsia in cats is accompanied by the accumulation of toxic metabolites in the body, the animal needs to provide detoxification therapy. At home, this can be done with a lot of drinking. This method of oral fluid replenishment and toxin removal is the analog of a dropper in a hospital.

The cat should be in a quiet place, protected from light and sharp sounds. The animal should not experience stress and stress, as these conditions can lead to worsening and frequent seizures. It is necessary to monitor the condition of the mammary glands, several times a day to check them for soreness and the presence of seals. If necessary, milk can be slightly strained to prevent the development of concomitant disease - mastitis.

Restoring the health of a cat

Eclampsia wears out the cat, and even after a complete cure, her body needs careful attitude and support. A domestic pet needs a balanced diet, dairy products should be present daily (ideally, if they make up a third of the total daily food).

It will be advisable to take vitamin and mineral supplements with calcium, which can be selected by a veterinarian. After recovering from the animal, you should gently treat, do not tease him and do not wake him if he is sleeping. It is desirable to fully translate the kittens for artificial feeding, so that the cat does not develop a calcium deficiency again.

In what situations can the disease be treated at home?

Eclampsia is a disease that, if not properly treated, can lead to the death of the animal. Cat can die due to high body temperature (above 41 ° C) or because of brain damage and depression of the center of breathing.

There are signs of eclampsia in cats, which indicate a severe course of the disease and the need for inpatient treatment. If after the beginning of therapy in the state of the animal for a couple of hours there is no improvement, this may indicate the need for intravenous infusion of the drug.

In cases of prolonged increase in body temperature, which does not get off medically and with the help of home methods, the cat is also recommended to be hospitalized. This must be done to avoid the destruction of protein structures and the development of severe seizures. In the hospital there is an opportunity to administer medications under the control of the ECG, which allows you to recognize heart violations in time and begin to fight them.

Prevention

The main role in preventing such a dangerous phenomenon as eclampsia in cats is played by a balanced balanced diet during pregnancy. It should not contain not only calcium deficiency, but also its overabundance. The intake of high doses of this element with food in the body during the gestation of offspring can lead to malfunctions in the parathyroid gland and become an indirect cause of the development of metabolic disorders in the future.

If an animal has already been diagnosed with eclampsia during previous births, then the interval until the next pregnancy should be tried to maximize. Particularly carefully in this case, you should approach nutrition issues and be sure to undergo veterinary examinations on time.