Long shot....

ipw533

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Last Monday one of the trappers I work with brought me a young female cat that had a litter of 3-4 week old kittens. She was lethargic and dehydrated; I gave her 200ml of saline solution subcutaneous, but it did no good. She was slightly uncomfortable but put up no resistance and her condition did not improve afterward. She was taken to the University of Pennsylvania's veterinary hospital, where she tested positive for FELV and because of her depleted condition was euthanized.

Her kittens went to a foster who bottle-fed them, but three of them quickly became very sick and died. I was given the survivor, the lone male who seems at this time to be robust and beginning to eat solid food (a KMR slurry at this point). I have him for the long weekend and then our kitten expert will take over, and I expect him to survive.

But that's where the odds get long and the prospects get ugly. If the mom was FELV positive the retrovirus could have been passed to them either in utero or through tainted milk while nursing; they have little to no immunities at that age. In a month he'll be tested for FELV (he's too small right now to get a blood sample for an ELISA test); if positive he'll be retested after two months--false positives are a factor when testing kittens.

The best case scenario is that he's negative. The worst case scenario is that he's positive and we've kept him alive just long enough to be humanely euthanized (that requires an IV injection, which cannot be easily done until the kitten reaches a certain size).

Needless to say, I'll be on pins and needles for at least the next month....
 

StefanZ

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Originally Posted by ipw533

... and we've kept him alive just long enough to be humanely euthanized ...
Being a rescuer, or a med associate working with severe sick patients - you Ipw533 are both - it is "part of the game". You very often do the uphill fight. Sometimes you win - and it is your reward. Others dont make it... And you must live with it too.

Here he is at least healthy as long as it goes. He could have say, cancer - and you would have the same odds...
(btw how is it - cant such positive cats live a long, normal live as long he is not stressed?? Ie if you manage to find a suitable adoption home - alone indoor cat?)


Nay, this IS an dilemma a real rescuer does meet - if not always so at least now and then.


If you want to do it the easy way you can do as many Human societyes (here in Sweden Animals friends) are doing: they are helping, but they do help only tame, essentially healthy cats...
So no semiferales, no very shy strays, no small kittens, no sick were they need more than a quick consultation with a vet.... And of course never ever ferales.
What happen to the others is perhaps better not know. *weeping*


Look it this way: They WERE doomed. So you are really not losing another one. You really give them, here at least one of them, the chance to survive... Giving also the cat mom´s struggle for life a meaning.


Tx a lot for being there!


Good luck for you and this kitten!
 

ldg

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Hopefully this little guy survived because he's going to be able to beat any potential FIV infection - hopefully he's just got the antibodies and they'll cycle out of his system.


Just FYI, accordign to Cornell, the test is unreliable in kitties under 6 months of age.


he'll test negative even so young.
 
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ipw533

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"Just FYI, accordign to Cornell, the test is unreliable in kitties under 6 months of age."

The Snap tests we use are basically an ELISA test, which requires a blood sample. It's not easy getting a blood sample from an adult cat without "blowing" the vein--we usually do it after they've been knocked out prior to surgery. Kittens we test are often too young or small for surgery, so they're awake when we take the blood sample.

The blood is drawn from a large vein inside the upper thigh and, because it rolls, it takes a real degree of skill to get a good IV insertion. And that's with a wide awake and fighting kitten, because that needle is painful.

This is usually done with kittens eight weeks old or older; younger than that it's almost impossible to safely find a vein and get a blood sample. A kitten that tests positive at that age needs to be retested after a month or two--we had two such kittens last Sunday.

The three other kittens from this litter died quickly following severe vomiting and probable dehydration--symptoms normally associated with panleuk. That doesn't seem to be the case here, as otherwise the kitten I have would be dead or dying.

He's probably four weeks old based upon the way he's moving but looks more like three--hard to tell. He sleeps most of the time, so we wake him up for regular feedings; sometimes he seems hungry, other times not so much. We still stimulate him after feeding, but it seems he's able to eliminate on his own.

Last night I fell asleep after feeding him at 4:00AM. I woke up hours later and he was curled up asleep at the end of the bed, but not after he had crapped all over the sheets. And he "wears" at least a third of his food. Ah, the joys of raising infants....
 

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Awwww...............
to you and the little guy!
Keeping up the for both of you!

I don't understand your discussion of drawing the blood. My understanding is that kittens born to a mom with FIV will carry the antibodies, so will test positive - but that they have the antibodies (from her) does not mean they are infected with the FIV. Some are through the placenta or milk, but while it happens, it isn't common. Again, my understanding is that it can take 5-6 months for the antibodies from mom to cycle out of the system and that's the only way you can eliminate the possibility of a false-positive. This has nothing to do with the way the blood's drawn. If the antibodies are still present after that 5-6 month point, then the kitten has been infected, not just carrying mom's antibodies.
 
