VERY sick kitten

Hi everyone,

I just adopted another kitten from the animal shelter yesterday. She had a URI and possible pink eye but we adopted her immediately anyway because they wouldn't hold her and we needed to get her out of there. We've kept her very well separated from the other kitties, washed our hands a lot, changed clothes even.

She was a great kitty, sweet and playful, loves being held and purrs like crazy. She drank a ton and ate plenty last night. Then today she had a lot of really smelly diarrhea, stopped eating or drinking, stopped moving practically. She has fleas and ear mites too, by the way.

When I gave her the antibiotic gel tonight she retched and retched and foamed a bit. She keeps hiding in a curled up little position and barely purrs when I hold her.

She's somewhere between 8-12 weeks old and I'm really worried about her. I'm taking her to the vet tomorrow, but do you think she could have irreversible damage by then? She got so bad so quickly and I'm really scared. I've seen cats when they're dying before and she seems like that.

Please send good thoughts and any advice! I love her like my own already and I can't stand the thought that she could die!

Can you call the Er vet?
Meeko got very sick as a kitten and the er saved her.
Her sister died.
I would not wait until tomorrow because kittens get bad fast.
I would not have Meeko if it wasnt for the Er Vet.
I hope your cat will be ok.

Poor baby! Has she been vaccinated for distemper yet? An ER trip would be the best idea, but if you can't get to one just try and keep her warm and be waiting at the vet's office in the morning. Also try giving her water with a medicine dropper and give it to her slowly so that she doesn't aspirate it into her lungs. Many mega that she recovers quickly.

Oh dear! If possible, I'd head to the nearest emergency vet OR call the regular vet and see if you can leave a message. You might be able to catch someone there checking on animals.

In the meantime, check out these links for help:

http://www.kitten-rescue.com/

http://www.thecatsite.com/forums/showthread.php?t=46295

Thanks so much for your quick and helpful replies! I'd been giving her water through the dropper for a long time and I didn't think it was working; it took several hours but she's much improved. One second I thought she was gone and the next she was actually playing!

She's still in need of medical attention but at least she's okay for the night. Sweet dreams to all of you and your kitties too!

I hope she feels better.

How is she today and what did the vet say?

I'm sooo relieved, little Lily is doing wonderfully. We took her to the vet and got better antibiotics, Advantage for the fleas, ear drops for the mites, a de-wormer and an anti-diarrheal. He said she still has a lot of congestion in her chest but nothing life-threatening. She also still has diarrhea and the stool sample was compromised, so we have to bring another to find out what's causing it (I'll post when I find out).

So many meds, and I come home at lunchtime every day to dose her up and check on her, but she's eating and drinking on her own now and back to the little sweetie we first met. She purrs constantly, plays, and she'll let you do anything to her. I've never had a cat who was so agreeable, even at such a young age! Now all I have to do is convince the other kitties she's not a demon come to ruin their lives (once she's better, of course), no big deal, right?

Anyway, thanks again for your help, this site really has been the best support through years of kittie questions.

That's so great to hear!! More for her to continue to improve!!

Whew. I'm so glad that she's okay! I'm sending mega healing vibes to her- hopefully she gets better quickly. Being sick's awful. Poor little mite. Can you post pictures? She sounds gorgeous.