I have three 4 wk old kitties here - help!

A friend's grandparents don't spay/neuter. All their cats always look soo sorry and sick. They have 2 litters right now. The mom cat to the younger litter disappeared. Hasn't been back. The two young girls were trying to bottle feed, but I suspect that spending time with their friends and what not took precidence and the kitties were close to starving.

I took the younger of the two litters. One of them already died last night (it was absolutely terrible, no ER vets to put it to sleep.) We're going back to get the older one if we can get it.

The kitten that died was bleeding from his rectum. SEVERELY dehydrated. At least one kitten is having loose stools with some blood tinged mucus. They seem to have good appetites. I'm syringe feeding them every 3-4 hours during the day with kitten formula. They do eat some canned food, but not much. They have lice, but luckily not that severe of a infestation. I did a quick wash when I got them last night just to get some of the grease and dirt off of them. I washed them more thoroughly in baby shampoo today but their coats are still just so sorry looking. And of course I'll still need some special shampoo for the lice.

Their eyes had been mattery and some were closed shut. I have eye ointment and now I have some antibiotics for a possible URI? I haven't seen them sneezing or excessive discharge though.. just the eyes were bad. Better safe than sorry though.

I'm most concerned about the bloody diarrhea. Vet didn't have time this morning, but I did take in a fecal sample. They are soo tiny and I even wonder if it would be safe to deworm them?

Wow you have some issues. This is a long weekend and I think they really have to be seen by a vet. You could loose them.

It's still relatively early, can you call another vet or an E vet? 4 weeks with these problems is really nothing to wait about.

You are so good to take them in...not many people would.

That is a lot of issues for such young kittens. They most definitely need to be seen by a vet. They do de worm kittens at that age, usually it can start at 3 weeks or so then every two weeks after for a few treatments. With all of their symptoms I would worry about more going on than just intestinal parasites.

I really hope you can save them. It is great that you are willing to do so much. Most would not.

Good luck!

Originally Posted by farleyv

Wow you have some issues. This is a long weekend and I think they really have to be seen by a vet. You could loose them.

It's still relatively early, can you call another vet or an E vet? 4 weeks with these problems is really nothing to wait about.

You are so good to take them in...not many people would.

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If it is more serious than worms.. are we talking a vaccine preventable disease? Leukemia? distemper? I'm not sure they could even test for that, being that they are dehydrated and soo tiny.. I'm not sure they'd be able to get a blood sample.

I'll be completely honest. I have NO money to be treating them. I can run a small tab at the vet office, but I will ONLY charge what I know I can repay in a decent amount of time. The only thing I can do is my best for them by hand raising them and giving good supportive care. I can afford deworming, and I can treat the lice. They seem to be doing better with just a little TLC, and I hope once dewormed and treated for lice that they'll begin to thrive and be able to be rehomed. They are BAR, healthy appetite. I'm sure they have an awful case of internal parasites, but I surely hope they'll be fine until Monday or Tuesday (they should have the results of the fecal and any medicine by Monday that I could pick up without an office visit).

There is no E vet in this area. I'd have to drive over an hour. I couldn't afford the gas, nor the E vet charge.

I'm trying hard to just do the best I can for them. They are clean now, they are warm, they are fed. I wish I could do more. I've been reduced to tears about all of this. They weren't "my" responsibility, but I humbly believe even if I didn't own them, if I have the ability to help them, They ARE my responsibility. They are 10 times better than what they were. I'm well aware you shouldn't have an animal you can't pay for... but they would have surely died. I feel absolutely awful that I can't afford E vet =[

I need to win the lottery, is what I need to do. Surely if I had that kind of money I'd have my own no kill shelter/rescue.

ETA: local no kill cat rescue is full, already called, and I will NOT take them to the local shelter (worked at one of them years back and they are just awful, they are much better off with me.. the shelter wouldn't syringe feed; they'd let them starve and suffer slowly until they died)

You are doing the best you can with the resources you have. TLC and feeding can go a long way IMO. You may end up losing one or more but you at least are trying. Keep it up. No matter what happens you will know you did all you were able to do. If you are successful, you will have your reward.

I just don't understand the thought process of people (the friend's grandparents) who subject animals to these fates.

I am trying to convince a co-worker at my new job to spay and neuter his two outdoor cats. He says he can't afford to do it, yet he says he will feed their offspring. Some people have no comprehension of economics.

Fecal test results came back. Coccidia. So now I have dewormer medicine for them. (I work the boarding kennel at the vet clinic. While I was in working the kennel, vet stopped in to check a blocked cat. So I was able to get some meds! Thank goodness!)

