Sick Kitten

[nickandkristi]

Hey Everyone,

Looking for some advice. My 5 month old kitten has had diarreah since Sunday night and has been hacking up piles of foam every once in a while. She isn't eating or drinking much either. I took her to the vet today and the vet said it could be because I gave a couple of treats recenty (cooked beef (no spices) & some temptation cat milk treats) The vet gave me some probiotics to mix into the food to help her out though she doesn't have an appetite so she's not getting them in her system.

Has anyone ever had anything similar happen? My kitten is active and playful otherwise (not AS much as usual) and her temperature is good and the vet said she isn't dehydrated.

The problem I'm nervous about is that Lyra is the first Savannah ever seen in the area so I'm tentative with the diagnosis.

If she's not better by Thursday morning I'm having her get xray to see if she possibly swallowed something she wasn't supposed to.

Any tips on to get a sick Savannah kitten to eat her meds? Is there anything else I should be worried about with her symptoms? it's been an extremely stressful couple of days and any feedback would be much appreciated!

She went from 6lb 4oz on 11/21 to 5ln 6oz on 12/04

Nick & Kristi

 

[WitchyWoman]

Try mixing the probios into unsalted chicken broth and see if that works. Or you could ask the vet for a syringe and carefully syringe her some of the broth. Definitely agree that further evaluation is warranted if she isn't better tomorrow. I don't think what's wrong with her is SV specific, rather an issue common to any cat -- be it virus, blockage, allergic reaction to something.

 

[John Popp]

Sorry to hear your kitten isn't feeling well. It's a pretty big weight loss and it sounds like more than just resulting from recent treats. Not sure what the kitten normally eats, but getting away from the treats and beef for starters seems in order.

In the past we have used Probiotics, boiled chicken and a little bit of plain yogurt to get them to eat. Sometimes a slower process than you would hope for in returning their food intake to normal levels. Certainly not there favorite thing to eat, but they hold it down and stop hacking.

Hope that helps.

 

[Sue]

Getting Tink to take meds is a 2 person job. We have to first catch her. This is usually accomplished by 1 of 2 ways. We get her out on the patio and chase her around the pool until she goes in the pool bath door. The door to the rest of the house is closed, so she is now cornered in a bathroom. She usually hops in the tub to escape. The person chasing then wraps her up in a beach towel, sits down on the couch holding her. The other person then squirts the liquid med in a syringe into her mouth or crams a pill in the back of her mouth and holds the mouth closed until she swallows. If we can not get her into the pool bath, one person guards the cat door going into the house, the other person chases her around the pool to the cat door. As she tries to get in the house, she is caught, wrapped in the beach towel, and we continue the above technique. Good luck.

 

[nickandkristi]

Thanks everyone. I don't have a syringe so I'm going to try to do it alone with a turkey baster when I get home, hopefully the towel technique will work well. This could be messy :/ Can't wait to Lyra gets back to health again.

 

[Wyldthingz]

I think if she is eating that is a good sign. If she stops eating and continues to vomit- then I would worry. I have just went though this with my dog who has been on IV fluids for a few days now. I have always seen it at the vets but was glad it was never my critters!
I would syringe feed the probiotics- putting them in food will only cause her to avoid the food you give her. They know when food is tainted. You can't play that game with cats.

 

[nickandkristi]

She isn't eating and only drinking a little, when we bring her food she'll lick it a little bit and then walk away. She has this little head shake when she's done with something or doesn't want to be touched. She's still very social and friendly for being sick. She'll play a little, come and inspect whatever we're doing, climb up the trees, tables and counters. Hopefully the vet was right when she thought this would only be 2-3 day illness if it's food related. Rubbing the hair ball medicine on her paws worked great for her to eat it, maybe I'll rub some Blue Buffalo flaked tuna all over her fur so she can eat

 

[Wyldthingz]

LOL, no let her eat if she wants to eat. I had a kitten eat feathers and acted like this for a few days. Eventually she passed it all but it caused a few days of tummy upset.

 

[nickandkristi]

I did just buy a new feather toy for her last week. There is just so many coindences that could go with this, feeding her new food (introduced her to temptation dairy treats, lactose intolerent? cooked hamburger, ecoli?), new wand toy (eat a feather?), christmas decorations just went up (eat a faux christmas tree pine needle?), the GI flu hit our house last week (not sure if cats can catch it from a human) I also think she possibly took a drink of the water in the shower (soaps?) I'm sure it's one of the above, just not sure which one. I really need to keep closer tabs on her.

 

[Lori Greer]

Also, when was she last wormed? About 5 years ago I spent nearly 1,000 on vet bills, scopes, etc. only to find, via trach scope that one of my girls had worms attached to her throat PRIOR to the stomach. It was odd, and difficult to diagnose without a scope, but lesson learned. Fecals were all negative too. Certainly kicked myself for having spent all that money and put her through days as the vets simply because I didn't have a regular worming schedule in place.