Sick kitty

Dublin21

Hi,

So i recently posted a thread on introducing a second kitty to home.. I was initially worried the two wouldn't get on but within a day they were rolling around, grooming each other and sleeping next to each other so all is well there!

Unfortunately though the new kitty has taken a turn since we brought him home on Thurs.. he's been vomiting and has had diarrhea since Sat evening.

He's fully vaccinated.. both are indoor cats, no toxins as in plants around the house and we use pet friendly disinfectants for cleaning..
Apparently he has been wormed and flea treated although i don't know when he was last wormed.. Hes only about 13 weeks old so id imagine it was a few weeks ago.

The lady fostering him said she was giving him whiskas and some dry food.
We have Grau and applaws and some almo in the house for our other kitty so i gave him some Grau to start which he devoured!.. Same with the applaws.
On Sat we gave both of them some raw chicken leg, again this was devoured and some boiled chicken that night before we went to bed.
I initially thought (and still do think!) the problem was the different food/raw food but we called the vet anyway. She suggested fasting him for 24 hours.. no food or water.We did this last night/ today - this morning he got to the other cats water before we had a chance to pick it up - took some and vomited again.

A few hours later we gave him a bite of cooked chicken which he ate and hasn't been sick since.. We tried to give him another small bite there about a half hour ago and he wouldn't touch it.. same reaction with some cooked salmon although he is licking the plate for some moisture.. i dont really want to give him more water yet incase it comes straight back up.

We have the emergency call out vet on standby and have him booked in for a check up on Wednesday anyway but im still quite concerned.

We asked the vet when we should be worried and she said when he basically can't function or is sluggish..
Hes currently sleeping but was playing around last night and this morning with our other kitten.. he just looks a bit miserable when the play stops and literally sits on us with his eyes closed..

Basically my concern is that hes been like this since Sat evening however today is the first time hes actually refused food.. Would this mean he is starting to feel worse or hes just feeling a bit miserable after the last few days and isn't in the mood?
We thought he was a bit overweight when we got him and was def fond of the food we were giving him so in the short amount of time we have him i can say its not like him to refuse food!!

SillyMangoX

If he is vomiting and having diarrhoea it's very important he is getting water, I don't know why the vet would tell you not to give it. If he gets dehydrated he could go down hill very fast so don't restrict his access to it. Even if he brings it up at least he will have gotten some bit of hydration from it, but if he keeps getting sick, def ring the vets. He may have some gastritis or something along those lines so may need antibiotics.

Dublin21

Thanks SillyMango.

The vet initially did say give him nothing but water but when we informed her that he was throwing this up too she suggested starving him of that for 24 hours to see if he would settle down.

Hes been sleeping on and off now for the last 3-4 hours with our other kitty.
We gave him a small bit of water there and he lapped it up.. I dont want to give him a big bowl of it straight away as i have a feeling he will gorge on it and vomit straight back up..
He just had a small few dry pellets there too..
Hopefully he can keep them down.

Poor thing is only with us 4 nights now, id hate him to relate feeling ill with being here ya know?
Hopefully hes on the mend now but i think if he can't keep down the small bits we are feeding him now we will be calling out the vet.
Fingers crossed.

Dublin21

Kitty got sick/had diarrhea again after literally 3 pellets of dry food.. wouldn't touch the boiled chicken
Will have to call the vet!

Pumpkinseeds

Hope kitty gets well soon, will be keeping fingers crossed for you.

loveisdivine

Hope kitty is ok. Fingers crossed

Dublin21

Thanks guys, hes still jumping around but we're off to the vet at 3.30 today so will hopefully know more very soon!
Poor thing had diarrhoea and vomiting again today
Feel so sorry for him.

nemesisdg

Soft kitty,
Warm kitty,
Little ball of fur.
Happy kitty,
Sleepy kitty,
Purr, purr, purr.

meoklmrk91

Dublin21 wrote: »

Thanks guys, hes still jumping around but we're off to the vet at 3.30 today so will hopefully know more very soon!
Poor thing had diarrhoea and vomiting again today
Feel so sorry for him.

Best of luck and hope he is feeling better soon. Let us know how you get on

Dublin21

Just back now, without kitty

Keeping him in overnight for xrays, bloods and putting him on fluids...
Really hope the little guy is ok

Dublin21

Just got an update call there. Apparently the bloods look good bar a little dehydration which we knew about earlier.

Xray shows no sign of foreign body however something shows a change of gas in the abdomen (not sure if that was bloods or xray?).. Being treated with anti vomiting + diarrhoea medication and if he can keep down some food tomorrow they are happy for him to come home..