Would just coccidia make them that sick? Or still I should be concerned about a possible vaccine preventable disease?

Their stools have form again, no more blood that I've seen. They seem to be doing better with the antibiotics, eye ointment, and we'll give the first dose of dewormer this evening.

I hope it's not actually a dewormer and just an expression you're using, because a dewormer won't work on coccidia: http://www.marvistavet.com/html/body_coccidia.html

And yes, it can be that serious, and life-threatening to a little one.

for the babies.

Thank you for helping them!

They won't get rid of coccidia with a dewormer. I would hope the vet had told you that. Coccidia can quickly claim them- they need Albon at least a 5 day treatment to treat coccidia. I am surprised that coccidia showed up in the fecals- usually it doesn't. It must be a pretty severe case of it.
Are they also vomiting? Are they dehydrated? You can tell their dehydration level by lightly scuffing their neck, pinch lightly- let go.If it falls back in place within seconds of letting go- they are well hydrated. How are their gums? bleached white and or grey is not good, they should be pink and when you gently press the gums, the spot should go white briefly then pink up again.

If they have diarrhea, vomitting and dehydration you stand the strong possibility of losing them. Push fluids as much as you can- add water to everything you give them to eat- purree some rice up and add water to help them form their stool.

Best of luck- you can shoot me a PM if you have any questions. I have dealt with coccidia countless times over the years.

Originally Posted by hissy

They won't get rid of coccidia with a dewormer. I would hope the vet had told you that. Coccidia can quickly claim them- they need Albon at least a 5 day treatment to treat coccidia. I am surprised that coccidia showed up in the fecals- usually it doesn't. It must be a pretty severe case of it.

Are they also vomiting? Are they dehydrated? You can tell their dehydration level by lightly scuffing their neck, pinch lightly- let go.If it falls back in place within seconds of letting go- they are well hydrated. How are their gums? bleached white and or grey is not good, they should be pink and when you gently press the gums, the spot should go white briefly then pink up again.

If they have diarrhea, vomitting and dehydration you stand the strong possibility of losing them. Push fluids as much as you can- add water to everything you give them to eat- purree some rice up and add water to help them form their stool.

Best of luck- you can shoot me a PM if you have any questions. I have dealt with coccidia countless times over the years.

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I've had one other foster kitten two years back with coccidia. We found out through fecal exam. I'm surprised you say they don't usually show up in fecal exams. Their tummies (even the dying one) were all very distended even when they hadn't been fed. It doesn't surprise me at all that they have a very severe case.

They are on Albon for the next 10 days, until it runs out, and then I'll have to do another fecal exam to see if they are all gone.

They were dehydrated when I first got them, they've certainly improved. Their eyes don't look as sunken, if you pinch their neck it snaps back faster, gums look better. I saw one vomit last night, but none have vomited since. Overall, just a little bit of TLC did them really well, and now that their possible URI is being treated their eyes look better and aren't being closed shut by all the gunk. Two of them have formed stools now. One still has the runny/goo stools, and that is the one with the biggest tummy.

Anyone know anything that works REALLY well on the lice? We've treated fosters in the past for lice, and it seems like the stuff we'd buy just never worked well and took weeks upon weeks of bathing them almost every day to get all the nits off of their hair shafts.

We were just reacting to the use of the word "dewormer," which Albon is not. So glad it's the right med.

Unfortunately, you treat lice the exact same way to do fleas - and if they're too young for flea meds, then all there is to do is bathe with dawn and use a flea comb.

for the little ones, and for helping them.

Originally Posted by LDG

We were just reacting to the use of the word "dewormer," which Albon is not. So glad it's the right med.

Unfortunately, you treat lice the exact same way to do fleas - and if they're too young for flea meds, then all there is to do is bathe with dawn and use a flea comb.

for the little ones, and

for helping them.

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They are all doing well. 3 more days of Albon adn they are done with that. No more discharge from the eyes. Eating well, playful. The oldest most untamed one will even purr when I hold him now, but still won't run up to me.

Well, they've had several baths. The oldest one is 7 weeks old I think, so one more week and he can get an application of advantage. He has white on him, so maybe that is the only reason, but he seems to have a whole lot more on him.

I'm getting really, really worried.... how am I supposed to get the nits off of them??? I think I'm killing most of the adult lice with teh baths, toweling and blow drying... I'm not seeing a lot that move on them, but sooo many nits. They just are NOT adoptable with hits in their hair!? And I CAN'T keep them. Landlords are having a FIT and if I can't find them homes, they have to go to shelter. And no shelter will take hte time I have to bathe them regularly.. theyd just kill them!