Over the last 2 weeks I have been dealing with a pile of sick kittens. They have been to the vets three times as of today.
It started when I tried out different types of food for them at around 4 weeks old. I had tried different a few different options, starting with wet kitten kibble, evo/nutro canned foods, human baby food and finally KMR. This was over about a week and I was also trying to entice the mom cat as she won't eat anything but nutro kitten kibble. She was losing weight as the babies nursed even with free choice fresh kibbles out all the time. The mom ate the KMR and kibble mix I put out and the babies nibbled at it as well, and that's when the trouble started. I noticed large puddles of cat vomit in the kitten pen, and then the kittens developed diarrhea as well as were vomiting. I took away the KMR and brought the litter to the vet's.
They were all checked and the vet told me their vitals were fine, and to just let the KMR go through their systems until they were clear again. Two days later I called another vet as they were still sick, but they remained bright eyed and active. It was just diarrhea that wouldn't clear up. She told me to mix pedialyte into their water and give it another 24-48 hours. Well, after the weekend of cleaning up after sick kittens I got them in Monday morning. This time the vet agreed that they were dehydrated and something was definitely going on. So we did sub-q fluids and a round of pink liquid antibiotics twice a day. My boyfriend and I tried to do the sub-q last night but those kittens are little hells-on-wheels. We finally gave up after an hour of trying with towel wraps and scruffing and snarking at each other and me crying.
He brought them back to the vet this morning to get their sub-q fluids and to deliver the stool sample I got last night by sticking a spoon under a few kitten bums. Their stools are not as liquid anymore, and he said it reminded him of soft-serve ice cream (sorry if I ruined anyone's lunch). All of the kittens but the smallest had gained a few grams of weight over night, and none lost weight.
The vet said she wanted to test for coccidia in the stools or maybe some type of parasite.
It's an odd illness as none of the kits or mom have elevated temperatures, URI or eye problems. It's just the diarrhea, and the vomiting seems to have stopped.
So now the kits are 5 weeks old and the mom seems to still have a lot of milk. I may just introduce them to wetted down kibble and let them decide on their own when they want to try it. They are almost completely litter trained to their tiny litter box.
Mostly just venting as I am losing sleep over the little guys. They are typical kittens, playing and climbing all over us when we visit them, but they don't have as much energy as they should have of course.
It started when I tried out different types of food for them at around 4 weeks old. I had tried different a few different options, starting with wet kitten kibble, evo/nutro canned foods, human baby food and finally KMR. This was over about a week and I was also trying to entice the mom cat as she won't eat anything but nutro kitten kibble. She was losing weight as the babies nursed even with free choice fresh kibbles out all the time. The mom ate the KMR and kibble mix I put out and the babies nibbled at it as well, and that's when the trouble started. I noticed large puddles of cat vomit in the kitten pen, and then the kittens developed diarrhea as well as were vomiting. I took away the KMR and brought the litter to the vet's.
They were all checked and the vet told me their vitals were fine, and to just let the KMR go through their systems until they were clear again. Two days later I called another vet as they were still sick, but they remained bright eyed and active. It was just diarrhea that wouldn't clear up. She told me to mix pedialyte into their water and give it another 24-48 hours. Well, after the weekend of cleaning up after sick kittens I got them in Monday morning. This time the vet agreed that they were dehydrated and something was definitely going on. So we did sub-q fluids and a round of pink liquid antibiotics twice a day. My boyfriend and I tried to do the sub-q last night but those kittens are little hells-on-wheels. We finally gave up after an hour of trying with towel wraps and scruffing and snarking at each other and me crying.
He brought them back to the vet this morning to get their sub-q fluids and to deliver the stool sample I got last night by sticking a spoon under a few kitten bums. Their stools are not as liquid anymore, and he said it reminded him of soft-serve ice cream (sorry if I ruined anyone's lunch). All of the kittens but the smallest had gained a few grams of weight over night, and none lost weight.
The vet said she wanted to test for coccidia in the stools or maybe some type of parasite.
It's an odd illness as none of the kits or mom have elevated temperatures, URI or eye problems. It's just the diarrhea, and the vomiting seems to have stopped.
So now the kits are 5 weeks old and the mom seems to still have a lot of milk. I may just introduce them to wetted down kibble and let them decide on their own when they want to try it. They are almost completely litter trained to their tiny litter box.
Mostly just venting as I am losing sleep over the little guys. They are typical kittens, playing and climbing all over us when we visit them, but they don't have as much energy as they should have of course.
