US Ex-pat w. new stray needs help - kitty won't eat! :-(

Oh my goodness look how fluffy they are!. Their coats really show up in those new pictures and their gorgeous

Were going to have a couple of little divas at TCS

That poor dog. Life must be very hard for cat & dogs in China.

About the tummy issues....
along with parasites, I wonder if tuna might be a bit rich for a tummies that are unaccustomed to fish.

Here is a recipe for a bland diet that might help.
Plain boiled chicken mixed in its own broth with a small amount of well cooked white rice all mashed up together.
No spices of any kind.

Also, antibiotics can cause diarrhea in both humans and kitties. The reason for this is that the antibiotics, while killing off the bad bacteria making kitty sick also kill off the friendly bacteria living in the intestine. This allows more unfriendly bacteria to invade the intestine, damaging it. As a result, the intestine won't absorb as much of the water from the stool as it normally would.

Plain yogurt can sometimes be useful because it contains friendly bacteria. These friendly bacteria are the ones that turned the milk into yogurt. Look for one that says "live and active yogurt cultures" on the package. Only a small amount and not for more than one week.
I would see what your vet thinks about the yogurt but the bland chicken & rice mix would be OK.

What prepared wet & dry cat food options are available in your area?
If you listed some, along with their ingredients, TCS has some members who are very savvy about cat food.
I have no doubt that they would be willing to go over the ingredients and suggest which ones might be best for your kitties as they transition to solid food.

Both kitties remain in my thoughts as they continue to heal and thrive under your loving care.

Thank you everyone for the food suggestions. I'll be at the supermarket this evening so I will be sure to remember to do an inventory of what name-brands they carry and what ingredients are listed. You all are wonderful!

Monday Morning Update

Luna
The goat's milk diet continues. Luna was up at 630 with me and put away 4mL of milk without complaint. Some of you have suggested that we try and feed her more, but don't forget that she's also getting 5mL of liquid medicine twice a day and we don't want her tiny tummy to pop.

Luna has been a bedbug today, as usual, but she's not getting worse - perhaps even a little better.

Slooty
Good gracious, we've resurrected a monster! Slooty is everywhere and nowhere at once now, and this morning she finally felt well enough to pass the ultimate "are you a kitten?" test - she boxed with a very elusive piece of string!

She's been all over the house, is eating very well, and had a nice large BM around 930 that was nicely formed and had a good moisture level. Her eyes look great, and she's just active, active, active now!

Here's a picture of Luna being ridiculously cute on the bed after having her 5mL of morning tummy medicine. She has the most beautiful eyes...


And a picture of Slooty out on the balcony(!) basking in the sunshine atop some empty boxes. She's really feeling wonderful today!


We will call the Vet soon today and discuss worms and deworming. Luna's still not 100% yet, but things are infinitely better than they were when I made my first post here.

Thank you so much everyone!

We'll be back this evening with our Monday Night Update and a list of all the food available for Daddy to buy (there isn't much!).

Bye bye!

they are really starting to look much better .
great job.

Oh my word look at them! I've shrank your pictures so it's easier for those on dial up to see

I had to laugh when you said Slooty was everywhere and nowhere though Wait until the pair of them get going

This has been such an uplifting and happy story to follow! You're doing a great job with these two sweet girls!!!

I was researching more info. about a bland diet...
apparently some kitties don't like rice.
A small amount of white potato mashed up with the chicken and it's broth will work too.
If if remember correctly, the rice or potato acts as a kind of digestive binder.
Hopefully you will have more suggestions about this option.

More progress in the right direction....
Keep it up Luna and Slooty pies.

Mmm.. I wouldn't give them potatoes. Potatoes cause flatulence in cats... LOL

Just look at those little darlings!

I am so happy to see that they are both doing much better. I wasn't sure if Slooty would make it those first few days. You have done an amazing job caring for them both. I look forward to hearing more about their future progress.

The attitude towards pets is very sad, but maybe someday it will change, with people like you helping

You are going to have to absolutely gorgeous kitties once they are all better and cleaned up. They look like they could be siblings! Its adorable that their eyes are colored just opposite so you can tell them apart!

Thank you for all your tips about feeding them and treating their upset tummies!

Sorry about the large pictures - I'm on dialup too so I should know better, but you know how it goes when you're excited...

Monday Night Update

Slooty
Slooty has had a great day - lots of play, lots of food, and some nice BMs. Her eyes look great and we're very happy with her energy level. She's getting a small amount of Whiskas wet kitten tuna with some dry Purina Kitten chow mixed in when she demands it - which was 5 times today. No vomiting or diarrhea of any kind.

Luna
Luna hasn't done as well as Slooty. She's alternated between vary vocal periods where she parks in front of the kitchen sink on the floor(?) and cries and periods where she's just a white fuzzy bump on the bed comforter. We've been giving her plenty of goat's milk when she cries, and she takes it without complaint, but she's still having very bad diarrhea in her litterbox. We've clipped nearly all the hair away from her poor bottom and swoop down with babywipes after every litter trip, but her poor poor bottom...

We were unable to get ahold of our Vet today, she wasn't answering her cellphone and didn't return our calls. Hopefully she just had the day off or was busy and we can get in touch with her tomorrow.

We're worried about Luna, and frustrated. She's not getting worse but she doesn't seem to be getting better, and it tugs on our heartstrings to see her sitting on the bed with her legs all drawn under her staring off into space for hours on end. We're giving her as much TLC as we can, but her condition seems stubbornly resistant to change.

