He is lethargic again and stopped eating...

Our 3 months old kitten went through antibiotic treatment for the last 3 weeks (possibly cat flu). Last thursday his vet stopped antibiotics and told us more wont do any good. Symptoms of cat flu were ceased. He was some what more active and fine for a couple of days but now he is back to this lethargic state again. For the last two days he is not eating or drinking. So we started to force feed him with a srynge.

I can tell he is very stressed now when we try to pet or handle him because he thinks we are going to give more food. He stopped sleeping with us. I am going to take him to the vet tomorrow but this is the second time his lethargy replapses.

Every time this happens we go to the vet, they start antibiotics and vitamin treatment for 5 days. We force feed him then he starts to eat by himself a little, vet says he is OK now. For two days he is ok and then it all stars from the beginning.

How can we break this cycle? How can we jump start our little boys immune system?

I would try another vet. It may be something that your vet hasn't thought of, because your poor kitty is definitely not ok!

See if you can get his records from the vet and take them with you to save getting lots of tests redone.

Do you know if there are any cat specialty vets near you?

Originally Posted by sarahp

I would try another vet. It may be something that your vet hasn't thought of, because your poor kitty is definitely not ok!

See if you can get his records from the vet and take them with you to save getting lots of tests redone.

Do you know if there are any cat specialty vets near you?

Click to expand...

and obviously this antibiotic is not working.... IMHO time for a second opinion. You are absolutely right in forcing feeding him though - he needs to eat, and he needs fluids. Maybe an appetite stimulant would be good too...
Good luck for your little boy...

Has a blood test been done? What about a check for parasites? What other symptoms does he have?

Oh, definitely see another vet. It's a pain to force feed a cat for more than a couple of days and if he's really very sick forcing him to eat may only do more harm than good.

I had a cat stop eating a while back. I didn't know enough to take him the vet right away. I figured he would eat if he got hungry enough. When he started to lose weight I did force feed him but he only got worse. Finally took him to the vet and found out his liver had shut down in the time between when he stopped eating and when I started force feeding him. So all the food I forced down his throat his body couldn't process and it made him worse. The vet kept him for a few days and had him on IVs but it was too late. He passed away at the vet's office 3 days after the original visit. Still never found out why he stopped eating. The vet didn't find anything wrong with him besides the liver. Usually it's a sickness, like the cat flu, that causes them to stop but he didn't find anything like that in Klein's system. It's possible that his liver just spontaneously stopped and that's what caused it. No way of knowing for sure. The vet said if it had been a sickness and I had brought him in sooner they could have treated him for the sickness and he may have gotten better but if the liver shutting down WAS the initial problem there wasn't much that could be done. He could have been put on IVs but if the liver couldn't be stimulated to work again he wouldn't have been able to survive without IVs and he said at that point he would have reccomended euthanasia.

Please take your kitty to another vet. If you don't find and treat whatever is causing him to not eat his liver could shut down, even if you are force feeding him. And if you don't know that it shut down and continue to feed him that will cause a battery of other problems for him. Did your vet check his liver function? After the second time he stopped eating that should have been the first thing he did IMO. Check your kitty's ears and eyes for signs of Jaundice. If his nose is pink you would be able to see it in the nose as well. It doesn't look yellow right away but the pink will seem to have faded, as if the color drained out of him. You must find out if his liver is functioning properly before you pursue any course of treatment for any underlying illness he might have.

Many, many vibes for your kitty. I hope your situation turns out better than mine.

Go to another vet.
Are they giving the same antibiotics everytime?
If so he may need another type of antibiotics.
I would also get blood tests.

We saw another vet yesterday, he said the treatment was right. And yes I think they are giving him the same antibiotics... I will ask about blood tests tomorrow.

Food for thought:

Are you giving your kitty probiotics? Antibiocs destroys kitty's intestinal flora, and that can mess up his appetite, digestion... his whole system, really...
Put that 3 times over, gotta be bad on his tony little body...
Usually probiotics are really good during the course of antibiotics - one that is often used for that is Bene-Bac. You can buy it at Petsmart, or other pet supplies close to you. I buy it online, here. You can buy small tube on the store, then the larger one online, if you want...
I do think that it will make him feel better and help with his appetite.

L-Lysine - is he on it? Lysine is a supplement that does a great job in increasing the kitty's immune system in general, but especially against cat's flu related to the Herpes virus (the GREAT majority of it is caused by the herpes virus). So I would start him on Lysine right away... Talk to your vet about it....
I would also request a full URI panel from your vet, to see what is going on.