Im hopeful now but feel fecking awful for changing his diet so quick and possibly causing this in the first place.
Other kitten is absolutely thriving on food we got him.. I suppose no two kittens are really alike!

Got the two little mites insured at the weekend but because the sickness occurred within 14 days of getting insured this won't be covered.
Not that cost would make a difference to the treatment we would have looked for but tis a bummer about that 14 day exclusion! Understandable i suppose!

Fingers crossed he will be home and well tomorrow morning anyway!

Tipperary animal lover

Hope he's much better tomorrow, let us know how he goes, the poor little thing

Dublin21

So kitten is still in vets on fluids.. 2 days now.
Hes apparently eating but had a bout of diarrhea again today, thankfully no vomiting.

They can't tell us anymore than that...

So confused as to what is causing this if the vet can't even give us more information?

Bloods are ok, xray clear and hes vaccinated and wormed..

Anyone had anything like this with their kittens/cats? Just hoping he makes a full recovery

Pumpkinseeds

Cats can get all sorts of unidentified viruses. A few years ago we had a cat basket at the top of the stairs, one of our cats loved to sleep there so he could watch everything. We noticed him spending more and more time in there but didn't think too much of it. He'd seem a bit off colour and then he'd get a burst of energy. It wasn't until he wouldn't eat some cooked chicken(he loves his cooked chicken) that we decided to take him to the vet.

Thankfully we did as he was severely dehydrated and had a very high temperature. He toilets outdoors so I don't know if he had any problems with his bowels. He had to spend a few days at the vets on fluids to get him right, I can't remember if he was on antibiotics as well.

We never found out what it was but our other cat didn't get it, although a neighbours cat, who played with our cats also had it so it was doing the rounds. Sometimes you just never know what it was. Now we err on the side of paranoia with them, if they seem off colour we take them to the vet. Cats will naturally hide illness and it often isn't until the illness reaches a crisis point that we will see how bad it is. We moved that basket as soon as he was well.

They certainly know how to give us a bloody good fright. Fingers crossed for him.

Dublin21

Glad he made a full recovery

Yeah we have another kitten, younger than the one thats with the vet now and theres not a bother on him. Hes been indoors since we got him although the previous owner said she let him out supervised in her garden and she had 6 other cats..

As soon as he was sick we phoned the vets but as it was the Bank hol weekend we were unable to leave him in til Tues. Until tues he was bouncing around but would often just sit (not lie) on our laps with his eyes closed as if to say 'Im in pain'.. Felt awful for the little guy.
The Vet said his temperature was Slightly high and he was also dehydrated..

As far as i know they don't have him on any anti biotics, just fluids and yesterday they gave him some anti vomitting/diarrhea meds..
Ive yet to actually get hold of the vet on the phone.. its always the receptionist/nurse i get who im sure is informed what is going on but for the money im paying and the worry im going through id appreciate a chat with the actual vet treating him!

Hopefully it clears up very soon.. 6th day of him being visably sick now

Pumpkinseeds

I know,it can be scary and frustrating, especially when they are small. I think the main thing is that he is getting fluids. The vet probably just wants to be sure before letting him home. Our chap got the all clear and then relapsed.

Like you say it is mainly others you get to speak to and not the vet. But the veterinary nurses are the ones who spend the most time with them and can give you the most information. It might be worth asking them what their quiet time of the day is and arranging to speak to the vet then.

LeinsterDub

Dublin21 wrote: »

Hi,

On Sat we gave both of them some raw chicken leg, again this was devoured and some boiled chicken that night before we went to bed.

Long shot but http://www.cat-world.com.au/salmonellosis-in-cats?

Dublin21

Yeah i thought that about the nurses myself tbh but i did ask what they thought could be the cause and they kept saying the Vet will tell you more so it was just a bit frustrating that i couldn't get hold of one.

Actually the vet we see regulary with the other little guy (Whos been off the last few days) just called me there! She said he can go home this evening if there is no vomitting. So im very happy that shes happy enough to let him go
I asked her if they have any idea what caused it and shes putting it down to something viral/stress of a new environment..
I would presume if its viral my other kitten would have caught it so im leaning more towards stress/change of diet. (Presuming of course my other kitten doesn't come down with anything in the next few days and fingers and toes crossed he doesn't!)

Think we'll keep the kitties seperated for awhile just incase!

Very relieved to be getting him back anyway

Dublin21

LeinsterDub wrote: »

Long shot but http://www.cat-world.com.au/salmonellosis-in-cats?