Tomorrow we will try the boiled chicken & rice/potato slurry for her to try and firm up her BMs a bit unless someone has a better suggestion.

*****

I took an inventory of the major supermarket's catfood section this afternoon, the following brands are available and their ingredients are listed:

WET

Whiskas Mackeral (mackeral, geling agents, vegetable oil, color agents, vitamins & minerals, no preservatives)

Whiskas Kitten Tuna (tuna meat, geling agents, vegetable oil, vitamins & minerals, no preservatives)

Whiskas Mackeral & Shrimp Balls (mackeral, shrimp balls, geling agents, vegetable oil, color agents, vitamins & minerals, no preservatives)

DRY

Whiskas Kitten [this has a Waltham Seal?] (wholegrain cereals, poultry, pork, beef and or fish & their byproducts, whole milk powder, cereal extracts, refined vegetable oil & animal tallow, whole egg powder, iodized salt, vitamins & minerals, amino acids, lecithin, colorants, potassium sorbate, antioxidants)

Whiskas Ocean Fish Flavor (same as above)
Whiskas Chicken Flavor (same as above)
Whiskas Seafood (same as above)
Whiskas Beef (same as above)

Purina Friskies Adult Tuna & Salmon (whole grain cereals & byproducts, meat & byproducts, cereal & vegetable byproducts, vitamins, minerals, and amino acids, color agents, tuna & salmon meat, seaweed, flavor, antioxidants)

Purina Friskies Oceanfish [same as above except for bold] (whole grain cereals & byproducts, meat & byproducts, cereal & vegetable byproducts, vitamins, minerals, and amino acids, full cream milk powder, color agents, tuna & salmon meat, seaweed, flavor, antioxidants)

Purina Friskies Kitten (same as above)

*****

Right now Slooty is getting the Whiskas Kitten Tuna wetfood with some dry Purina Friskies Kitten mixed in. Luna is getting goat's milk and diarrhea

That's all I've got for tonight. We will try again tomorrow to get with the Vet about deworming. In the meantime we'll be doing our best to comfort Luna and take care of her tiny bottom.

Slooty's doing great though!

Goodnight everyone! We love you all!

Originally Posted by Shad

Sorry about the large pictures - I'm on dialup too so I should know better, but you know how it goes when you're excited...

Click to expand...

Don't worry it's understandable

Poor Luna I hope her tummy and her bottom settle down

The others will be able to advise you better on the food situation, but i hope the vets in touch with you soon.

More MEGA, HEALTHY HEALING FOR THE LITTLE CHERUBS. Your both doing great with these babies

I've been following this thread with great interest, and it always makes me smile. You are a true angel for these little ones, and it does my heart good to see how well they're doing! And how beautiful they are!

I'll continue to keep your little furballs in my thoughts; it does sound like a worm problem with Miss Luna. Thankfully, that's usually pretty easy to deal with. Good luck getting in touch with your vet, and give Slooty and Luna some pets for me!

I agree with Lei (xocats) that it would be a good idea to try some bland chicken and rice on Luna now. Not too much - maybe a tablespoon 3 times a day, increasing it to 4x if it tightens up her bowels.

Are you familiar with Jill Robinson, the woman who set up a sanctuary for Asiatic black bears in Chengdu? She also rescues dogs and cats, and one of her cats, Jimmy, is the grownup version of Luna and Slooty, i.e., the same longish white coat and odd eyes.

There's not much of a selection of cat food there, is there? Canned is better than dry. Sharky is the one who can really advise you, but given that selection, I'd probably feed all of the canned food varieties, with the kitten food being given more often than the others, and perhaps supplementing with both the Whiskas and Purina dry kitten foods. After Luna's tummy settles down, of course.

I am still thinking that worms may be the main problem for Luna. When you get hold of your vet ask her about deworming.

I have been doing a little research for you.

Here at Feline express you have an article about diarrhea in cats and kitten very interesting with dos and don't that might help you.

http://www.felinexpress.com/cat-health/diarrhea.asp

The morning update won't come until my lunchbreak today, my apologies.

That'll be around 1am EST for you folks back in the US, please don't stay up on my account!

Pardon my bluntness

BUT NONE of those drys would I ever consider...

of the wets these are good

Whiskas Mackeral (mackeral, geling agents, vegetable oil, color agents, vitamins & minerals, no preservatives)

Whiskas Kitten Tuna (tuna meat, geling agents, vegetable oil, vitamins & minerals, no preservatives)

??? is are they complete ... does China have something like AFFCO saying what is and isnt a complete diet on the bag or can??

What meats and grains can you get easily ??? I am willing to give you homemade diets and will ask my vet to help as kittens are NOT my specialty

much has changed since i was there, But i know that at one point in time there was no such thing as what we would call Good types of canned cat food. I know that still in indoensia stuff like Friskies and meow mix are thought to be good foods.

all most all of the people that i know of in china, thai, indo, it was common to cook rice and chicken or rice and fish. for your cats. hmm and there was some smalltype of fish that was cooked as a treat frist, dont know now.

but that was how it used to be.

I noticed a current thread about diarrhea in the Heath forum...
Hissy posted a couple of thoughts that you might find useful.

http://thecatsite.com/forums/showthr...63#post2044363

Hope that Luna is feeling better.
Did you reach your vet?
Vibes going out to Stooty and Luna....