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ipw533

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You're right about the antibodies, which is why the kitten will probably have to be tested at least twice--the first test may not be accurate. I simply addressed the mechanics of drawing blood from a kitten, not the test itself or the way the results are interpreted or acted upon.

If the actual retrovirus is present in a kitten so young it would be acute and the kitten would be very vulnerable to secondary infections; the next few months leading up to the test and retest will be critical. There are tests other than the ELISA snap test we use that should be used secondarily to confirm a diagnosis, but realistically those would need to be done by a private vet--the PSPCA does not have the means to conduct them.

That's not a problem as the kitten's actual owner and the PCCC would be willing to pay for the extra tests, and per the owner euthanasia is off of the table in this case.

Although I'm just an intermediary agent at this point, I have my own investment in this kitten. He'll be living in my home for the next few months, an in honor of the 4th of July I've named him after my favorite Founding Father--Benjamin (Franklin). A good Philly name for a good Philly kitten. Franklin enjoyed a good bath, but his namesake may not--we'll see....
 

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thanks for giving this baby a chance. you have a good heart. I guess that's appropos for someone who lives in the city of Brotherly Love... right?


Happy 4th to you!
 

ldg

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Originally Posted by ipw533

He'll be living in my home for the next few months, an in honor of the 4th of July I've named him after my favorite Founding Father--Benjamin (Franklin). A good Philly name for a good Philly kitten. Franklin enjoyed a good bath, but his namesake may not--we'll see....
Great name! Here's hoping he enjoys a good bath!


Originally Posted by AddieBee

thanks for giving this baby a chance. you have a good heart. I guess that's appropos for someone who lives in the city of Brotherly Love... right?


Happy 4th to you!


Happy 4th!
 
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ipw533

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He tolerated his first bath, which was meant primarily to get the caked food and crap off of him. Unfortunately as I was drying him off I found quite a few fleas. He's too young for treatments like Frontline, so he'll get another more intensive detergent bath (both Palmolive and Dove work equally well on kittens with fleas) tomorrow. The next step will be teaching him to use a litterbox instead of me after he's been fed; no need to keep stimulating him as he goes quite well on his own, but doesn't quite get that I'm not a litterbox. Neither are my pillows and sheets.

The baths should also motivate him to start grooming himself. As I dried him I did my best to simulate his mother's "rough tongue" and I'll do so again; I suspect once those nasty fleas are gone he'll perk up considerably....
 
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ipw533

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Benjamin didn't make it--I found him dead at about 1:00AM and figure he died between midnight and then. No visible cause of death was noticed, and although his eyes were open he almost appeared to have died in his sleep.

His appetite was spotty--most times it seemed like I was force-feeding him and had to be careful that he didn't aspirate, but other times he went after the syringe and chewed on my fingertips as I reloaded it. He slept a lot, but that's normal; when awakened he'd meow and occasionally purr. He liked sleeping on my chest and would often burrow into my armpit.

He was asleep on my chest and I moved him to go to the bathroom. I briefly nodded off in there, and when I returned to the bedroom I found him....

He was buried in the garden this morning. Nothing else to be done. Some of my associates will avoid working with very young kittens because the mortality rate is so high and it's really heartbreaking when one loses a kitten--especially one that looked like it would make it.

It would be easier if I could have learned some sort of lesson from this, but it was just one of those here one minute gone the next kitten deaths that become depressingly familiar--nothing stood out. Maybe it will be different the next time, and there will be a next time. It can't be otherwise....
 
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ipw533

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Lost another one. I went to inform the person who brought me Benjamin to inform her that he had died, and she was trying to treat a very dehydrated 4-6 month old kitten. She informed me that he was doing well until this morning and then just became increasingly listless. We tried to give him subcutaneous fluids to at least rally him, but he was for the most part non-reactive.

He did react at one point when we were repositioning the needle and sounded like he was in pain; his heart began racing and his breathing became ragged. It slowed down and then stopped. Without a stethoscope we couldn't tell when his heart stopped. but we knew he was dead when we saw the fixed and unresponsive eyes.

This was a very friendly cat dumped at Pier 70 (a known dumping ground for unwanted pets) that had to have contracted some sort of illness there; by the time he was rescued it was entering a terminal phase. Even with hospitalization it's doubtful he would have survived--the downward spiral had already started.

On one hand cats are incredibly tough creatures, but they're also quite delicate--they can recover from severe injuries but once a serious virus or infection gets into a weakened cat it's usually a one-way trip.

Well, back to feral humans tomorrow. On Saturday it's helmet on and back in the game--no bench riding on this team....
 
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