LeinsterDub that could be very well spot on.. I have read up a lot on giving raw to kittens and do so regularly with my other kitten who we have a month now but i did not take into account that the stress levels of new home/new kitten friend etc could lower their immunity!

The symptoms are pretty much spot on too..

Thanks for this, at least if it was related to this we can avoid in future!!

Dublin21

Ok so kitty is home he seems a lot more lively than before he went to the vets on Tues... Still has diarrhea but no vomitting. Have him on Hills i/d food and the vet gave us some Canigest to give to him twice a day..
We have him in for a check up tomorrow so im hoping hes greatly improved by then..

However, since he came home last night he has been urinating in strange places? He went on the actual bag of litter we have.. We wrote it off as hes a bit confused after the vet, prob smelled the litter and thought to go there but this morning he went on our bed!! And there was a LOT of it!
He is still going to the litter box to have a number 2 though?

We have two kittens and two Large litter boxes.. we had the kittens seperated overnight so its not like he didn't have a clean box or had to compete for one..

Is this normal after a vet visit?
Im pretty sure he was catheterized.. would this have confused him about where to go to the toilet?
Will he retrain himself or is there something we should be doing to help him along?

SillyMangoX

If he was catheterized it can sometimes take a small while for the urinary sphincters to go back in action, it has been stretched out and under used so will take a day or two to tighten up again so I wouldnt worry too much unless it goes on for maybe over a week, might be no harm just to mention it to your vet at the check up though.

Dublin21

Thanks SillyMangoX!

Hes due back in the Vets tomorrow so we will def get them to check this out..

We are just on high alert with him as hes been in the vets the last two days so anything out of the ordinary has us fretting!

Will keep an eye on him over the next few days anyway and bring him back in if he hasn't started using the litter tray again!

Thanks

Lollers

SillyMangoX wrote: »

If he was catheterized it can sometimes take a small while for the urinary sphincters to go back in action, it has been stretched out and under used so will take a day or two to tighten up again so I wouldnt worry too much unless it goes on for maybe over a week, might be no harm just to mention it to your vet at the check up though.

You're a fountain of reasuring knowledge on this board SillyMangoX

Rancid

Poor Kitty.

After the time in the vet and any meds he got, as well as the new food and Canigest, his urine doesn't smell like *his own* to him. He may be trying to get away from the odd smell in the same way that a cat with a UTI will sometimes seek out cool places to pee because they associate the litter box with burning stinging pain.
And as suggested, if he was catheterised, it may take a while for feeling to return to normal.

Definitely mention it to the vet just to be on the safe side, though.
Hope he's ok.

Dublin21

Thanks for your replies all..

Ziggy (kitten that has been sick!) is almost back to 100%..
We had him in the Vets yesterday for a check up.. We were given betamox anti biotics to give him for the next week and more Hills I/D pouches until his stools are back to normal but hes certainly back to himself anyway..

Unfortunately Satch (younger kitten who we got first!) now seems to be sick
He was letting out high pitch shrills the last day or two when going to the litter box and today i noticed what i can only describe as a jellyish like liquid in the litter box with a tiny bit of blood.. Straight after he threw up his breakfast...
Vet not open until tomorrow so will try fasting him for awhile and maybe trying to give him some canigest but so confused as to what this is..

Vet said Ziggy may have got sick due to stress of being in new home etc..
The fact that Satch is now sick would lead me to believe it was/is a viral infection?
If so surely anit biotics will not do much?
I don't want Satch to have to go in for days on a drip etc so not sure what i can do until i get the vet.

Also im worried now that Ziggy will get sick again now that Satch is sick..
Am i over-thinking this or do they, like humans, usually build up a bit of a resistance to viral infections etc?

Having the week from hell here

SillyMangoX

So sorry to hear that Does your vet have an out of hours number? Might be worth ringing them now before it escalates to needing a drip.

Dublin21

Yeah we have our Vets out of hours number - the last time we called them for Ziggy they told us to fast him and to bring him into the open clinic the next day (It was Sunday before the bank hol monday).. So we imagined we would get the same advise particularly because Ziggy was sick too. Unfortunately they don't know for sure what caused Ziggy to get sick so if we got a Vet to come out today do you think they would administer Satch any meds??
Im presuming they would want to take bloods etc?

Poor thing is crying out for food but im a bit reluctant to give him any at the moment...

Pumpkinseeds

I'd call the Vet and get him seen today if possible. Its not worth taking the risk. If he needs treatment the sooner it starts the better. Hope he's better soon, fingers crossed.