worrying about my kitties

i don't really know if this is the right place to put this, but i have to talk about this somewhere where people aren't just going to think i am crazy.

last may we adopted 2 8 week old kittens from one of the local spca's. one kitten had a bunch of different health issues, he rallied, was doing well until november, started losing weight and not playing or eating as much, and ended up being diagnosed with the dry form of fip. the other boy did fairly well, had a brief scare with him when the vet thought he might have asthma, got x-rays which were clear, all seemed well.

we lost gilly at the end of november. rosie, his littermate, was so upset. he was lonely, and cried all day. i was worried he was being more stressed out by not having someone to interact with so we got another young cat to keep him company. other cat and he get along wonderfully. they play together constantly, far more than he ever played with his brother.

now rosie has lost a little weight. of course, he was getting fat to begin with and could really have stood to lost a little weight and in all honesty his activity level has gone up a LOT. but i am still worried.

i am worried that he is not losing weight because he is more active but because he might be getting sick. i panic every time i think about it. i cannot even stand to think about losing him too, these are our babies! i have had them since they were tiny little things and cuddled them and slept with them every night and it was awful to lose gil.

the weight loss has been really gradual and not more than 1/2 a pound. then yesterday he threw up. of course he also puked up part of a ribbon - i don't know how he got it we try to cat-proof, but his appetite has been off a bit since he threw up. so it is all totally within the realm of normal but enough to trigger all my paranoia and worry that adding a new cat was the wrong thing to do and if he is more stressed now because of him which could make him sick.

i am just wondering if i will always worry like this. if it will get better if we have more than a year without losing another cat. if i am just going to be waiting for something horrible to happen to all our cats now because we dealt with so much stuff from gil, and losing our percy before him. i am just having a really hard day

Wow that is one tough year! No wonder you're worried.

I think a lot of us on here worry quite a bit about our kitties. I know Gary and I tend to obssess. Whenever we're just not sure, we head to the vet, just in case.

for you and for Rosie.

Aww... I am so sorry you are going through this...
It doesn't sound to me that this kitty is stressed out, since he plays so well with the new kitty...
As LDG said, when in doubt, go to the vet just in case - at the very least you will feel better... Maybe it is nothing, and if it is, the sooner you catch the better. Now, how are you measuring this weight loss?
Because a home scale will not likely be precise enough, and if it is, you need to make sure to weight the kitty at the same time of the day, so water and food consumption are taken into consideration.

Watch him carefully, if his habits are the same - he doesn't throw up anymore, his energy level is the same and he is using the box normally, he is probably fine.

You are having a hard time and it is perfectly normal to worry. Last year I lost a 12 week old kitten to FIP, and then just two months later, an adult cat. Naturally I was beside myself with worry for the others, especially for two kittens who had shared food bowls and litter trays with the two I lost. With the agreement of my vet, I put them on transfer factor for 6 months to boost their immune systems just in case. My daughter now has those two, and still watches them carefully, but a year later and they are happy healthy cats. FIP is still puzzling as to how it is transmitted, and stress almost certainly plays a part in a cat who is susceptible.

But it sounds as if your two are not stressed, and hopefully they are both fine. The vet could do a snap test to see if they are carrying the corona virus, though this by no means says they will get FIP, and there can be false positives and negatives. Many cats carry it at a low level and never show any symptoms, and if they have lived with it they will probably carry it. If there is a high titre level then that may be cause for concern, but at least your vet would have some pointers to go on. I hope all turns out well.

I think you're not crazy. If you are crazy, then most of us here are, too!

I adopted two feral kittens from rural shelters in the fall, after losing a precious cat to lymphoma and heart failure. The kittens came with ringworm, calicivirus (which made one of older cats very sick for a month), infections, and many kinds of parasites. All those problems have resolved successfully (still waiting for the ringworm all-clear), with time and lots of vet bills. But now I worry about what they don't have.

If they had parasites, do they also have lungworms or heartworms? No way to tell for sure. Possum's occasional coughing is probably residual from his virus, says the vet, so not to worry. (Ha! When he coughs, I turn pale.)

Could they have FIP? Or hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, which can cause sudden death? There's no way way to rule out these scary possibilities. I hate uncertainty where my cats are concerned.

So, like you, I worry and watch them. At times I believe I'm nuts to be so fearful since they behave like normal, playful, growing kittens. On the other hand, we've been through so much illness in the past few months that I can't help feeling paranoid and bracing for whatever new horror might be down the road.

Fortunately, I don't think the kittens are picking up on my stress at all; they are too busy chasing each other and sleeping curled up in a ball together.

When you really love your cats, it must be natural to worry like this. Losing a kitten ought to make anyone hyperalert to nip any other kitten's health issues in bud. Whenever I spot a more concrete, specific problem — like diarrhea — we head right to the vet. I try to be reassured after I pour out all my other, more speculative, worries and they tell me to relax.

I hope it's a small comfort to know there are other kitten-parents out there who worry as you do! It helps me to hear about you.